It’s tick season now: How to keep them off you and early signs of tick-borne disease

The snow is gone, the weather is warmer and ticks are back!

They seem to be everywhere in the woods and the tiny vampires are just waiting to suck the blood of anything that walks by. Unfortunately, with tick bites also comes risk for tick-borne illness, the most notable being Lyme disease.

Dr. James Thatcher, MD, of the Aspirus Tick-Borne Illness Center at Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff, spoke with The Lakeland Times to go over the basics of tick prevention and what signs to keep an eye out for if you’ve been bitten. 

He said good tick prevention is more than simply tucking your pants into your socks. 

“Most people will use some kind of chemical, whether it’s DEET or permethrin on the clothes,” Thatcher said. “But we’re also recommending a natural approach for the skin, something that has cedarwood or other lemongrass, thyme, clove and rosemary (oils).”

While some think a tick has to be latched onto you for 24 hours before contracting Lyme disease, Thatcher indicated that’s not the case. In fact, he said, Lyme disease can be transmitted after any amount of time a tick has been attached to you. 

“And it really doesn’t matter which tick either because each of the ticks in the Northwoods carry different borrelia (bacteria),” Thatcher said. “So the key is to making sure that you smell nice and the tick doesn’t want to bite you.”

He said cedar oil seems to be a “key ingredient.”

Thatcher said liquid fences preventing deer and rabbits contain garlic and thyme. He said “there’s something about thyme that ticks don’t like either.”

Don’t panic if you find a tick on you, Thatcher said. 

In those cases, simply grab a pair of tweezers and use them to lift the ticks “up and out” on a 45 degree angle, he said, also advising pinching the tick as close to its head as possible.

That’s because Thatcher said the head of the tick could remain in the skin, causing very itchy skin. 

He said if you notice any rashes following a tick bite, take a picture. 

“Anything more than a bite could be associated with a Lyme disease rash,” Thatcher said. “So tracking the tick bite on a daily basis, because bullseyes can take time to pop out, the longest I’ve seen one (form) is actually 28 days (after the bite). So it’s a good immune reaction. Your body is literally putting a target on it.”

Wearing white clothes when traveling in the woods is also recommended. That way you should be able to see the tiniest of ticks. 

When you see a tick, look at the legs to tell what kind of tick it is.

Thatcher said ticks with black legs are deer ticks and ticks with orange legs are wood ticks. 

“I recommend if you remove a tick, zip it up in a ziplock bag, date the bag, put it in the corner,” he said. “Don’t put it in the freezer. Ticks don’t die in the winter. So if you put it in the freezer, you’re just keeping them alive longer.”

Saving the tick that may have bitten you offers the opportunity of future testing and can help doctors treat patients. 

Thatcher said the Aspirus Tick-Borne Illness Center accepts ticks from people. The center will donate those ticks to labs researching “better point-of-care testing for ticks.”

He added to make sure any ticks brought to the center are in a sealed bag or container.

Lyme disease builds up slowly, Thatcher said, as it doubles every 36 hours. 

He said it may feel like you’re coming down with a summer flu.

And, Thatcher noted, people might not experience a fever, but will get body aches. 

“So fatigue is a big one,” he said. “Not quite a fever, sometimes fever, but body aches is a big one.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].