Ticks and Lyme Disease

Release date: September 18, 2007 |

It’s not easy to overlook the deer on campus. They’re cute, they’re furry, and they’re plentiful. But the very deer that help make Goucher picturesque are also potential carriers of ticks that can infect humans with Lyme Disease through their bites.

Prevention:

• Take precautions to prevent tick bites in the spring through fall, when ticks are most active.
• Use a DEET or permethrin-based insect repellent.
• After outdoor activities, check your body (including ears, neck, belly button, and the top of head) for ticks.
• Wear light-colored clothing to help spot ticks.
• When hiking, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts; tuck pant legs into socks, and tuck shirt into pants.
• Avoid ticks by staying in the middle of paths.

Symptoms:

• Main symptoms: a circular rash that sometimes resembles a bulls-eye, severe headaches, pain that moves from joint to joint
  
• Other symptoms may include: neck stiffness, heart palpitations, dizziness, fever, swollen lymph nodes

Tick Removal:

• Protect hands by using gloves, cloth, or tissue.
  
• Use tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin surface as possible.
  
• Pull straight back with a steady force to help ensure removal of the entire tick, including its mouthparts.
  
• If possible, save the tick for medical testing in case of suspected Lyme Disease.
  
• Clean the bite site as you would with any minor wound and wash your hands.
  

If you need help with tick removal or believe you have been infected with Lyme Disease, seek help from the Student Health and Counseling Center or a local urgent care center.

Information obtained from:

CDC Website http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm

The Tick Management Handbook http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/resources/handbook.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/resources/handbook.pdf