Lyme Disease

Lyme and Your Child

Children are one of the groups most at risk for tick bites.  After all, they tend to play outside in the grass and the woods, exposing themselves to all sorts of creatures and diseases.  You want to protect them from Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, but you can’t lock them in the house all summer.  However, there are a few measures, which you, as a parent, can take to reduce your child’s chance of getting Lyme disease.

Protect Yourself Against Tick Bites

Keeping Your Yard Tick-Free

• Instruct children to wear pants and long sleeves when they play in the grass or the woods.  Dress younger children accordingly.
• Instruct children to wear light-colored clothing so that any ticks on clothing will be visible.  Dress younger children accordingly.
• When children come inside, have them remove their clothes and place them in a drier on high heat for 20 minutes.  This will kill any ticks.
• Teach children to check themselves for ticks, making certain they know what a tick looks like and how small it can be.  Perform checks on younger children regularly.
• Regularly check any family pets for ticks.
• Before they go outside, apply a 10% concentration of DEET  to children’s skin and clothes (but not on their face), or dress them in permethrin-treated clothing.  DO NOT use pesticides on infants and AVOID getting pesticides in children’s mouths and eyes.
• Do not let infants come in contact with grassy or wooded areas.
• If you find a tick on a child, remove it immediately, placing the tick in a jar of alcohol afterward.  You may want to contact your child’s physician.
• After removing a tick, watch your child carefully for any symptoms of disease.

Links:

• Infections: Lyme Disease
• Infections: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Evaluate Your Child’s Lyme Risk
• Woods and Camping Safety for the Whole Family
• When to Call Your Child’s Doctor
• Children and Fevers

Early Lyme Disease

Late Lyme Disease

Other Tick-Borne Diseases

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