How to Avoid Insects and Their Bites From PIH Health Online - 5 Ways to Avoid Insect Bites The weather is warming up and that means spending more time outdoors. Enjoying the sun may come with a price: insect bites and stings. Avoid annoying them with the following tips: Use insect repellent: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the use of EPA-registered insect repellents with one of the following active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone. Insect repellents offer the best protection against bug bites and the diseases they can spread.
bites and stings – especially from bees and wasps – opt for fragrance-free products.
Did you know? Wasps and hornets are territorial. If you hang an artificial wasp/hornet nest outside where you like to gather (on your deck or patio), those stinging insects will be far less likely to bother you. You can make one if you crochet or knit, or you can buy fake nests online. I crocheted one and stuffed it with plastic supermarket bags.
tularemia. There have been reports of dog ticks as far west as California.
The lone star tick (Ambylomma americanum) lives in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the U.S. It carries diseases such as ehrlichiosis and Southern tick associated rash illness.
Location, location, location “The east coast here in the U.S., parts of the south and Midwest, and even in California you have From the NIH Medline Plus the major [tick-borne] disease, Magazine: Tick Prevention which is Lyme disease,” said As people spend more time José Ribeiro, M.D., Ph.D., chief outdoors, so do many insects of the Vector Biology Section and pests. Among them of the Laboratory of Malaria are ticks, which are small and Vector Research in NIAID’s bloodsucking parasites and Division of Intramural Research. arthropods. “People should be aware of ticks Cover exposed skin: When and where they can encounter Some diseases you can get from them. In other parts of the outdoors, make sure to wear a tick bite are Lyme disease, long-sleeved shirts and pants. country you have other diseases, In tick-infested areas, tuck your ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain like Rocky Mountain Spotted spotted fever, and tularemia. shirt into your pants and your Fever in the Rocky Mountains, pants into your socks so ticks One of the biggest things to keep and so on.” can’t crawl under your clothes. Also, make sure to choose light- in mind when thinking about Online maps that show tick the risk of tick bites is your colored clothing so you can activity in different regions of more easily see insects that land location. Different regions in the the country can be helpful in U.S. are home to various types or crawl on you. understanding the risk in your of ticks. The type or species of a region. tick determines what diseases it Remove standing water: may carry. Insects like mosquitoes breed Prevention is a top priority in standing water. In your Maliha Ilias, Ph.D., Lyme Disease NIH MedlinePlus magazine backyard, make sure to empty Research Program Officer in spoke with two officials at the and turn over toys, equipment, NIAID’s Division of Microbiology National Institute of Allergy and and Infectious Diseases, said or containers that collect Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to rainwater. Keep the gutters it is important to prevent ticks find out more about tick bites, on your house clean and free from coming into contact with how to avoid them, and new of debris that can trap water. your skin. Regularly empty rain barrels or research that could increase our understanding of how to treat Dr. Ilias discussed that there keep them tightly covered so tick-related conditions. are ways to prevent exposure mosquitoes can’t access them. to ticks. She noted that the best Types of ticks Mow tall grass and remove way to do this is wear clothing The deer tick (Ixodes scapulars) that covers your arms and brush piles: Insects like ticks is found mainly in the Eastern are most often found in tall legs; tuck your pants into your and upper Midwestern grasses and shrubs. To reduce socks or even put tape around regions of the U.S. It can cause tick populations in your yard, openings in clothing so ticks conditions like Lyme disease keep your grass mowed short have no access; and wear lightand babesiosis. and clean up leaf and brush colored clothing to also help you piles. see if a tick is on you. When you The dog tick (Dermacentor are in the woods, keep to the variabilis) is found in the Use fragrance-free skin and center of the trail, where ticks Eastern half of the U.S. and can laundry products: Many are less likely to be (ticks tend cause diseases such as Rocky perfumes and artificial scents to stay in shrubs and bushes). Mountain spotted fever and can attract insects. To prevent As soon as you are home, check yourself or have a family member help check you for ticks. Use a fine-tooth comb through your hair and check folds of the skin. You should also shower and wash your clothes at a high heat so any ticks on you are killed.
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Stay calm If you do find a tick on yourself or a family member, be sure to stay calm.
“I think the most important thing for folks to know is that if they find the tick on themselves, don’t panic,” Dr. Ilias said, noting that it typically takes 36 hours for the bacteria that causes Lyme diseases to travel from the tick gut to its salivary glands and into the host. It is also important to remove the tick properly. “There is a lot of folklore about how to take a tick out of your skin. Some people even talk about having a lighted cigarette close by, things like that,” Dr. Ribeiro said. “The most important thing is just to use appropriate forceps such as tweezers. Grab the whole tick and pull it out.” Saliva is a tick’s best friend A tick’s saliva (or spit) is important in its ability to feed. A combination of compounds in a tick’s saliva stops human blood from clotting while the tick feeds.
“What we’re seeing now is ticks change the composition of their saliva every few days. So the cocktail that they’re showing on Monday will be completely different from the cocktail that will be showing up on Friday,” Dr. Ribeiro said.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are studying the saliva of arthropods to see if there is a way to create a vaccine that will affect the saliva. A current study is looking at a vaccine that works against the saliva of sand flies, so the parasite cannot establish itself
at the site of the initial bite. This sort of vaccine will be harder to develop for ticks, as the tick is constantly changing the composition of its saliva.
Early removal is key The sooner you remove a tick, the better. It takes time for infections to reach a person’s blood stream, especially Lyme disease. A tick needs to remain attached for 36 hours before Lyme disease can be transmitted, so remove any ticks as quickly as you can. However, you may not always know if you’ve been bitten by a tick, and therefore won’t know to keep an eye out for symptoms of tickborne disease. Looking forward, Dr. Ilias noted the importance of a sensitive and specific diagnostic test for Lyme disease, particularly to detect it early. She added that Lyme disease can be effectively treated if it is diagnosed early. Tick bite prevention Tick-borne diseases occur worldwide, including in your own backyard. To help protect yourself and your family, you should:
Use a chemical repellent with DEET, permethrin or picaridin. Wear light-colored protective clothing. Tuck pant legs into socks. Avoid tick-infested areas.
Check yourself, your children, and your pets daily for ticks and carefully remove any ticks.
We hope these tips will help you enjoy the summer months!
TANGLWOOD LAKES | JUNE/JULY 2021
