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Lyme Disease, Protect Yourself from Tick Bites

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted from an infected Blacklegged tick. It can only transmit the bacteria after it has been attached to the skin (feeding on blood) for about 24 hours. It can be prevented by avoiding Blacklegged tick bites, and is treatable with antibiotics.

What are the symptoms of Lyme disease?
In most cases the first symptom for Lyme disease is a rash near the tick bite that may look like a bull’s eye target. The bite is often painless, so you may not even know you have been bitten. The rash usually appears between 7-10 days after the bite, but the range is between 3 and 30 days. You may also develop flu like symptoms, such as fever, headache, tiredness, stiff neck, soreness all over and pain or swelling in the joints. These symptoms may appear in stages and may appear over a period of months.

What can you do to protect yourself?
Cover as much of your skin as possible.
Wear enclosed shoes.
Tuck your shirt into your pants
Tuck your pant legs into your socks.
Use insect repellent containing DEET on exposed skin.
Follow directions on the label.
Do not use DEET on children under 6 months of age.
Check yourself, your children, and your pets.
Include armpits, groin, and scalp.
Remove ticks from skin promptly and carefully using tweezers.

The Blacklegged tick does not always have black colored legs. Dog ticks usually have white or silver colored spots.