1. Choose light-colored clothing so it’s easier to spot ticks; wear long sleeves and and tuck your pants into your socks.
2. Use insect repellent with DEET on your skin and apply permethrin, a common insecticide, to your clothes.
3. Check your skin and clothing for ticks and remove them promptly. Don’t miss warm, moist areas such as behind the ears, the armpits, neck and groin.
4. Wash possible tick bites with soap and water and apply an antiseptic.
5. Keep your lawn mowed and tidy to remove tick habitat.
6. If you spot an embedded tick, use tweezers to grasp its mouth and pull it out with steady pressure. Don’t use petroleum jelly, hot matches or nail polish remover, which can increase the risk of infection.
7. If a tick isn’t engorged with blood, it’s very unlikely it has transmitted disease.
Source: Maine Center for Disease Control
