Ticks & Lyme Disease
- Anna Hayford
- Jun 1
- 2 min read
At Isett, tick spray is available at all offices, located at the front desk.
Please use liberally and let your admin know when it is close to empty.
What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system, leading to more severe health issues.
What are the symptoms of Lyme disease?
Early symptoms (3 to 30 days after tick bite) include:
Fever, fatigue, headache
Muscle aches, joint pain
Skin rash that looks like a bull's eye (occurs in approximately 70 to 80 percent of infected persons)
Other general symptoms may occur in the absence of rash
How is Lyme disease treated?
When detected early, Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. People treated with appropriate antibiotics in the early stages of Lyme disease usually recover rapidly and completely. Left untreated, the disease can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system.
How can I prevent tick bites?
Know where to expect ticks. Ticks live in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, or even on animals.
Treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin.
Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD) or 2-undecanone.
Check clothing, gear and pets for ticks after going indoors.
Shower within 2 hours of being outdoors.
Check your entire body for ticks and immediately remove any that you find.
How do I remove ticks from my body?
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends these steps to remove a tick:
Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible.
Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.
Never crush a tick with your fingers. Dispose of a live tick by putting it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.
Sending ticks for testing:
If you are bitten by a tick, you can send that tick away for free testing in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Tick Research Lab can analyze your tick, testing for tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Order your test online and learn whether you’re at risk before symptoms appear.
Follow the instructions at Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Testing & Statistics | PA Tick Research Lab
