Dangerous Animal Encounters – Section 3.6.2 Ticks
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Once I was walking in the woods and out of nowhere this tick leaped onto my leg and attacked me, completely unprovoked…
All kidding aside, even though ticks do not pose immediate physical harm to us, they often carry diseases that can cause extreme debilitation and even death.
Millions of people are infected with tick-borne illnesses in North America each year, making ticks much more dangerous than any of the other creatures that we have previously discussed here. Tick-borne illnesses include, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Tularemia (aka rabbit or deer fever), and around a dozen or so other maladies in North America alone.
The good news is that there are some very basic precautions that you can take to significantly decrease your risk of getting a tick-borne illness.
Clothing: the first line of defence
First and foremost, wear a good DEET-based bug spray when out in the woods. This is particularly important during the warmer months of the year, as most tick-transmitted illnesses occur then, when ticks are most active.
Personally, before heading out into the woods, I heavily spray my shoes, socks, ankles and legs. Then, I spray my waist, beneath my shirt (if my shirt isn’t tucked in) and then on top of my shirt as well. DEET is a very good tick deterrent and in my mind is the most important first line of defence.
Clothing treated with permethrin is also available. Permethrin is a chemical that can be used to treat clothing and is extremely effective at deterring insects. Ticks that come into contact with permethrin treated clothing are said to die within 5-20 seconds of contact. Personally, I have hesitations about the safety of this chemical with regards to human skin contact. I have no real reason to doubt that it is safe, other than I do not know how much long-term research has been done on its safety, which makes me generally wary of it.
Tip: Wearing light coloured garments makes ticks that much easier to spot!
Tick attractants
It is also prudent to avoid areas heavily used by deer, as deer bedding attracts ticks. If you have a dog or indoor/outdoor cat, it is also smart to treat them with some type of tick and flea preventative to keep them from transferring these creatures to you and introducing them to your home.
It has been reported that many tick-transmitted diseases require a tick be attached to a host for up to 36 hours. So checking yourself and your loved ones for ticks after spending time outdoors can be vital to preventing tick-borne illnesses. This is especially true if you live in an area of North America with a high rate of tick-transmitted illness like the northeastern and southeastern United States and southeastern Canada.
Tick nymphs
Tick nymphs (tiny young ticks) are much more likely to transmit disease since they are so small and easily go unnoticed during the critical 36 hour period that is necessary to transmit disease.
Tick nymphs can be as small as a small dot made by a pencil on a piece of paper. Take extra care to check for ticks in areas that are hard to see into like groin areas, your backside, and on your scalp under your hair. A partner will likely be necessary to help you check areas that are hard to see. A mirror can also be extremely helpful and necessary. It is prudent to thoroughly check yourself and your loved ones for ticks after spending time in the woods.
How to remove a tick
The best way that I have found to remove ticks is to use a wet Q-tip and is demonstrated in the following YouTube video:
I have also successfully removed ticks with tweezers (and fingernails), but I have also accidently pulled off their heads, leaving the body under the skin. Also, I have heard that squeezing a tick with tweezers can cause it to regurgitate and inject toxins into you. I do not know if this is true or not. I have also heard that you can asphyxiate a tick within 10 minutes or so by covering it with Vaseline or similar cream, though I have never tried this and cannot speak to the efficiency of this method. Since learning the Q-tip method, it is the one that I use exclusively.
Since there are so many tick-related illnesses, and symptoms vary widely, I am not going to go into specific illness symptoms or treatments here. Read more information about the signs and symptoms of tick-transmitted illnesses at cdc.gov/ticks/diseases and Lyme disease here: healthycanadians.gc.ca
