Take Precautions Against Lyme Disease

As the warm weather brings facility management workers outside to work on the exterior of their buildings, landscaping, and other outdoor tasks, it’s a good idea to review Lyme disease prevention.

Lyme disease is spread through the bite of an infected tick. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. doctors diagnose approximately 476,000 Lyme disease infections each year. People in New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and the upper Midwest are at greatest risk. Infected ticks can also be found in neighboring states and in some areas of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

Untreated Lyme disease can produce a wide range of symptoms, including fever, rash, facial paralysis, and arthritis. If your work brings you outdoors in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, follow these tips to help prevent tick bites:  

• Treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin.
• Use U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone.
• Wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and boots with socks while working outdoors.
• After you come indoors check your clothing for ticks. Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing. If the clothes require washing first, hot water is recommended.
• Check your body for ticks after working in tick-infested areas.
• If possible, shower within two hours of coming indoors.

 If you find a tick on your skin, follow these tips for removal:

• Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible.
• Pull upward with steady, even pressure.
• 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.