Ticks and ivy and bees, oh my!

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SUMMERTIME PERILS AND PESTS AND TAKE YOUR FITNESS ALFRESCO WITHOUT FEAR.

- Nicole Clancy

WHEN YOU THINK OF SUMMER and outdoor exercise, what comes to mind? Likely you see yourself reveling in the sunlight, hiking the trails, enjoying the freedom of shorts and tees, and spending some intimate time with Mother Nature. But if telenovelas have taught us anything, with intimacy comes peril, and the onset of warm weather also rouses some dangerous creeps in both plant and animal form: ticks, bees/wasps and poison ivy/oak.

Don’t let these hot-weather hazards chase you back inside. Here’s the 411 on what they are, what they do and how to deal with their nastiness so you can face the fields and forest with impunity.

ticks

Ticks live in woody or grassy areas and spend their time hanging around until something warmblooded passes by, at which time they jump aboard. They stroll across your person until they find an area of exposed flesh and then get to work embedding their head under your skin to tap into your blood supply.

This in and of itself is nasty, and the sooner you get that sucker off you (pun intended) the better. Because No. 1 — ew. And No. 2 — Lyme disease is a notorious bacterial infection that can manifest in both people and animals. “The Northeast and Midwest U.S. are hot spots for Lyme disease,” says Ying Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins. Not all ticks carry Lyme, though, and if you find a larger, hardshelled species on your body, you’re probably safe. But deer ticks — such as the blacklegged types — are the most likely infected species. Unfortunately, they are also among the smallest — about the size of a poppy seed — and can often go undetected for days.