Representatives from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health, Conservation and Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection visited Memorial Lake State Park on Thursday, Aug. 22, to urge residents to take precautions to prevent Lyme disease and other mosquito-borne illnesses.
Pennsylvania continues to rank in the top 10 states in the country for Lyme disease cases per 100,000 residents. So far in 2024, the state has recorded 11,263 lab-confirmed cases of Lyme disease, the health department said. Most cases are successfully treated with antibiotics, but if not treated Lyme disease can spread to joints, the heart and nervous system.
To help prevent mosquito bites and Lyme disease, officials recommend wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repellant with DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus, and covering exposed skin. People should also check themselves, their children and their pets thoroughly for ticks after being outside and shower to help remove any ticks that may have bitten them. People can also throw their clothes in the dryer using high heat to help kill remaining ticks.
Earlier this year, the health department launched an online dashboard to show where ticks are prevalent.
“Spending time outdoors is an important way to support health and wellness, but we want to encourage Pennsylvanians to do so as safely as possible,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen. “It only takes a couple of minutes to reduce your risk of tick bites before you head outdoors and to check for ticks after coming back inside. A few simple steps can make a world of difference in protecting you from Lyme disease.”
“Taking preventative measures helps people enjoy mental and physical health benefits of being in the outdoors without having to worry, especially with regard to ticks,” added DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. “It is critical to be aware of the risks and be prepared when spending time outdoors year-round, whether that is visiting one of our 124 state parks, hiking our more than 2.2 million acres of state forestland, or enjoying one of the more than 6,000 local parks in your own backyard.”
Ticks are not confined to the forests and wooded areas of Pennsylvania; they can be found in urban and rural settings too, usually in shrubs, weeds, leaf litter, and tall grasses.
For more information on Lyme disease, visit the Department of Health’s Tickborne Diseases webpage.
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