Ticks are capable of transmitting a number of diseases to humans. This includes Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, rickettsiosis, tick-borne relapsing fever and tularemia, according to an article posted on the Texas Health and Human Services website.

How to Prevent Tick Bites: Tick Season in Texas

To help reduce the spread of ticks, Mercado recommends the following tips:

• Keep the grass green, healthy and mowed. This will promote an ecosystem that will attract other wildlife like birds to feast on and reduce pest insect populations.
• Keeping pet populations low can also help reduce possible outbreaks, as many nearby pets can foster an environment conducive to ticks and disease transmission.
• Treat your pets and property regularly.
• Read and follow instructions for shampoos, medications and garden chemicals and create a plan to follow in order to prevent an outbreak.
• For additional support for pets with ticks or a property infestation, people can contact a local veterinarian for prescription medications that may not be available over-the-counter.

Additionally, the Texas A&M Tick App for Texas also details a number of steps people can take to protect themselves from ticks.

• This includes wearing long, light-colored clothing whenever possible and covering exposed skin with repellents, using permethrin-based clothing repellent sprays, and tucking trouser legs into socks to prevent ticks crawling outside of clothing (a ring of tape around the ankles on top of closed shoes is also recommended).
• During outdoor activities and after such outings, the Texas A&M resource also suggests performing frequent examinations of all clothing and exposed skin for ticks and removing outdoor clothing, sleeping bags and blankets after a hike with the items immediately placed in a washing machine or stored in a sealed plastic bag.
• While bathing, Texas A&M also recommends re-examining skin surfaces for ticks and removing any attached ticks using tweezers, tick removal tools, or fingers protected by a tissue. or a sanitary wipe.

Tick ​​Bites: Symptoms and Diseases

The previously mentioned THHS message also details possible symptoms related to tick-borne diseases:

• Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis: Symptoms are non-specific and usually include fever, headache, muscle aches and fatigue.
• Lyme disease: Side effects can cause skin lesions or rashes, fever, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, and in some cases, if left untreated, severe joint damage , heart and nervous system.
• Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF): TBRF disease conditions are often associated with exploring caves or sleeping in rustic cabins. Clinical symptoms can cause recurrent bouts of fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and nausea. The THHS also explained that Lyme disease and TBRF symptoms can be very similar, and TBRF patients can test positive for Lyme disease.
• Tularemia: Tularemia can also be transmitted directly by handling infected animals, especially wild rabbits and rodents, or by exposure to mud or water containing the bacteria. Symptoms are nonspecific and may include fever, malaise, skin lesions, and swollen lymph nodes.
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: One of many related diseases known as the spotty fever group rickettsioses is usually characterized by fever and a measles-like rash and can lead to severe illness and even death if not processed quickly.