Preventing tick bites and the prospect for disease can seem nearly impossible, but we are trying to make it simple enough so that it becomes part of life for people living or visiting where ever ticks occur. Effective strategies are available in each area : Protect Yourself, Protect Your Yard, Protect Your Pets.
No More Camp Ticks!
Parents get peace of mind when kids wear tick repellent clothing
Whether their gone every day for a few hours, or for days to weeks at summer camp, parents generally fret over their kids safety when it comes to tick and mosquito bites at camp. Now’s the best time to Think TICK … and take a little ACTION before they go, to give your children the best protection possible….and give yourself a little piece of mind.
We're talking about how it's possible to make wearing effective tick repellent every day as easy as getting dressed in the morning. Tick repellent clothing is not new. Soldiers have had this protection built into their clothes for years. Now you and your kids can have it, too. TickEncounter recommends that you purchase 5 outfits (socks, shorts, tee shirt) for you're your little campers. These clothes can either come already treated with PERMETHRIN repellent from Insect Shield (or other brands like LLBean), or you treat them yourself using PERMETHRIN soak kits available from TickBlock or Sawyer Products. It only takes a few minutes to order the clothes on-line or treat and dry the clothes at home.
What's great about tick repellent clothing is that once the clothes have been treated, they can provide exceptional tick-bite protection through several cold-water washes – up to 6 washes if you choose the do-at-home method, and an incredible 70 washes with commercially treated clothes. Check out results of a TickEncounter test comparing the effectiveness of tick repellent clothing for tick-bite protection. Of course, you've got to actually wear the clothes to get the protection.
DON'T FORGET FOOTWEAR - Since it's deer tick nymphs that transmit Lyme disease, and since these ticks are hidden in leaf litter, having effective protection against these ticks is most important for staying safe at camp, or the backyard. Nymph ticks mostly latch on to shoes and climb up. That makes tick repellent shoes one of the best and easiest first lines of defense against Lyme disease. PERMETHRIN sprays are the best way to apply.
Take ACTION
– Check out our videos to see how to treat clothes:
Watch this video to see how well Permethrin treated clothing repels and kills ticks.
Watch this video to see how to properly apply Permethrin to clothing with the spraying method.
Watch this video to see how to properly apply Permethrin to clothing with a soaking kit.
Finally, you can become a fan on Facebook, and we'll let you know when the best times are to Think TICK and Take ACTION.
The Newest (and best) Way To Wear Tick Repellent!
Explore ways to protect yourself and your family by using repellent, clothing with repellent's built-in, and simple, yet effective, daily tick checks.
Now, there is an important new way to help keep children and camp staff protected from biting ticks while enjoying outdoor adventures at summer camp. Always wear clothing that is pre-treated with an effective tick repellent, it makes tick-bite prevention easy. And for peace of mind while kids are away at summer camp, why not make all of their clothes treated clothes. The protection is odorless, invisible and lasts through 70 washings. Insect Shield clothes - the tick repellent they'll love to wear (and so will you)!
Browse Insect Shield Protective Clothing
Find more styles for girls and boys
Read about Tick Bite Protection With Permethrin-Treated Summer Clothing.
Read URI's Tick Guy endorsement to Camp Directors.
Clothing-Only Repellent Videos
These videos demonstrate the effectiveness of clothing-only repellents containing permethrin, and also how to apply these repellents correctly.
Video 1: Permethrin-treated vs. Untreated Clothing
Watch this video to see how well Permethrin treated clothing repels and kills ticks.
Video 2: Applying Clothing Repellent via the Soaking Method
Watch this video to see how to properly apply Permethrin to clothing with a soaking kit.
Video 3: Applying Clothing Repellent via the Spray Method
Watch this video to see how to properly apply Permethrin to clothing with the spraying method.
Having trouble viewing the videos? In order to view thess videos, you will need to download and install the Adobe Flash Player. Please visit Adobe's web site and download the Flash Player if you can't view the video. Adobe Flash Player is a free extension to your web browser with installation instructions available on the download page.
Tick Checks
The simplest way to protect yourself is to remove a tick
before it has a chance to transmit disease-causing pathogens. Ticks can attach
anywhere, in particular, they will find spots like: the back of your knee,
around waistbands, under armpits or any other constricted place. Anytime after
you have been in tick habitat you should thoroughly check your entire body and
remove attached ticks immediately. Ticks DO
NOT wash off in the shower.
Tick-Protective Dress
Tick-Protective Dress:What you wear when working or playing could
reduce your chances of tick bites. Remember: Ticks start LOW and crawl UP;
ticks do not jump, fly or drop from trees, they are down on the ground and
crawl up until they find a good spot to attach. Tucking pant
legs into socks is a good way to keep ticks on the outside where they may be
seen or get brushed off.
Use Repellents
Repellents play an integral part in your personal
protection strategy. Repellents containing DEET are not sufficient to protect
against tick bites. DEET only repels ticks to areas where they could bite and
even that little protection does not last long. PERMETHRIN kills ticks on
contact. Clothing only repellents that contain Permethrin are very effective
and provide long-lasting protection. The best protection you can achieve is
by using a repellent that contains Permethrin on your clothes and one that
contains DEET for your skin.
Are you concerned about the serious health threat caused by ticks?
Would you like to make appropriate tick-borne diseases prevention programming more widely available? If you answered yes to these questions, please consider supporting the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island. Proceeds help support tick-bite prevention programs.