II. Management: General Preventive measures
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Insect Repellent
- DEET to skin
- Permethrin to clothes
- Perform tick checks daily after outdoor activity (at least within 36 hours of exposure)
- Ticks typically crawl and embed at a constriction point (e.g. skin fold, waist line)
- Prompt Tick Removal may prevent disease transmission
- Perform tick checks after exposure to host animals: Cats, dogs, mice, cattle
- Avoid wooded or grassy areas with large deer population
- Sleep in netted or screened area
- Minimize exposed skin surface after dark
- Avoid swimming or wading in fresh water
- Bath and wash hair within 2 hours of spending time in high risk areas
- Wash and dry clothes after outdoor exposure
- Drying on high heat for 60 minutes kills ticks
- Wear long sleeves and trousers
- Light-colored clothing
- Tuck pant legs into socks
- Keep grass mowed and remove leaf litter and wood piles