Prevention

Prevention of human infection can be achieved by:

• awareness about the ticks
• when going out for walks,try to avoid long grass and stick to foot paths as much as possible
• in the areas where Lyme disease is endemic - legs should be covered and trouser bottoms taped or tucked into socks, wearing light coloured clothes to detect any attached ticks
• insecticides to reduce the ticks may be more effective than reducing the vector e.g. DEET-containing preparations.
• checking the skin frequently for ticks especially in places like armpits, groins, backs of knees and waistband area and in children head and neck areas (1)
• no vaccine is currently available in Europe or North America (2)
• prophylactic antibiotic therapy following a tick bite is not routinely recommended (1)

Patients should be adviced on removing the tick from the skin

• ticks should be removed from skin preferably with the use of fine-toothed tweezer or similar instrument gently griping the tick as close to the place of attachment and steadily pulling away from the skin
• skin area should be cleaned with soap and water, or skin disinfectant
• inexpensive tick removal devices (available from some veterinary surgeries and pet supply shops) might be useful for people who are regularly exposed to ticks
• lighted cigarette ends, match heads or application of creams or volatile oils (to cover the tick and force it to detach) should not be used
• hands should be washed after tick removal (3)

Reference:

• (1) Health Protection Agency (HPA). Prevention of Lyme borreliosis
• (2) Health Protection Agency (HPA). Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme borreliosis
• (3) Health Protection Agency (HPA). Tick recording scheme