It’s that time of year when whether working or playing we need to be a little more conscious of certain types of bugs and noxious plants.

Lyme Disease

The most prevalent tick-bourne disease in Florida is Lyme Disease. It is transmitted to people by bacteria from bites of infected deer (blacklegged) ticks. The ticks can carry disease in their larval, nymph, or adult stages. In the larval stage they may look like small black specks, the nymph is about the size of a poppy seed, and the adults can be less than 1/8 inch (3 mm) long.  Most, but not all, victims will develop a “bulls-eye” rash.

Other signs and symptoms may be non-specific and similar to flu-like symptoms such as fever, lymph node swelling, neck stiffness, generalized fatigue, headaches, migrating joint aches, or muscle aches.  Ticks do not jump, crawl, or fall onto a person. They are picked up when your clothing or hair brushes a leaf or other object they are on. Ticks are generally found within three feet of the ground. Once picked up, they will crawl until they find a favorable site to feed. Often they will find a spot at the back of a knee, near the hairline, or behind the ears. 

Protect yourself with these precautions:

• Wear light-colored clothes to see ticks more easily.
• Wear long sleeves; tuck pant legs into socks or boots and tuck your shirt into your pants.
• Wear high boots or closed shoes that cover your feet completely.
• Wear a hat and tie back loose hair.
• Use tick repellants, but not on your face.
• Shower as soon as possible to get rid of loose ticks.
• Wash and dry your clothes at high temperature.
• Examine your body for ticks after your get home. Remove any attached ticks promptly and carefully with fine-tipped tweezers by gripping the tick near the mouth pieces and pulling outward with a steady pressure.
• Clean the area with antiseptic.
• Do not use petroleum jelly, a hot match, or nail polish to remove the tick.

West Nile Virus

West Nile virus is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. Mild symptoms includefever, headache, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash on the trunk of the body and swollen lymph glands. Symptoms of severe infection include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis. 

You can protect yourself from mosquito bites in these ways:

• Cover as much of the skin as possible by wearing long sleeves, long pants, and socks.
• Avoid the use of perfumes, colognes and scented deodorant which may attract mosquitos.
• Use insect repellents containing DEET on skin that is not covered by clothing. According to the CDC, DEET is the most effective repellent.
• Choose a repellent that provides protection for the amount of time that you will be outdoors. The more DEET a repellent contains, the longer time it can protect one from mosquito bites, with protection times ranging from 1 hour (4.75% DEET) to 5 hours (23.8% DEET).
• Spray clothing with repellents containing DEET or permethrin. (Note: Do not spray permethrin directly onto exposed skin.)
• Be extra vigilant at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active and around areas of standing water which make the best mosquito breeding areas.

 Poison Ivy-Related Plants

Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac have poisonous sap (urushiol) in their roots,stems, leaves and fruits. The urushiol may be deposited on the skin by direct contactwith the plant or by contact with contaminated objects, such as clothing, shoes, tools,and animals. Approximately 85 percent of the general population will develop an allergy if exposed topoison ivy, oak or sumac.  Sensitivity varies with the individual, but sensitivity can also change over time, so no one can confidently claim to be “immune”. 

To prevent a a reaction take the following precautions: 

• Wear long-sleeved shirts, tucked into long pants, tucked into boots.
• Wear cloth or leather gloves.
• Apply barrier creams (one product is Ivy Block) to exposed skin.
• Educate yourself on the identification of poison ivy, oak, and sumac plants – “leaves of three, leave them be.”
• If exposed, do the following within 10 minutes:
• Cleanse exposed areas with rubbing alcohol (or commercial products such as Zanfel, Ivy Cleanse Towelettes, and Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy Scrub) to remove the urushiol.
• Next, wash the exposed areas with water only (no soap yet, since soap can move the oil around your body and actually make the reaction worse).
• Now, take a shower with soap and warm water.
• Lastly, put gloves on and wipe everything you had with you, including shoes, tools, and your clothes, with rubbing alcohol and water.
• After 10-30 minutes the urushiol will likely stay on your skin and trigger the poison ivy rash, which may not show up for several days.  You may not be able to stop it on your skin, but you might still scrub your nails and wipe off your shoes, etc., so that you don't spread the urushiol to new areas.

• Cool compresses with water or milk
• Calamine - A nonprescription lotion
• Aveeno oatmeal bath - A product you put in the bath to relieve itching
• Oral antihistamines such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or loratadine (Claritin).