• Wear long pants and long sleeves when walking through heavy brush, tall grass, and densely wooded areas.
• Pull your socks over the outside of your pants to prevent ticks from crawling up inside.
• Keep your shirt tucked into your pants.
• Wear light-colored clothes so that ticks can be spotted easily.
• Spray your clothes with insect repellant.
• Check your clothes and skin frequently while in the woods.

After returning home:

• Remove your clothes and thoroughly inspect all skin surface areas, including your scalp. Ticks can quickly climb up the length of your body.
• Some ticks are large and easy to locate. Other ticks can be quite small, so carefully evaluate all black or brown spots on the skin.
• If possible ask someone to help you examine your body for ticks.
• An adult should examine children carefully.

Bolgiano EB, Sexton J. Tick-borne illnesses. In: Marx JA, Hockberger RS, Walls RM, et al, eds. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier; 2009:chap 132.

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Deer and dog tick

Lyme disease

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Tick removal Treatment

Review Date: 01/02/2011
Reviewed By: Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)