TAGS (Tick Alert Group Support)

For an Information Kit about Tick Alert Group Support (TAGS), ticks and tick-borne illness etc. please send your details plus $5.00 (cheque payable to TAGS) to: TAGS PO Box 95 Mona Vale NSW 1660.

 

Tick Alert Card

Tick Alert

How to remove a tick

Remove the tick as soon as possible. Use fine point tweezers or a tick remover.

Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Gently pull the tick straight out with steady pressure. If you have difficulty seek medical attention.Wash your hands, disinfect the bite and tweezers.

DO NOT try to kill the tick with methylated spirits, petroleum jelly, or any other chemicals. This will cause the tick to inject more toxins and bacteria.

Save the tick in a small airtight container with moist paper or a piece of grass for further examination if you become ill within a few weeks.

Children - tell them to seek adult help for proper tick removal.

Multiple tick bites of tiny grass ticks (larval stage) are best removed if you soak for 30 minutes in a bath with I cup of bicarb soda.

Prevent tick bite

Ticks occur in moist sheltered bushy areas and gardens. They may drop on clothing as you brush against shrubbery, or drop from overhanging branches. Ticks like weedy areas, especially Lantana.

Dress appropriately for bushwalks or gardening. Wear a widebrimmed, floppy hat, long-sleeved shirt, and long trousers tucked into socks. Ticks are more easily seen on light-coloured clothing.

Spray clothes and hat with brands containing pyrethrurn/pyrethroids, preferably the night before wearing. Pay attention to openings e.g. collar, cuffs, fly, and hang on a coathanger to dry OR treat clothing with Permethrin which will endure up to 7 washings. Also use insect repellent with DEFT on exposed skin.

Check clothing and pets before entering the house. Remove clothing to check family for ticks. Pay attention to head, behind ears, groin, armpits and back of knees. Be careful where you put the clothing e.g. it may introduce ticks into your bedroom, carpeted areas, sofas, etc.

Mow the grass and keep the garden neat. Trim shrubs overhanging paths. Ticks like damp, moist areas such as woodpiles and mulch. Spray vegetation with Permethrin (a synthetic form of pyrethrum).

Paralysis Tick Ixodes holocyclus common on Australia's eastern coast.

Tick bite can make you ill

Toxin injected by the tick may cause local irritation or illness. Seek medical attention for allergic reactions or unusual symptoms.

Ticks can carry infectious diseases

Bacterial infections may be transmitted by the Paralysis Tick Ixodes holocyclus including Tick Typhus and Lyme borreliosis. After tick bite be aware of symptoms that could indicate infection.

Tick Typhus or Spotted Fever (Rickettsia australis)

Contact your doctor if the following symptoms occur up to 14 days after tick bite: fever, muscle or joint pain, headache, sore throat, cough, conjunctivitis, confusion, intolerance to bright light, neck stiffness. There may be generalised rash up to 12 days after tick bite (it can sometimes be confused with chickenpox). At the site of the bite there may be a black scab (eschar).

Lyme borreliosis

If you experience any of the following symptoms after a few days, weeks or even months later, contact your doctor.

Early infection

Flu-like symptoms, headache, fever, muscle or joint pain, unusual fatigue, swollen glands, conjuctivitis. A rash may occur at the site of the bite or elsewhere, variable in shape and colour; many people do not get a rash. Skin irritation immediately following tick bite is not necessarily a sign of infection.

Chronic infection

Symptoms may include chronic fatigue, behavioural changes, severe headaches, neck problems, nerve inflammation, memory problems, eye problems, recurring rashes, intermittent or chronic disabling pain, arthritis, heart problems.

Your pets

Dogs, cats, horses, cows etc. can be infected too, often suffering similar symptoms to humans, especially arthritis.

Contact TAGS for an Information Kit

Please send your details plus $5 (cheques payable to TAGS) to:

TAGS (Tick Alert Croup Support) Inc.
PO Box 95, Mona Vale, NSW 1660

Donations accepted: all proceeds going to support much-needed research into tick-borne diseases

Financial support for this information card was provided by Pittwater Council. TAGS Inc.Е 2000

 

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