PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

When it comes to ticks, it’s all about common sense, says Dr. James Como, an infectious disease specialist at Allegheny Health Network.

You want “to prevent ticks from getting on your body, and then if they do, identify them before they can potentially transmit a disease to you,” he says.

Ticks can attach themselves to your clothes or skin — or to your pets — typically while walking in areas of high vegetation, tall grass or wooded areas with lots of dead leaves. Como recommends avoiding those areas, wearing long sleeves and pants, and using a DEET or permethrin repellent. 

If you do find a tick attached, you need to remove it properly, Como says. Using tweezers, you should pull the tick straight off, not twisting, pinching at the base where the head is attached to the skin and making sure the tick’s mouth is completely extracted from your body.

If you know the tick has been attached for fewer than 36 hours, you don’t need to worry about contracting Lyme disease, Como says. The tick needs that much time to take your blood, infect it with bacteria and transmit it back to you.

If it’s been longer than 36 hours, you should see your doctor for a single dose of doxycycline in highly endemic areas like Western Pennsylvania, Como says. In 2022, Pennsylvania ranked 9th in the United States for the number of Lyme disease cases reported by population, and cases increase from April through August, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

You should not send the tick away for testing to see if it was indeed infected with Lyme, Como says, because often labs that perform this service are not certified.

“You can get very variable responses,” he says. 

Should you fail to notice or remove the tick, one way to know you’ve acquired Lyme disease is if you notice a bullseye rash — or even more of a solid circle. If you do have Lyme disease, you’ll likely need a 10-day course of antibiotics. 

If left untreated, Lyme disease can cause longterm problems from irregular heart rhythms, arthritis, meningitis or even neurological disease. “Prevention is everything,” Como says.