How To Prevent Tick Exposure, According To Lyme Experts

It’s difficult to imagine that a week at summer camp or a day spent in the garden could expose you or your loved ones to a vector-borne disease that can have potentially long-lasting and chronic effects on your health. But that’s exactly what’s at stake, especially if you live in higher risk parts of the country such as the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, where humidity levels are higher, said Dr. Samuel Shor, past president of International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society and a clinical associate professor at George Washington University. Lyme disease is transmitted through deer ticks, which carry the bacteria responsible for Lyme, explained Dr. Luis Marcos, an infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Medicine, which is located in New York’s Suffolk County at the epicenter of tick-borne diseases. Prevention is a good place to start when it comes to protecting yourself from ticks and Lyme, and according to Dorothy Leland, vice president of LymeDisease.org and co-author of the book, “When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide,” there are several repelling tools in the form of sprays, topicals and clothing that can reduce the chances of a tick bite outdoors. “Stick to light-colored clothing because it can make it easier to spot a tick and tuck pant legs into socks and shirts into the waistband of your pants to prevent ticks from crawling under clothing.” Leland said that you can also treat your clothing, shoes and gear with a spray that contains 0.5% permethrin, a synthetic insecticide, which can offer protection for up to five to six washes.