Educate Yourself on Insect Repellents to Protect from Tick Bites

Reduce Your Risk of Lyme Disease is the third in a five-part series. We will take a close look at how Ridgefield, CT, an area hit particularly hard by Lyme disease, suggests their residents protect themselves from tick bites to reduce their risk of contracting Lyme disease.  Each article will take a closer look at each of the letters in the acronym to find out how we can learn from our neighbors to the north on how to best protect ourselves. 

In our first blog on Ridgefield, CT’s BLAST Program we learned that the ‘B’ in the acronym stands for Bathing soon after spending time outdoors. The second letter, ‘L’, suggests that you look over your body daily and remove ticks properly and at first sight. Let’s now move on to ‘A’ that recommends you educate yourself on insect repellents and apply them appropriately. 

If you are planning to spend time outdoors and you live in New Jersey or another area known for high tick populations you will want to take steps to protect yourself. Your clothing choices can help:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Leave as little of your skin exposed as possible.
• Wear light-colored clothing so you can spot a tick. Ticks are not only a threat while you are outdoors but they can be carried indoors with you on your clothing if you cannot see them. Be sure to fully inspect your clothing before returning to the house.
• Pull your socks over your pants. Ticks will look for areas on you to hide.  Prevent them from reaching your skin, or make it more difficult for them to reach your skin. 

At times, dressing appropriately to protect from ticks is simply not reasonable if temperatures are high or if perhaps you are playing a sport.  The use of insect repellents on ourselves and our children is a personal decision.  You can further educate yourself on the use of insect repellents and pesticides to prevent tick bites by visiting the National Pesticide Information Center’s website. If you decide that using repellents and pesticides the following are some suggested uses:

• Apply a 30-40% DEET-based repellant to the skin that will be exposed while outdoors. Studies have shown this formulation to be effective in controlling ticks. Follow the label and always apply repellents and pesticides according to manufacturer directions. 
• Wear clothing treated with a permethrin-based insecticide.  Some outdoor clothing companies, like LL Bean, manufacture clothing pre-treated with permethrin to repel and even kill ticks. Check the label, but most pre-treated clothing can be washed several times and still maintain its repellency.

Tick bites can be prevented with this multi-faceted approach to tick control. Dressing appropriately when spending time outdoors and avoiding, whenever possible, areas prone to high tick populations will decrease your risk of being bitten by ticks that may carry Lyme disease.