Summer Safety: Dealing with Ticks

It’s a spring day and you just got home from work, when suddenly you notice a dark speck on your arm and try to brush it off - But it doesn’t move. You look closer and realize it is a tick biting you – what do you do? First of all, do not panic, removing a tick is easy. Grasp the tick with a pair of tweezers as close to the head as possible and pull it straight out of your skin. Do not apply anything to the tick before removal (alcohol, petroleum jelly, burnt match stick, etc), because this can irritate the tick and possibly cause it to regurgitate saliva into your skin. There is very little risk of pulling the tick apart and leaving the head imbedded, and if you do the head can be easily removed by a physician.

Two of the most common ticks in the U.S. are the Lone star tick and the American dog tick. The Lone star tick, named for the prominent white dot on the back of the adult female, is very abundant in south central and southeast United States. However, more people are familiar with a third tick species, the black-legged tick (deer tick) because it carries the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.   

All ticks go through an egg, larva, nymph, and adult stage during their development. While they may be found throughout the year, adults are most active during late April through May. The larva, nymph, and adult stages must each have a blood meal before they can develop to the next stage. The American dog tick, Lone star tick, and black-legged tick have a fairly wide host range. Adults commonly infest both large and medium sized animals such as dogs, cattle, deer, and raccoons. The immature stages may feed on these same hosts but prefer to infest smaller mammals such as mice, squirrels, and chipmunks. All stages of these ticks will feed on humans if given the opportunity. 

The Lone star tick and American dog tick are not carriers of Lyme disease.  However, both of these ticks are capable of transmitting Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other diseases, so to be safe, any disease symptoms that occur within two weeks following the bite of any tick should be reported to a physician.

The black-legged tick (deer tick) does transmit Lyme disease. Although most are not infected with the Lyme disease bacteria, it is still important to remove any attached ticks promptly. Transmission of Lyme disease does not usually take place until the tick has been attached to a host for over 24 hours. Regurgitation of saliva during removal could theoretically increase the risk of disease transmission; this is why it is important to use only tweezers when removing ticks. 

When working in areas likely to contain ticks (woods, tall grass), the best way to deal with the ticks is to follow these simple steps:

• Tuck your pant legs into your socks, and tuck your shirt into your pants.
• Spray around your ankles and on your shoes with an insect repellant containing DEET. 
• Wear light colored clothing so you can see the ticks and remove them before they locate bare skin and bite.
• Remove and launder your clothing promptly when you get home.
• Closely inspect your body for any ticks when you get home (remember is takes about 24 hours before Lyme disease is transmitted, so prompt removal of ticks is important).
• Any ticks found attached to your skin should be pulled straight out with tweezers.
• Any signs of illness or rashes should be immediately reported to you physician.

The author is an extension associate at the Iowa State Univeristy Department of Entomology. She can be reached at ljesse@iastate.edu.