Tick season is here. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that weekly emergency room visits for tick bites had reached a record high for that time of year since 2017. With Lyme disease being a concern, Penn State Health has published a Medical Minute article containing the need-to-know information about the disease.

The feature begins with prevention strategies. One of the university’s community health nurses, Tara Simmons, recommends backyard and yard maintenance to keep ticks away. Particularly, she says mowing your lawn, placing wood chips around playsets, and getting rid of rocks and brush piles will make it difficult for ticks to thrive. Simmons also suggests staying away from tick habitats when hiking and wearing light-colored, permethrin treated clothing. Using insect repellant and immediately washing your clothes and body should keep ticks from staying on you and reduce your risk of contracting Lyme disease.

If a tick does bite, the article says to remove it with tweezers. You should monitor yourself for symptoms for 30 days. The article emphasizes early treatment and seeing a medical professional as soon as symptoms or a rash develops. Early localized Lyme disease can be treated with doxycycline, while early disseminated Lyme disease might need intravenous antibiotic therapy. Co-infections can be resistant to doxycycline. Untreated Lyme disease can lead to joint and neurological complications, so it’s important to address the disease as early as possible.