Protect Yourself During Tick and Mosquito Season

With the weather becoming warmer and as we spend more time outdoors, it’s important to remember it’s also tick and mosquito season. Over the past few years there have been families in our community that have been affected by the diseases that ticks and mosquitoes can cause. They want others to know that when these diseases affected their children, neither them or multiple doctors knew was causing the issues. The families of these children affected don’t want to scare others, but instead to educate the community on how to protect and prevent these diseases.

The CDC states “the diseases mosquitoes and ticks carry have tripled in the U.S. between 2006 and 2016, with ticks being the biggest factor.”

Prevention is the best and only way to protect yourself.

• Mosquitoes are most active during the hours of late afternoon, early morning, and dusk to dawn.
• Use an EPA registered mosquito repellent.
• Wear long sleeves and pants especially when mosquitoes are most active.
• Use air conditioning, or window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside.
• Clean gutters and empty water holding containers and items to reduce mosquito breeding sites.

Ticks live in grassy, brushy, wooded areas and on small animals.

• Use an EPA registered tick repellent.
• Avoid wooded brushy area with high grass and leaf litter and walk in the center of trails.
• Check your clothing, body, and pets for ticks and shower soon after coming indoors.
• Use hot water to wash your clothes and high heat for 10 minutes to dry them.
• Cut weeds and brush from your yard to reduce the places for ticks to hide.

For a list of EPA registered repellents that match your family’s needs, visit the EPA’s website. If you have more questions or want to learn more, please reach out to Deanna Youngman, Infection Prevention at Margaret Mary Health.