- Do you run, play or work outside?
- Do you know how to protect yourself from the West Nile virus?
- How do you remove a tick?
Every year, on World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights a different topic for us all to be more aware of. In 2013, the WHO focused their attention on high blood pressure. In 2012, they focused on the connection between good health and longevity.
This year, their focus is on vector-born diseases – that’s an illness that’s transmitted through a blood-sucking arthropod such as a mosquito, flea, or tick. These diseases include, but are not limited to: the West Nile Virus, Dengue, Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
With spring approaching, here are some tips from the CDC on how you can best protect yourself.
Protect yourself against mosquitoes (West Nile Virus, Dengue):
– Use insect repellents when you go outdoors. Repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and some oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol products provide longer-lasting protection.
– When weather permits, wear long sleeves, long pants, and socks when outdoors. Mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing, so spraying clothes with repellent containing permethrin or another EPA-registered repellent will give extra protection.
– Install or repair screens on windows and doors to keep mosquitoes outside.
Help reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home by emptying standing water from flowerpots, gutters, buckets, pool covers, pet water dishes, discarded tires, and birdbaths on a regular basis.
-Report dead birds to local authorities. Dead birds may be a sign that West Nile virus is circulating between birds and the mosquitoes in an area.
Protect yourself against ticks (Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever)
– Avoid tick infested areas, such as tall grass and dense vegetation in forests and along forest margins.
– When in potential tick habitats, tick-specific repellants may be used according to manufacturer’s instructions, such as those containing DEET (up to 50% DEET for adults, and less than 30% DEET for children) and/or permethrin (apply permethrin to shoes and clothing only, not skin).
– Wear light colored clothing so that ticks are easier to see and remove.
– Tuck pant legs into socks to prevent ticks from crawling up under the pants.
– Wear long-sleeved shirts buttoned at the wrists.
– Conduct tick checks on yourself, your children, and pets within a few hours of exposure to a tick infested area.
– Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors (preferably within two hours) to wash off and more easily find ticks that are crawling on you.
– Remove any attached ticks promptly by gripping the tick with tweezers as close to the skin as possible and using a gentle steady pulling action. Protect hands with gloves, cloth or tissue when removing ticks from people or animals.