LANGLADE COUNTY HEALTH

It is that time a year when ticks are active in Langlade County. The Langlade County Health

Department is reminding everyone to protect yourself from tick bites that may lead to Lyme disease or other illnesses spread by ticks.

You can limit your chance by following these tips to avoid bites:

• Treat your clothing or outdoor gear with an EPA-registered insect repellent.

• Stay away from thick brushy or heavily wooded areas and to walk in the middle of a trail if you are in a wooded area.

• Tumble dry clothing worn outside in the dyer for 10 minutes to kill any ticks that may have attached to your clothes.

• Check your pets thoroughly when you are done spending time outdoors.

• Check yourself, children and pets especially under arms, in and around ears, behind knees and in and around your hair and around your waist.

So, what do you do if you find a tick attached to you? The first thing you will want to do to remove the tick is to clean a set of fine-tip tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Pull upward with a steady, even pressure. It is important not to twist or jerk the tick so that mouth parts of the tick do not get lost or break off in the skin.

If mouth pieces of the tick do not come out with the rest of the body you can attempt to pull them out with the tweezers otherwise leave the wound to heal with the small pieces. Once the tick has been removed clean the bite area and hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and hot water. To discard the removed tick, you can put it in alcohol, wrap tightly in in tape, or flush it down the toilet. DO NOT crush the tick with your fingers.

Ticks can carry different diseases such as Lyme Disease, Anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and more. According to the CDC ticks typically must be attached for 36-48 hours in order to transmit these diseases, so it is extremely important to catch a tick bite as early as possible. If you begin to show signs such as fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle/joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes you should seek medical help.

There is one other major sign of a tick bite called an Erythema Migrans (EM) which is a rash that appears in the form of a bullseye. If you notice this rash on your or someone you know seek medical attention immediately. For more information visit: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/fight-bite/index.htm