To help prevent tick bites, and hence the possibilty of any a tick-borne disease, you should avoid walking in long grasses and thick low lying bush with overhanging shrubs and small trees.

Ticks wait on the leaves of shrubs and small trees with legs extended. They can detect your heat emission and as you walk by, they latch onto you. They will then typically find their way to a warm, moist and dark place on the body (eg crotch, armpit or head), attach and start feeding.

A tick can slide onto you and crawl down from your head and attach itself anywhere on your body. Or walk up from your legs or arms to attach itself on your head as you walk in the bush totally unaware that a tick is feeding on you, especially if it is a nymph. Ticks secrete an anaesthetic in their saliva so you will not feel their bite or their attachment.

Some important tips for preventing tick bites include:

1. Wear a hat to protect your head and neck.
2. Wear light-coloured clothing so you can see small ticks, especially nymphs.
3. Tuck your pants into your socks so ticks can’t get onto your legs.
4. Wear a long-sleeved shirt and tuck it inside your pants.
5. Spray insecticide containing permethrin (an insecticide) on boots and clothing. The effects will last several days.
6. Apply insect repellent containing DEET (not on children) to your skin. Because DEET lasts only a few hours, you may need to reapply it.
7. Look for ticks on your body, including in your hair, when you return from hiking or walking.
8. Check children and pets for ticks.
9. Cut grass and trim the shrubs and small trees round your house to minimise contact with ticks.
10. Discourage bandicoots, wallabies and other small animals around your house.
11. Be alert and aware of ticks on you, so you can remove them as soon as possible.

Tick Removal

Remove the tick as soon as possible. It is a myth that a tick needs to be on you for 24 hours before it can transmit Borrelia.

Remember, you are playing Russian roulette with each tick bite. If it is the tick’s first feed after it has been infected from a previous host, it will take 24 hours for Borrelia to move from the gut of the tick to saliva. For the following feed, transmission time will be much shorter . If you are the host for the, third or fourth feed then Borrelia and other pathogens will be readily distributed in saliva. With each feed the transmission load of Borrelia will increase, the longer it feeds on you, the chance of you getting infected with Borrelia will increase.

To remove the tick use high quality pointed tweezers. Grab the tick by the head or mouth-parts close to the skin and pull gently upwards. Be careful, so that you do not crush its mouth and body to release the toxins, Borrelia and other pathogens and hence increasing your chances of getting sick.



If you have been in dense, thick bush where nymphs may be present or you can see hundreds of nymphs on your white clothing then the best way to remove all these almost microscopic ticks is to use benzyl benzoate (an insecticide) bath application to kill the nymphs. Cover your body from neck down with Benzylbenzoate (Hadani et al, 1977, Gouck, 1966)) and leave on for 24 hours and then wash. If the nymphs are on your head or you suspect they could be there, wash your head with anti-lice shampoo containing permethrin.

References
Hadani A, Ziv M, Recha V. (1977) A laboratory study of tick repellents.
Entomologica experimental et applicator Vol:22 Pages 53-59.
Gouck H (1966). Protection from ticks, fleas, chiggers. Arch dermatolol 93(1) Pages 112-113.