Attached ticks should be removed promptly. Protective clothing includes a hat and long-sleeved shirts and long pants that are tucked into socks or boots. Light-colored clothing makes the tick more easily visible before it attaches itself. People should use special care in handling and allowing outdoor pets inside homes because they can bring ticks into your house.
A more effective, community wide method of preventing Lyme disease is to reduce the numbers of primary hosts on which the deer tick depends such as rodents, other small mammals, and deer. Reduction of the deer population may over time help break the reproductive cycle of the deer ticks and their ability to flourish in suburban and rural areas.
Management of host animals
Lyme and all other deer-tick borne diseases can be prevented on a regional level by reducing the deer population that the ticks depend on for reproductive success. This has been effectively demonstrated in the communities of Monhegan, Maine and in Mumford Cove, Connecticut. The black-legged or deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) depends on the white-tailed deer for successful reproduction.
By reducing the deer population back to healthy levels of 8 to 10 per square mile (from the current levels of 60 or more deer per square mile in the areas of the country with the highest Lyme disease rates), the tick numbers can be brought down to very low levels, too few to spread Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.
Vaccination
A vaccine, called Lymerix, against a North American strain of the spirochetal bacteria was approved by the United States FDA on December 21, 1998. It was produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and was based on the outer surface protein A (OspA) of B. burgdorferi. OspA causes the human immune system to create antibodies that attack that protein.
A group of patients who took Lymerix developed arthritis, muscle pain and other troubling symptoms after vaccination. A class-action lawsuit against GSK was filed on December 14, 1999. On February 26, 2002, GSK decided to withdraw Lymerix from the market citing poor sales, need for frequent boosters, the high price of the vaccine, and the exclusion of children. This was in addition to the numerous financial settlements made because of the vaccine.
Removal of ticks
Many urban legends exist about the proper and effective method to remove a tick, however it is generally agreed that the most effective method is to pull it straight out with tweezers, making sure not to squeeze the tick or break its head off. Another method is to wrap dental floss around the tick and then pull up to remove it. Gently pinch the tick and drag. Complete removal of the tick head is important; if the head is not completely removed, local infection of bite location may result. However, an alternative method to remove a tick is covering it and surrounding area with an oil thus causing the tick to suffocate. This method is not recommended over standard removal with tweezers, though, as it can irritate the tick and cause it to burrow deeper or regurgitate its stomach contents, increasing the likelihood of disease transmission. Data have demonstrated that prompt removal of an infected tick, within approximately 36 hours, reduces the risk of transmission to nearly zero percent ; however the small size of the tick, especially in the nymph stage, may make detection difficult.
