June is a prime “tick-birthing” month, and a whole new crop of hungry ticks will be on the march soon seeking out their first dinner of the season. Here’s what you need to know to not fall prey and enjoy a disease-free summer.
Myth #1: Once you’ve been bitten, you’ll get sick.
Fact: For most tick-borne diseases, the tick needs to be attached for longer than 24 hours to transmit disease because of the biology of the way ticks feed. This means that checking yourself for ticks as soon as you get indoors can help you find ticks before they’ve had the chance to make you sick.
Myth #2: You’ll know if you’ve been bitten by a tick.
Fact: Tick bites are painless, so you certainly won’t feel one. What’s more: Fewer than half of people who’ve been infected with Lyme disease show the “bulls-eye rash” that was once thought to be a telltale sign of the disease. If you start showing flulike symptoms in the middle of summer (fever, chills, aches, and pains are common symptoms of a variety of tick-borne diseases), go to the doctor and ask to be tested for the illnesses associated with ticks. July and August are peak times for Lyme disease infections, because deer tick populations surge toward the end of June, and it can take between two and three weeks to get sick.
Myth #3: Every tick carries a disease.
Fact: A lot do, but not all. However, because the sheer number of deer ticks has skyrocketed in recent years, you’re more likely to encounter an infected tick than an uninfected one. By far, deer ticks carry the biggest number of diseases, including Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, as well as the parasite babesiosis.
Myth #4: You can remove a tick with perfume, alcohol, Vaseline…
Fact: Those old tricks you learned from your relatives about removing ticks—spraying them with perfume or alcohol, lighting a match next to the tick, painting it with nail polish—are unnecessary and possibly dangerous. The only tool you need is a pair of needle-nosed tweezers.
Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible and gently pull it out without twisting or jerking. Then wash your hands and the spot where you found it with good soap and disinfect the skin with rubbing alcohol.
Myth #5: Ticks fall from trees.
Fact: Ticks crawl up. If you find one on your head, it’s because the tick crawled up your entire body and found a home there, not because it fell from a tree branch above you. Deer ticks—the ones that carry Lyme disease— generally stop crawling whenever they find a clothing barrier, which is why you’re likely to find them around your sock line, along your underwear line, and on the backs of your knees.
