How to protect against Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses

Going into Arlington’s Great Meadows nature preserve is a daily practice at the Waldorf School of Lexington, like the nursery school students and fourth graders who were out enjoying the wooded paths on Wednesday.

Also a regular occurrence: Finding ticks, especially as the weather warms up.

“We believe in kids being outdoors every day, all year round,” said Marie Duprey, design and communications specialist for the Waldorf School. “Because there are ticks out there every day, even in the winter, we need to make sure parents are being aware of that.”

At the Waldorf School, that means sending notices home several times a year, reminding parents to dress their children in long pants and closed-toed shoes and check for ticks every day.

“We talk about things like: Carry a lint roller in your car. Because every time you take a walk — when you walk your dog, whether it’s your kids, your dog, or yourself — you should roll yourself with a lint roller when you get back to your car,” Duprey said.

Ticks, and tick-borne illnesses, don’t really take years off in Massachusetts, said Dr. Catherine Brown, the Department of Public Health’s state epidemiologist.

Brown said the biggest concern among several tick-borne diseases in Massachusetts is always Lyme disease, the well-known bacterial infection often carried to humans by deer ticks. There are others that are rarer or often less severe, like anaplasmosis, another bacteria, and babesiosis, a microscopic parasite that can infect red blood cells.

Brown said the state typically logs several thousand Lyme cases in humans every year, which is likely an undercount.

“The fact is, in Massachusetts, every year is a bad tick year,” Brown said. “Even last year — in a year where it was dry and the tick populations were suppressed — we still had thousands of tick-borne disease cases.”

Early Lyme disease symptoms can include a bull’s-eye-shaped rash at the site of the tick bite, as well as flu-like symptoms including a fever, chills, aches and swollen lymph nodes. A doctor can diagnose it and prescribe antibiotics. Left untreated, Lyme disease can progress into more severe symptoms.

Some people infected with babesiosis can be asymptomatic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Others can experience what feels like a flu, with a fever, chills, aches, nausea and fatigue. It can be dangerous for people who have had their spleen removed, those who have a weakened immune system, and older adults and babies.

The Meadows is also very popular with local dog owners. Pam Peifer of Lexington was out early on Wednesday, bundled up for the damp, mid-30s morning weather as she walked her dog, Daisy.

“We’ve checked her all winter just because it keeps her in the habit,” Peifer said. “And so after the walk, she sits and waits to be checked for ticks.

“We’ve had a lot back here,” she added, “and we have found one on her this season already.”

While ticks that carry Lyme and other rarer diseases are very common in Massachusetts and the rest of the Northeast, Brown said she did not want to dissuade people from spending time outdoors as the weather gets warmer.

She suggested wearing long sleeves and long pants while it’s still cool enough, preferably in light-colored fabric so ticks are easier to spot before they attach. Brown said to also do thorough tick checks on all humans and pets — and, it’s always a good idea to wear tick repellent.

People who find a tick embedded into their skin should carefully and promptly remove it using tweezers, a tick key or their fingers protected with a tissue or plastic bag. Be sure to get the tick’s head, then call a doctor, Brown said.

Peifer said she’s had two tick bites in the last two years.

“I got antibiotics both times,” Peifer said, “but one time I had to go because a piece of the tick was embedded in me, and we couldn’t get it out.”

Brown recommended talking to a doctor after a tick bite, and that common-sense precautions can help people stay safe while ticks are out.

“I want people to be out enjoying the weather,” she said. “Just be aware of the fact that any time temperatures are above freezing, those ticks can be active.”