(NewsNation) — It’s tick season, and no one wants to find one of those pesky creatures somewhere on our body, or worse, end up in the hospital with Lyme disease.
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. The infection progresses in stages after an infected tick bites a human and causes joint pain.
The bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi in deer ticks, also called black-legged ticks, causes Lyme disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Dog ticks and wood ticks don’t carry the infection.
The Cleveland Clinic offers tips on how to spot ticks and remove them.
Examine your entire body, including your head, paying close attention to arms and knees as ticks like moist, warm areas.
Experts recommend wearing good-fitting socks, long pants, long sleeve shirts and bug repellents.
To remove a tick, use tweezers and pull straight up, getting as close to the skin as possible.
“After we remove a tick, there’s now a break in the skin, and just like any other break in the skin, we need to be careful to prevent a secondary bacterial infection,” said Dr. Christopher Bazzoli, an emergency medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic, in a statement.
He said washing that area with warm and soapy water is “really important.”
Be sure to also check your pets for ticks.