Recommended precautions for anyone venturing outdoors include:

• Apply tick repellents containing permethrin to clothing, and EPA-registered insect repellents such as DEET to exposed skin before entering the outdoors.

• Wear light colored outer clothing and tuck shirts into pants, and pants into socks.

• Walk in the centers of trails, and avoid wooded and brushy areas with low-growing vegetation and tall grasses.

• After returning home, remove all clothing, take a shower and place clothing into the dryer on high heat to kill any lingering ticks.

• Conduct a full-body tick check.

• If a tick is found attached to your skin, use tweezers to remove it carefully.

• To have a tick checked, you can send to the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg University Innovation Center, 562 Independence Road, Suite 114, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301. Call

1-570-422-7892. This is free for PA residents.