Tick bite prevention

Ticks and Lyme Disease
Lyme Disease can be a very serious disease. For the safety and health of your child and
family, please educate yourself about Lyme. The following is intended only as helpful
information and suggestions. Lyme Disease is transmitted by ticks, and we do
find ticks on campers and staff at Flying Deer.
What We Do
• We educate our instructors and counselors about ticks borne diseases and safe tick removal and they carry tick-removal devices with them at all times. Instructors will also carry one of the plant-based (non-DEET) repellants that has been proven effective in repelling ticks. • During camp orientation, we educate campers about ticks, tick-borne diseases, tick checks and tick removal. We remind children daily to do tick checks when they get home from camp. • If a child finds that he/she is bitten by a tick, a staff person will remove it promptly. • During overnight camps, we require campers to do a tick check every morning before dressing and every evening before dinner. A private area with mirrors will
be provided for tick checks. Instructors will be available to help with tick
removal, but please note that they will not be checking the children. If your
child is attending overnight camp, please be sure they understand how to
check themselves for ticks before they come to camp.

What You Can Do
• Tick Checks! As soon as possible after every day of camp, your child should take a shower and do a tick check, ideally with a parent’s help. Ticks often end up on the
backs of knees, waistline, groin, and armpits. But look everywhere, including the
hair! They can be smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, but are often
much bigger. We strongly recommend tick checks twice a day, before
dressing and before bed.
• Use herbal insect repellants. These include Repel Plant-Based Lemon Eucalyptus and Natrapel 8-Hour with picaridin, which tests have shown keep ticks away for
up to 7 hours. Please apply insect repellant before arriving for camp.
• Use chemical insect repellents (see below for options). When applying a repellent against ticks, spray on clothing, not skin, and give particular attention to the shoe
tops, socks, and lower portion of pants. Please apply insect repellant before
arriving for camp. Be informed about repellents or other chemicals that kill ticks
if you choose to use them. Chemical repellents found to be most effective
(keeping ticks away up to 7 hours) include Off Deep Woods Sportsmen II; Cutter
Backwoods Unscented; Off FamilyCare Smooth & Dry; and 3M Ultrathon Insect
Repellent 8. If you choose to use DEET-based insecticides, note that a concentration of DEET of up to 30% for adults and children over 2 years of age is the maximum concentration currently recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. If using DEET, it is especially important to apply this before arriving for camp and not in our parking lot. • Tick Removal. If you find a tick, use a tick remover especially designed for this purpose (these are available in drugstores and outdoor-supply stores) or very fine tweezers and grasp the tick as close to its head (as close to your skin) as possible. Slowly pull straight out, trying not to damage the tick body. Disinfect the bite and wash your hands. If you decide to get the tick tested, put it in rubbing alcohol. If not, make sure the tick is dead and out of reach of humans. • Rolling a lint roller over your child’s skin may pick up ticks that are crawling but • Clothing care: After coming home from camp, your child should put his/her clothes immediately in the washing machine or in an isolated area so that ticks that may be on clothing do not crawl off into the house or onto people. You can also put the clothing in a hot dryer for 30–40 minutes, which will kill ticks. You may choose to check your child’s bedding for ticks that may have found their way there. • You may choose to ask your child to wear light-colored clothing with long pants tucked into socks to make ticks easier to detect and keep them on the outside of the clothes. This is NOT foolproof, however: larval and nymphal ticks may penetrate a coarse-weave sock. • Clothing treated with the insect repellant Peremethrin is available, as are Peremethrin sprays that can be used to treat clothing. Treating clothing with permethrin-based repellants has been shown to be highly effective in reducing tick-bites in outdoor workers. Please educate yourself on this substance. Permethrin is a man-made version of a natural insect repellent found in certain chrysanthemum plants. Permethrin containing products are sold under the trade names Duranon Tick Repellent, Repel Permanone, Cutter Outdoorsman Gear Guard, Sawyer’s Permethrin Tick Repellent, Sawyer’s Clothing Insect Repellent, 3M Clothing and Gear Insect Repellent, and No Stinkin’ Ticks. They can be found at local outdoor sports shops. Chemical-free clothing such as Rynoskin™, a tight-weave long underwear-type clothing may also provide protection.

Source: http://flyingdeernaturecenter.org/pdf/FDNCTickInformation.pdf