Be on the lookout for TICKS!
Some can be the size of a poppy seed so remain alert.
The wet year and milder winter may lead to a greater surge of ticks and tick-borne diseases .
Watch this 2 minute clip from the CDC about
Ticks, Fleas, Mosquitoes causing more illnesses.
Tips on avoiding a tick bite
Keep grass short and underbrush thinned and cleared of leaves at your home.
When hiking, stay in the center of the trail. Avoid walking into any tall grass or bushes.
Wear long pants and long sleeves if you have to enter a forest or heavily wooded area.
Wear light-colored clothes to help you spot ticks easily.
Tuck pants into socks to keep ticks from getting under your clothes.
Apply EPA-registered insect repellent on your skin, clothing, boots and camping gear when outdoors to prevent ticks from getting on your body.
Use repellant that has 20 to 30 percent DEET on both your skin and on top of your clothes.
Check your body for ticks. Check yourself, kids, and pets after going outside to these areas, especially your armpit area and hair.
Ticks prefer damp and dark places.
Shower within 2 hours of being outdoors.
If you find a tick, carefully remove it as close to the skin and it's mouth with fine-pointed tweezers.
Grasp by mouth parts and pull steadily outward.
Don't use petroleum jelly, chemicals or anything hot as these may only make an infected tick more likely to transmit germs into you.
The soonest a tick is removed, the less likely it is to transmit any disease.
Here are images of the varied ticks that bite humans and another of the varied infections they are known to transmit, beyond Lyme.
And be the on the lookout for the newst tick now surfacing in NJ - the Asian longhorned tick.
Good resources :
