Doing a tick check every day is essential, but far from foolproof. Deer ticks are the size of a pinhead, easily hidden and overlooked during a tick check.
I strongly recommend that hikers use permethrin to protect themselves from ticks.
I treat my hiking clothes with permethrin before I start hiking and then about once a month while I'm on trail. On each item, I treat only the entry points:
- tops of socks
- top and bottom edges of gaiters
- hems and waists of pants and shorts
- hems, sleeve cuffs, and collars of shirts
- leg openings and waist opening of underwear
- headbands and hat brims
I can't speak to the effectiveness of permethrin except to say that in my 3500 miles of A.T. hiking, I have found only a few ticks on me, none imbedded. If there were others, I didn't find them. And I have not been stricken with Lyme. This doesn't prove efficacy; maybe I just naturally repel ticks, or maybe I have just been lucky.
(Note: For about 100 of these miles, I also used low-level DEET repellant; otherwise permethrin has been my only repellant.)
Another anecdote to support the effectivenss of permethrin... One day a tick happened across my path while I was treating clothes. I set the tick on my treated sock, and it acted like a cat in the snow, lifting each leg high off the fabric as it sought escape. That still doesn't prove anything, especially since the sock was still wet. (I haven't run the experiment on a treated item after it has dried.)
Regardless of whether a hiker uses DEET or other insect repellant, treating clothes with permethrin surely can't hurt. And it surely might help.
I concur with your suggestion of permethrin rather than DEET. I was in the middle of a class I was teaching on a ropes course. I usually do not use bug spray since everyone else does and their spray keeps the area clear. That day was particularly buggy and I borrowed a spray. That evening I felt light headed and uncomfortable in my chest. I took a shower and felt better. I read the bottle the next day to see it was to only be used on clothes. I found out why. This could have been dangerous on a packing trip.
ReplyDeleteBased on the literature I've read, long term exposure to Deet-containing products can be hazardous to one's health. I'll go with the permethrin recommendation -- 100 percent. I believe Deet is about as safe as hormone replacement therapy for women; while I was awaiting an OBY GYN appointment years ago, I perused the literature on the waiting area "coffee table", describing how pharma commenced testing of HRT, only to halt the testing process, as a high percentage of participants had contracted cancer. I'll go with permethrin. Peace, Em.
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