Table 1.
Type of action | Personal protection measure | Rationale(s) for use |
---|---|---|
Action taken while outdoors in tick habitat | Wear light-colored clothing | Creates contrast with dark-colored ticks, to facilitate spotting them crawling on clothing during a quick, cursory tick check |
Wear untreated clothing covering skin on feet, legs, torso, and arms (physical barrier) | Forces ticks that make first contact with untreated clothing to move a longer distance before reaching skin, thereby increasing the chance of ticks falling off clothing or being detected while crawling prior to reaching skin | |
Apply repellent to skin/clothing (synthetic or natural product) | Prevents ticks that make contact with treated skin from continuing to crawl and reach a bite site on untreated skin; Prevents ticks that make contact with treated clothing from continuing to crawl to reach skin | |
Wear permethrin-treated clothing (pre-impregnated or sprayed with permethrin) | Prevents ticks that make contact with treated clothing from continuing to crawl to reach skin | |
Perform regular cursory checks for crawling ticks | Improves the likelihood of spotting ticks crawling on clothing or skin before they can bite | |
Action taken soon after coming back indoors | Perform a thorough check for crawling and attached ticks | Improves the likelihood of spotting ticks crawling on clothing or skin before they can bite; Facilitates prompt removal of attached ticks |
Change clothes and run the clothes worn outdoors in dryer on high heat | Prevents bites by ticks still remaining on outdoor clothing by changing clothes; Kills ticks by drying outdoor clothing at high heat; Improves the likelihood of spotting ticks that were crawling on skin under clothing or are biting | |
Take a shower/bath | Improves the likelihood of spotting ticks that were crawling on skin under clothing or are biting; Potential for crawling ticks to be dislodged while showering/bathing | |
Action to shorten the duration of time before detected attached ticks are removed | Promptly remove detected attached ticks | Overall risk of pathogen transmission by attached infected ticks increases with duration of attachment |
Action to disrupt feeding by attached ticks that go undetecteda | Receive anti-tick vaccine to disrupt tick feedinga | Overall risk of pathogen transmission by attached infected ticks increases with duration of attachment |
Apply acaricidal skin product to disrupt tick feedinga | Overall risk of pathogen transmission by attached infected ticks increases with duration of attachment | |
Ingest oral acaricidal product to disrupt tick feedinga | Overall risk of pathogen transmission by attached infected ticks increases with duration of attachment |
Potential future approach.