How Can We Avoid Lymes Disease?
- Wear long pants and tuck them into socks when you go for hiking or walking in grassy or wooded areas. They must be tight at the wrists, ankles and waist.
- Take a medical checkup frequently for any symptoms of Lymes disease, if you are gardener and hang out mostly around bushes.
- Do not use your hands to remove ticks. Use certain tools such as tweezers to remove ticks. If removed with fingers, wear gloves or use facial tissues and wash your hands after removal. Otherwise, there is a fair chance that you will get infected with Lymes Disease. After extracting the tick, wash the bite site with soap and water, followed by alcohol or household disinfectant if desired. Save the tick in an empty pill vial or doubled ziplock bag. If you will develop Lyme disease symptoms, the insect can be sent for testing to help diagnosis.
- Everyday give special attention to exposed hairy regions of the body, as ticks can be attached to these regions. Check your scalp too.
- Avoid areas such as high grasses, gardens, marshes and beach locations, especially town where Lymes disease is epidemic. You must avoid hanging out in tick infested habitats and surroundings, in endemic areas of Lymes disease. You also need to cut down in your recreational activities such as landscaping, forestry, hiking, camping and other outdoor occupations.
- Remove your clothes and thoroughly inspect all the skin surface areas for any legions of Lymes Disease after you finish your daily activities in garden or dense bushes.
- Reduce the infection of Lymes disease with the use of repellents and covering your whole body with protective clothes.
- Take special care if you get into leisure, recreational and property maintenance work frequently. You are more likely to be infected with Lymes disease.
- Wear a hat when hanging in densely wooded areas.
- Remove such habitats, which are suitable for ticks and their reservoir hosts such as leaf litter and woodpiles, clear brush and trees. and keep grass mowed.
Vaccination:
Good news is that. There is a vaccine to avoid Lymes disease. On December 21, 1998, US Food and Drug Administration licensed Lymes disease vaccine. This vaccine is suitable for persons between age groups between 15 to 70 years. Studies reveal that, this vaccine is safe and effective. So, you must be vaccinated in endemic areas to avoid being infected with Lymes disease.
You can also opt for pesticides to destroy ticks if in large number. You need to exclude animals such as deer and mice, as ticks carry this infection from these animals.
You can also apply tick and insect repellents that contain n,n-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) to the skin for additional protection from Lymes disease. You need to repeat these applications frequently for maximum effectiveness. Later, you need to wash it with soap and water. You can sprinkle Permethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid repellent spray on clothes. This solution kills ticks, when they come in contact.
