HealthWatch

An Update on your Family’s Health and Welfare

How to Check for Ticks and What to do if Bitten

With summer on the horizon, ticks will be out in full force soon. Tick expert, Dr. Thomas Mather, has compiled helpful tips on how to conduct a proper tick check on yourself, your kids, and your pets, along with information about what to do if you or a family member gets bitten.

Perform tick checks on yourself and kids from the ground up

After spending time in a tick habitat, it’s important to do a thorough tick check. While many recommend checking from head to toe, Dr. Mather recommends checking from the lower part of your body first and then moving up, because that’s how ticks move, from the ground up. Check these places for ticks:

• Between toes

• Behind knees

• In the groin area

• Around waistline

• In the belly button

• Inside elbow joints and armpits

• In and around the ear

• Scalp and around the hairline

Dr. Mather notes that it’s especially important to check areas where your clothing meets or binds closely to your skin. Ticks will crawl to those areas and won’t be able to—or want to—go any further, and they’ll bite there.

Do a tick check on your pets

Once you’ve finished doing a tick check on yourself and your kids, it’s also important to perform a tick check on your pet. On a pet, the head region is the most important place to look for ticks. Ticks will also end up on other areas of dogs or cats. Make sure to check all places where a tick could get caught up in its fur or the crease of its skin. Check these places on your pets for ticks:

• Paws and between toes

• Head region

• Under the collar area

• In or around the ears

• Between back and front legs

• Base of the tail

Bitten by a tick?

Finding a tick on yourself, your family member, or your pet can be scary. While it’s vital to remove a tick as soon as possible, it is also important to ensure that you do it properly, and that you take the right steps once it’s removed.

Remove the tick by holding it with fine-tipped, pointy tweezers— getting as close to the skin as possible. Pull straight up in a slow, steady motion.

After removing the tick, don’t throw it away. Instead, place it in a Ziploc bag. Most people won’t know how to identify what kind of tick it is, and if you don’t, you won’t know what kind of diseases it may be carrying.

Next, take a photo of the tick, and send it to TickSpotters (web.uri.edu/tickencounter/tickspotters) where Dr. Mather and his team will identify it for you within 24 hours with the following information: the kind of tick, how long it was attached, and what kind of germ it likely—or didn’t likely—transmit.

After the tick has been identified and TickSpotters has let you know if the tick that bit you has a high chance of carrying a disease, you can choose to send in the tick to a testing facility. It should be noted that while tick testing can be a helpful resource, it should not be used as a substitute for physician diagnosis of disease.

Do your best to avoid ticks

Encourage kids and pets to stay on the trail. Wear and reapply insect repellent. You can also dress the family in long-sleeves, closed-toed shoes, and light colors. Happy hiking!

–Dr. Thomas Mather, Tick Expert, University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center

TikTok Trouble: Bubble Gum Challenge Ends in Hospitalizations

Trouble Bubble, a new chewing gum, contains oleoresin capsicum, the same ingredient as police pepper spray. Experts say that the gum has a heat level of 16 million Scoville heat units, while traditional pepper spray is only 1 to 2 million Scoville heat units. The challenge tells users to chew the gum long enough to blow a single bubble.

At least 10 children at a school in Massachusetts have been hospitalized after contact with the gum which caused burning of the mouth and esophagus. Others, who touched the gum, also reported skin reactions and eye irritation.

Dr. Rais Vohra, medical director of the Fresno-Madera California

Poison Control System, is sounding the alarm for parents to be on alert with their children who use TikTok or may hear about the challenge at school.

This is another in a long line of social media challenges. Teach your kids to not only practice safe screen time, but also explain to them why everything they see online might not be safe.

Dr. Vohra advises having the poison control number (800-2221222)—which works in all U.S. states—saved in all phones and posted on the refrigerator in case children feel ill or report seeing the gum at school.

–Fresno-Madera California Poison Control System

Don’t Let the Cookout Spoil the Family Fun

–Steritech.com

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kick-off to summer, which brings an increase in outdoor grilling, dining al fresco, and dodging summertime pests. While some things are out of your control, food safety during cookouts is key to prevent foodborne illnesses, aka food poisoning, from ruining the fun.

Chris Boyles, VP of Food Safety for Steritech, provides his top tips to keep food safety a top priority while effectively navigating through these seasonal changes.

1. Prevent cross-contamination. It is imperative to keep prep areas and cooking utensils for raw meats such as chicken, burgers, and other common summer grilling foods separate from those used with ready-to-eat foods. Thoroughly rinse all produce under running water to remove potential contaminants—even prewashed produce should be rinsed.

2. Keep it clean. Prepping food for large groups of people can get distracting. Always remember to wash counters, cutting boards, utensils, and hands with hot, soapy water between tasks. Wipe surfaces with single-use towels rather than a cloth towel to avoid spreading germs. Provide hand sanitizer and remind guests to wash or sanitize their hands before eating.

3. Be allergy aware. Food allergies can be life-threatening. The nine most common food allergens are: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. Alert guests of any allergens in the food being served. Trace amounts of allergens can cause a reaction so be alert, and do not mix utensils when prepping food.

4. Ensure proper cooking and grilling temperatures. Insert a meat thermometer into the densest part of the meat to determine if it’s fully cooked. Cooks should never guess or use color to determine if meats are fully cooked. Proper cooking temperatures for popular summer foods are below:

• Poultry: 165°F

• Tenderized or ground beef: 155°F

• Whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb, or fish: 145°F

• Fully cooked hot dogs, sausages, or brats: 135°F

5. Maintain food safe temperatures. The safest way to thaw frozen meat is in a refrigerator. A general rule is a 24-hour thaw time for every five pounds of meat. Cool hot foods to at least 70°F within two hours; then to 41°F or below within a total of six hours from the initial start of cooling. Shallow containers can be used to cool foods faster, but do not tightly cover foods until they have fully cooled.

6. Control pests. Mosquitoes, flies, ants, rodents, and many other pests are attracted to food—especially rotten food. Use the “first in, first out” rotation for all produce to prevent foods from going bad. Keep outdoor eating and prep areas free of food scraps and spills. Be aware of the surroundings for outdoor dining areas as excess debris can serve as the perfect harborage for pests.

Keep all these tips in mind for a successful grilling season this summer!