Tick Season Prompts Warning From DuPage County Health Department

DUPAGE COUNTY — The DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) recently shared tips on how to stay safe during tick season. From April to September, tick activity increases, DCHD said in a news release.

Tick bites can cause Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other ailments.

DCHD recommends the following:

• Check yourself, children and pets for ticks daily if outdoors
• Check underarms, bellybuttons, between legs, behind knees and at your hairline
• Remove ticks promptly if you find them

To remove a tick, DCHD recommends the following:

• Use clean tweezers
• Grab the tick close to the surface of your skin
• Use even pressure and pull upward
• Use rubbing alcohol to clean tweezers
• Use rubbing alcohol or water and soap to clean tick wound.

DCHD urges that you should not crush a tick. Rather, they suggest disposing of the tick by:

• Putting the tick in alcohol or a sealed container or bag
• Tightly wrapping the tick in tape
• Flushing the tick down a toilet

If you've been bitten by a tick and get a fever or a rash, contact a doctor as soon as possible,