Ticks are the carriers of many frightening diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease, as well as many even more dreadfully debilitating ailments.
As well as dressing carefully in light colored clothing and spraying tick repellant all over our clothing before gardening, we must inspect ourselves carefully and shower after we come indoors after working in areas where ticks are prevalent.
We should also keep our yards neat and eliminate brush and leaf piles to discourage mice because they are the hosts of ticks. In areas where one can keep fowl, consider getting some guinea hens because, like possums, they love to eat ticks. When working outdoors we should tuck our pant legs into our socks, wear long sleeves, and use tick repellent often and liberally.
During your inspections of your body after being in the yard, if you do find a tick, drop it into a jar of alcohol to preserve it. Then if you later find the bite develops a bull's eye rash around it, you will need to seek medical attention, and the tick will be useful to the doctor. Antibiotics are prescribed if there is a halo around a tick bite, but they need to be given soon after the bite to be effective.
Our flower gardens were once our idyllic havens. Now urban deer are in abundance in most areas, and we must be vigilant about our health and encourage others to be vigilant also as this is an extremely serious public health issue.
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on ticks.
