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Tick Talk
It’s a great time of year to start enjoying time outside. When outside, it is important to be careful in long
grass, wooded or shrub covered areas where there may be blacklegged ticks (also called deer ticks). These are very small ticks – sometimes as small as the period at the end of this sentence. These ticks can
carry the germ that causes a bacterial infection called Lyme disease.
Deer ticks Bulls-eye rash Tick habitat Prevent tick bites
Help protect yourself and your family whenever you enjoy the outdoors by:
• Applying insect repellents containing DEET or Icaridin to exposed skin and clothes.
• Wearing light colored long sleeved shirts and pants, closed shoes, and tucking pant legs into
socks.
• Keeping lawns mowed short.
• Putting playground equipment in sunny, dry places away from wooded areas, yard edges, and
trees.
• Checking your whole body for ticks and, when possible, taking a bath or shower within two
hours of coming indoors. This makes it easier to find ticks.
Tick checks can help prevent Lyme disease. If the tick carries the bacteria, it can only pass Lyme disease
to a human or animal after it has filled itself with blood. This takes 36 hours. Removing the tick as soon
as possible may help to stop the spread of Lyme disease into the body.
Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. The earliest and most common symptom of Lyme disease
is a bulls-eye rash at the site of the bite. You may also develop flu-like symptoms, such as fever,
headaches, tiredness, stiff neck, pain and swelling in the joints, and aches and pains all over your body.
Symptoms may appear in stages and may appear over a period of months. If you have these symptoms
after a tick bite, contact your healthcare provider.
• For a great video for kids and for more information on Lyme disease, visit
http://www.novascotia.ca/hpp/cdpc/lyme.asp or contact your local Public Health office.
• For ideas on landscape management around parks, buildings and homes, visit
http://novascotia.ca/dhw/CDPC/documents/Landscape-Management-Handbook.pdf