Greener Ways to Avoid Tick Bites

Contributed by Chris Edwards, Chair, Green Acton Toxics/Pesticides Subcommittee

Ticks can bite and cause serious diseases, such as Lyme disease, all year. Although tick infection is commonly assumed to be a summer ailment, the tiny bugs can survive even in near-freezing temperatures, waiting for passengers. Surprisingly, October and November are periods of heightened activity in Massachusetts. This article will help you avoid, detect, and remove ticks, and get treatment for tick bites at home or on the road.

Attempts to determine the prevalence of ticks in the Acton area and throughout Massachusetts are baffling, partly because reporting of bites and disease is spotty. But it’s fair to say that you probably know someone who has been bitten. This little arachnid can host a variety of germs, which can enter your body when the tick is making a meal of your blood. The most common disorders in the Northeast are, in order, Lyme disease, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis. The black-legged (deer) tick is the most prevalent in Massachusetts, followed by the dog tick and the (rare) lone star tick.

Ticks common to Massachusetts (see CDC’s Ticks Image Gallery)

Once a tick egg hatches, it begins a blood-sucking journey that can last two to three years. Different tick varieties, stages of their life cycles, and seasons cause the transmission of other diseases at varying rates.

The life cycle of the black-legged (deer) tick, via CDC

The University of Rhode Island’s TickFinder project can help you track the prevalence, types of ticks, and potential diseases, broken down by region and season.

Typical New England tick activity in October; note the potential number of diseases (in red) for different varieties and ages (figure adapted from University of Rhode Island [URI] TickEncounter’s Field Guide to Ticks)

The best approach to avoiding tick bites is to ensure you don’t encounter ticks in the first place. They are often found in wooded areas, low-lying grasslands, and yards, carried far and wide by mice, chipmunks, and other rodents. Ticks have various ways of detecting potential hosts: body heat, breath, body odors, moisture, and vibrations. Although pet owners commonly buy flea and tick collars for their animals, these collars don’t prevent ticks from landing on you or your furniture when Fido gives a shake.

Avoiding and Repelling Ticks

There are several ways to prevent tick encounters:

• Wear protective clothing. Although ticks can’t jump or fly, they can fall from trees. Wearing a hat will help protect your head. Donning long-sleeved shirts and tucking your long-sleeved pants into your socks can help prevent ticks from climbing onto your skin. The best color of clothing to wear is under dispute. At least one study claims that ticks are more attracted to lighter clothes than darker clothes. However, wearing lighter-colored garments will enable you to spot a tick that has landed on you.
• Don’t brush against bushes and trees. When walking on trails, stay in the middle of the path.
• Create tick-safe zones in your yard. The CDC recommends creating three-foot natural barriers (e.g., using gravel or wood chips) between lawns and wooded areas and around patios and playground equipment. Also, clear tall grasses where you walk around homes, mow the lawn frequently (preferably with an electric mower to avoid burning fossil fuels), and keep the leaves raked.
• Use a tick drag in tick-infested areas of your yard. Carefully drag a linen cloth across vegetation. Once the ticks latch onto the fabric, carefully wrap it up and put it in a hot drier for 10 minutes.
• Discourage rodents from nesting in your yard. Clearing away brush, piles of leaves, and debris will help. Keep tight lids on trash containers. Move wood piles away from the house and elevate them.
• Keep pets away from areas where rodents might nest. Ticks can move from rodents to pets to humans.
• Use tick collars on pets, but also do pet tick checks. Be aware that Seresto brand flea and tick collars — whose active ingredients are imidacloprid and flumethrin — are being investigated for toxicity to pets, although the reported case numbers are relatively low.
• Use tick repellents wisely. Several compounds approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use in repelling mosquitoes also repel ticks. However, in Massachusetts, the prevalence of, and dangers posed by, tick-borne infections (especially Lyme disease) are more significant than for mosquito-borne illnesses. Thus, if you are walking in the woods for several hours, you might consider using a more-potent or longer-lasting repellent than the compound you would apply for mosquitoes, even though potential toxicity or environmental harm might be slightly more significant. According to EPA analysis of company data, the most effective ingredients in tick repellents (in terms of hours of protection) are DEET, Picaridin, IR3536, and Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (not to be confused with lemon eucalyptus essential oil) products, in that order.

Understanding Insect Repellents

DEET is the most problematic of these compounds. It is a synthetic chemical linked to disorders in animals but to date, not in humans Formulations with more than 30% DEET (by volume) can cause skin inflammation and shouldn’t be inhaled. If you use DEET, shower thoroughly after your walk and keep it away from pets. Remember that the DEET you shower off may end up in wastewater, killing other organisms before it dissipates.

If you are going on shorter walks, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus products are recommended as a least-toxic alternative. The EPA database states that one Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus product, Repel Essential Insect Repellent, provides up to six hours of effectiveness in repelling ticks. You can review names and details on all the EPA-approved products here and find more information on Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus here.

The CDC and other sources also suggest that you consider wearing clothing embedded with permethrin. You can spray your clothes with it or buy clothing embedded with it. Permethrin is not a traditional repellent; instead of preventing ticks from landing on you, it stops them from biting you by creating a “hot-foot,” irritating effect when they touch permethrin-impregnated clothing. Although permethrin is highly effective, its widespread use may lead to loss of efficacy as ticks mutate to develop resistance to it, as suggested by a recent study.

One caveat is that most or all “natural” tick repellents are made at much higher concentrations than those found in nature. They may be chemically synthesized or “tweaked,” and have negative environmental impacts during and after their manufacture and use. As with all synthetic chemicals, there is some risk that such compounds may impact those with chemical sensitivities.

Detecting Ticks

Ticks can be tiny (especially before they dine on your blood) and are so light that they often go undetected. According to Yale emergency physician Harry Moscovitz, MD, even the bite may not be noticed. Ticks may look like tiny freckles or poppy seeds. Here are a few tips for tick detectives:

• Inspect your clothes and skin carefully. After returning from likely tick-infested areas, use a mirror and magnifying glass or recruit a friend to help you find any ticks. Favorite hiding places for ticks include spaces between the toes, back of the knees, groin, armpits, neck, along the hairline, and behind the ears. Also, promptly check any children who may have encountered ticks. Remember that ticks can be brushed off people and onto furniture, where they can wait for a new human or pet passenger.

Likely spots for ticks to hide via CDC

• Take a shower and wash your clothes. The CDC states that washing clothes in warm water is ineffective for killing ticks. Throw your clothes in the dryer and let them tumble for 10 minutes on a high temperature setting. If you need to wash the clothes first, use only hot water.
• Give Rover a once-over. A flea and tick comb, available at most pet stores, can help you find attached ticks. Use the comb carefully because a tick that isn’t attached can be flipped onto your clothes. If you find ticks on your pet that haven’t latched onto the skin, try rubbing sticky tape or a lint brush across the fur to trap them. Don’t forget to periodically check dog beds and other areas where your pet likes to sleep.

Tick hot spots on dogs, via CDC

Removing Ticks

If you find, on a loved one or yourself, a tick that hasn’t latched onto the skin, carefully brush it off and kill it by dropping it into alcohol without touching it. There is plenty of controversy about whether soapy water or natural oils can kill a tick, but there is consensus that alcohol works.

Finding a tick attached to your skin does not necessarily pose a danger. It is reassuring to know that a tick must be attached for 36–48 hours to transmit the Lyme disease bacterium. Dr. Moskovitz says, “If a tick is only on you for two or three hours, it probably won’t even get a chance to attach and start feeding.” A promising sign that you haven’t been infected: the tick is tiny because it is not engorged with blood. So, you can proceed slowly and carefully to remove it safely. Use either tweezers or a small, inexpensive tick-removal tool.

Slowly, carefully pull the tick straight out, via CDC

Wear gloves when removing the tick, and avoid twisting or crushing it, because blood from the tick can still infect you. Pull the tick straight out, slowly and carefully, and clean the wound with alcohol before applying an antiseptic.

Treating Tick Bites

Ticks that are swollen (from feasting on your blood) are potentially infectious. If you find one on yourself or a loved one, promptly consult with your doctor, after carefully removing it, even if you have no symptoms. In most cases, a Lyme disease infection will be evident within 30 days, starting with a bump and a rash.

Tick infections often begin with ring-like rashes, via CDC

In nearly a quarter of Lyme infections, however, Beyond Pesticides reports that no bump or rash appears. If the rash disappears, it may reappear weeks later. Nevertheless, other symptoms may occur, such as fever, headache, exhaustion, chills, nausea, and muscle aches. The less common tick-borne diseases, babesiosis and anaplasmosis, can show these symptoms, as well as others. Left untreated, all three of these diseases can be very serious. Fortunately, standard treatments exist for all these infections.

By following this article’s tips, you can have safe, healthy adventures throughout the year without undue worry about tick-borne diseases.