The following is an excerpt from TPWD News at
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/news/news/020610b.htm:
Quote:
AUSTIN, Texas--As summer heats up and more people head outdoors, precautions need to be taken to avoid tick-borne illnesses. Of special concern are Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Both diseases are still carried by ticks in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Health.
To protect from ticks:
If you are in an area with ticks, check your body carefully for them every few hours. Ticks are small and easy to miss and attach to any part of the body. - Stay on trails outdoors and avoid areas of overgrown brush and tall grasses.
- Wear light-colored clothes to easily spot ticks. Protect skin from tick bites by wearing a hat, long-sleeved shirt and tuck long pants into boots or socks.
- Use insect repellent containing DEET or permethrin (follow package directions).
If you do find a tick on your skin, remove it right away. To remove an attached tick, use tweezers to grasp the tick at the skin's surface. If tweezers are not available, use a tissue to protect fingers from possible exposure to the tick's body fluids. With a steady motion, gently pull the tick straight out. Do not crush the tick's body. Have patience; it may take time to remove the tick properly....
Live ticks may be submitted for identification and testing to the TDH laboratory. "The ticks should be placed in a small container such as an old pill bottle with the cap tightly on," Rawlings said. "They should never be placed loose in an envelope." Call the TDH laboratory at 512-458-7615 for more information on proper ways to submit live ticks.
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Shannon's Note:
You don't have to hike miles and miles, or hike off-trail, to have a brush with ticks. Any time you walk through dense vegetation such as tall grass or weeds, you may become an unwitting transportation vehicle for one or more ticks. Generally, they hitch a ride on your boots and work their way upwards, so check the top of your socks, your waistband (and "points south"
) and anywhere else your clothing meets bare skin. Ticks are drawn towards warm, moist areas, so occasional tick checks are worthwhile... it takes awhile for a tick to find a suitable spot to attach itself, so if you follow a routine of checking you should be able to spot the intruder before it's had a chance to attach.
With all that said, we have never had a tick encounter here in Texas but seem to encounter them often in Arkansas (more humid and more heavily vegetated than most of the Texas parks we hike in.) Nevertheless, keen awareness of what might be lurking in the weeds is useful.