Tune in for a garden talk with Tanya Crawford-Stempel, a Vermont Department of Health nurse supervisor. Even those of us who’d been following the news about tick-borne diseases and following recommendations learned tons.
YouTube video link below.
Here’s a a smidgen of what we discussed.
- Can ticks jump on you from the ground, fly onto you, or fall on you from the trees?
- When are ticks most likely to be spreading diseases to humans in Vermont?
- Is Lyme disease the only or even the worst disease ticks spread to humans?
- Which kinds of ticks spread which diseases, and at what phases in their life cycle?
- Who is most vulnerable to tick-borne disease, and what are Vermonters experiencing county by county?
Prevention: Covering up outdoors is protective. Light-colored clothing makes ticks easy to spot and remove before going indoors. This gardener’s lightweight suit is available at hardware and paint stores.
- What are effective prevention strategies and tools?
- What are the best (and worst) ways to remove ticks once they’ve attached to you or your pet?
- What should you do with a tick once you’ve removed it, and should you have it tested? (The answer might surprise you.)
- Can ticks come into the house on you?
- After time outdoors, what should you do with your garments?
- What should you do once you get inside?
- How long can ticks live inside your house?
Tanya welcomed and added on to participants’ helpful tips, including:
- Use Permethrin.
- Learn about Permethrin’s safety and environmental considerations at Consumer Reports and the National Pesticide Information Center.
- Browse Insect Shield for options to treat your outdoor clothing, send your outdoor wear to be treated, and buy Permethrin-treated garments.
- Consider Permethrin tick tubes, which rodents bring back to their nests. Penn State researchers have studied tick tubes. You can buy tick tubes. But should you make your own?
- Carry a TickKey for removing ticks. Add it to a key chain, or toss into a bag or your vehicle.
- Or remove ticks with precision tick tweezers, such as the TweezerMan Tick Removal Tweezer.
- Try the Tick Mitt, a safe way to remove pests from pets.
Q and A with Tanya: Answers to participants’ questions that Tanya said she’d research and reply to.
- AT WHAT TEMPERATURE do ticks die?
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has conducted a study on killing blacklegged ticks with heat, and found that direct dryer heat > 130°F for a minimum of 6 minutes was effective. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27156138/
Nelson CA, Hayes CM, Markowitz MA, Flynn JJ, Graham AC, Delorey MJ, Mead PS, Dolan MC. The heat is on: Killing blacklegged ticks in residential washers and dryers to prevent tickborne diseases. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2016 Jul;7(5):958-963. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2016.04.016. Epub 2016 Apr 28. PMID: 27156138. - ARE TICK TWISTERS useful, or should a twist never be part of tick removal? The Vermont Department of Health recommends pulling ticks off with a straight upward motion to avoid mouth parts breaking off. However, the important thing is to remove the tick.https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/after-a-tick-bite/index.html
- IS THERE ANY RISK of reactivating permethrin’s toxic effects when treated clothing gets wet while it’s being worn? The research I found on this mentions that the chemical binds tightly with clothing, with minimal transfer to skin after drying. From what I can find, it doesn’t “reactivate” its toxicity to the skin. After the curing/drying process, treated items are safe to handle and wear once dry (How to Safely Use Permethrin.pdf). It should also only be applied to the outside of clothes (not an undershirt, underwear, etc., and not the interior lining of clothes) so presumably, if clothing with permethrin did get wet from rain or water, it wouldn’t be touching one’s skin directly anyway. I also found an EPA review of factory-treated permethrin clothing (clothing treated with permethrin ahead of purchase), and it stated that “Scientific studies indicate that human exposure resulting from wearing permethrin factory-treated clothing also is low. Available data show that permethrin is poorly absorbed through the skin.” (Repellent-Treated Clothing | US EPA)
- WHAT ABOUT WHEN HUNTERS CONTACT INFECTED DEER BLOOD? Ticks transmit pathogens through the process of feeding; small amounts of saliva from the tick may enter the skin of the host during the feeding process, at which point if the tick contains a pathogen it may be transmitted to the host. Rarely, some tick-borne diseases can be transmitted via blood transfusion or organ donation, or from an infected pregnant person to their infant during pregnancy or birth. It cannot be spread person-to-person.
- ANY LYME-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FOR HUNTERS? While deer are a source of blood for ticks and important to tick survival and movement to new areas, deer are not infected with Lyme disease bacteria and do not infect ticks. Ticks typically become infected with Lyme disease bacteria when feeding on an infected wildlife host like rodents. Hunting, however, and dressing game animals, may bring a hunter into close contact with infected ticks, so it’s important to practice tick prevention strategies when in the great outdoors!
Watch, learn, and Be Tick Smart (or smarter).
