Tick, tick, tick...It's That Time Again

The ticks are back out in full force. These little eight-legged critters have a positive role in our Virginia ecosystems as food for birds and other invertebrates. As humans, however, we're generally focused on the negative aspect of ticks: they are vectors for several serious diseases, such as Lyme disease. Tick borne-disease is one of the most common safety hazards our Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers face, given all the time they spend outdoors and often off-trail doing activities such as surveying wildlife and clearing invasive plants.

Virginia's governor has declared May 2010 as Lyme Disease Awareness Month. So, if you spend time outside yourself and especially if you lead other people in outdoor activities, take a moment to learn about the ticks that carry disease, how to identify them, and what the symptoms of tick-borne diseases are. A brochure from the Virginia Department of Health is a good start for information on the subject. Two different Virginia Cooperative Extension publications have some excellent images and drawings to help you learn to tell the differences among the tick species.

These publications all emphasize the importance of protecting yourself from tick bites using preventative measures such as applying insect repellent. One of the most important things our volunteers and program participants can do is to check themselves thoroughly for ticks and immediately remove any they find (and the publications discuss the proper methods for removal). It's a good idea to search one's clothes as well as one's self and put field clothes directly into the washing machine. I was reminded of this just a couple of weeks ago when I returned after midnight from a nighttime frog survey with some Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers. Exhausted, I left my field clothes on the bathroom floor, checked myself for ticks (and removed one), and headed to bed. The next morning, I found three more ticks crawling around in the bathroom. I'll be more careful next time! I don't think the other members of my household would have appreciated getting bitten by a tick without even getting to enjoy the fun of being out in the field.