Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Gig Conaughton County of San Diego Communications Office
Finally! The sun is back and you’ve been itching to get outside for a hike.
Just remember, it’s tick season in San Diego County, and you should protect yourself and your pets if you’re planning to roam into any brushy, grassy, or chapparal-covered areas.
One of the first things people can do to protect themselves and their pets is to wear insect repellent and use flea and tick control products on animals.
Protecting yourself is important because even though tick-borne illnesses are rare in San Diego County, ticks can transmit potentially dangerous diseases including Lyme disease, tularemia – also known as rabbit fever – and spotted-fever illnesses.
Ticks are parasites, related to spiders, scorpions and mites. They have hard, flat external skeletons and they feed on blood. You’re probably not going to run across them in urban or suburban areas, but you can find them – or rather, they can find you – if you like to walk into canyons or backcountry areas.
Ticks “quest” to find hosts by crawling up onto blades of grass or brush, perching and thrusting their hook-like front legs out into the air. When a person or animal brushes by the tick latches on and looks for a place to bite.
Here are six tips to help keep ticks away:
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