What should I do if I find a tick in winter?

Finding a tick in the winter months might come as an unwelcome surprise!

Ticks are most active in warm seasons, but it’s important to be aware that ticks can still be active during milder winter days. If you find a tick on yourself, a family member, or your pet during the winter, it’s imperative to take prompt action to remove it to reduce the risk of tick-borne disease transmission.

a tick in the winter can be dangerous — A tick in the winter is unexpected, but possible.

Here’s what you should do if you find a tick in the winter:

1. Keep Your Composure

If you are not completely focused and calm when you find the tick, it might lead to erroneous removal…which leads us to the next step!

2. Remove the Tick:

Get a firm grasp on the tick as close to the skin as possible using fine tipped tweezers. Do not twist or pull too quickly to avoid leaving mouthparts beneath your skin. Gently, but firmly pull upward with steady pressure. Take your time to ensure proper removal.

3. Dispose of the Tick:

In Massachusetts, you can have your tick tested. Once removed, place the tick in a sealed plastic freezer bag. Sending your tick for testing is highly recommended if you believe it has been attached long enough to pass disease pathogens. Otherwise you can place the tick in a sealed plastic bag with a bit of rubbing alcohol and throw it away.

4. Clean the Area:

Once the tick is removed thoroughly clean the bite site with warm, soapy water. You can follow up with disinfectant, such as rubbing alcohol.

5. Monitor for Symptoms:

Keep an eye on the bite site for any signs of infection or allergic reaction, such as redness, swelling, or rash. Tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever can result in a rash plus myriad other symptoms. These can include fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. If you develop any unusual symptoms, seek medical attention promptly.

6. Prevent Future Encounters:

If you live in an area, where ticks are prevalent, you can minimize your risk for tick encounters with professional tick control. This may include wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellents or wear permethrin-treated clothing. Professional Reading tick control is available in and should be employed at least from springtime through fall.

Stay informed, stay vigilant, and stay safe.

Avoiding Ticks is Not as Clear-cut as Before

To avoid tick bites, stay away from forested areas or be equipped to deal with them.

Unfortunately, ticks are showing up in places previously deemed safe from the disease-carrying arachnids, from our coastal beach areas to manicured lawns. As their population increases, the sheer number of ticks may be forcing them to branch out into new habitats this autumn, like your landscape, especially if you have an abundance of tall grasses and leaf debris.

Avoiding ticks is essential for your family's health. — Avoiding ticks is essential for your family’s health.

Each year, about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the CDC by state health departments.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH) Syndromic Surveillance program electronically collects limited information on patient visits to hospital emergency departments (ED) across the Commonwealth.

The reported data allows the Department to track trends for certain types of ED visits. This report provides monthly updates on two visit types, tick exposures, where a patient reports an exposure to ticks, and tick-borne disease, where the patient is discharged with a diagnosis of a tick-borne disease.

Also read: Are ticks more dangerous than fleas?

Because not everyone exposed to ticks or with a tick-borne disease will be seen in an ED, this data does not show all patients with tick-borne diseases in Massachusetts. More information about tick-borne diseases and how to prevent them is available at www.mass.gov/dph/tick.

Tick Exposure Visits and Tick-Borne Disease Visits

The graphs shows that in August of 2022, less than 0.3% of visits to EDs in any week were related to exposure to ticks, while less than 0.2% of visits to EDs in any week were related to diagnosis of a tick-borne disease.

tick data — Tick encounters and disease data.

The 2022 data are shown compared to both the minimum and the maximum number of visits recorded over the last three years. While tick activity usually increases in Spring and early Summer and then again in the Fall, exact timing is dependent on weather.

Tick-Borne Diseases in Central Mass

Ticks are bugs that feed on the blood of mammals, birds, or reptiles. Black-legged deer ticks and dog ticks are found throughout Massachusetts and may spread different disease-causing germs when they bite you.

In addition to Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne diseases here are Babesiosis, and Anaplasmosis. Other diseases that are more rare, but still occur, are Tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Powassan virus.

Tick-borne illnesses can be very severe, avoiding ticks is essential.

One of the most important things you can do is check yourself for ticks once a day when outdoors. Remember to check your children and pets, too. Remove any attached ticks as soon as possible. Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks especially in these areas after coming inside:

Inside and behind the ears
Along your hairline
Back of your neck
Armpits
Groin
Legs
Behind your knees
Between your toes

When going outside to an area likely to have ticks:

Stick to main pathways and the center of trails when hiking.
Wear a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt with long pants and tuck your pants into your socks.
This may be difficult to do when the weather is hot, but it will help keep ticks away from your skin and make it easier to spot a tick on your clothing.
Use bug repellents. Repellents that contain DEET can be used on your exposed skin. Permethrin is a product that can be used on your clothes. Always follow the product instructions and use repellents with no more than 30-35% DEET on adults and 10-15% DEET on children. Never use insect repellents on infants.

Prevention is everything for avoiding ticks and the potential for disease. Enlist professional Framingham tick control.

When back at home, ensure that your exterior landscape remains free from ticks by subscribing to a tick control regimen of a regularly applied barrier spray and tick tubes.

Also read: Could you see ticks on the beach on your winter getaway??

No Tick is a Treat, Be Safe This Halloween

Don’t allow ticks safe passage this Halloween.

You know how kids are. It’s always all about the candy. Especially at this time of year, with it getting darker increasingly earlier, these little ghosties and goblins may not be paying special attention to where they are walking on their quest for edible treats. So if you have ticks hiding out in the perimeter of your home, don’t give them a free ride courtesy of the kiddies. Stop them in their tracks with fall tick control.

Tick Activity Is Picking Up, Hopkinton Tick Control is a Must

Earlier this year, WBUR News reported that experts fear climate change could extend peak seasons for tick activity. Central Massachusetts generally experiences two peaks for tick activity, according to the Department of Public Health: from late March or early April through August, and then from October to November. And with October just days away, we need to remain vigilant.

Even worse, those peaks could get longer in the future as temperatures increase due to climate change. Ticks are the ultimate freeloaders, actively looking for food unless they are buried under snow or temperatures drop below freezing. Warmer days and less snow would mean that activity starts earlier in the spring, and extends deeper into the fall and winter.

Also read: Can you bring home a tick on your Christmas tree?

“If you extend peak tick season, you could end up with more cases of disease,” State Epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Brown said, even if the tick population remains the same. “We’ve actually already seen that happen a little bit with our mosquito population … which certainly creates more opportunity for more disease transmission.”

In Massachusetts, ticks are known to be carriers of several diseases, including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and tularemia. Different tick species spread different diseases.

There are no population-wide mitigation efforts effective for ticks the way there are for mosquitos, according to Brown, so prevention comes down to individual action.

The Department of Public Health recommends using tick repellent when outside, checking your body for ticks after spending time outdoors, and staying within established paths while hiking.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast — Dave Macchia, Central Mass tick control enthusiast

Stay safe at home and away from home with personal tick protection measures, and professional Hopkinton tick control.

Category: Tick Safety