The need for health care providers to quickly and accurately detect and treat Lyme is extremely important. Their role in the prevention of this illness is equally important. Their role in prevention strategies that reduce exposure to infected ticks can significantly reduce the incidence of this illness.

Nurses, often the first point of contact in the health care system, can play a significant role in patient education, as well as in educating the larger community because they are viewed as approachable sources of health-related information. Whether providing this type of community education informally on an individual basis, or formally by offering community education programs, the nurse needs to be familiar with currently recommended prevention strategies.

Precautions people can take to avoid exposure to infected ticks are:

• Avoid tick infected areas; avoid unkempt brush and grassy areas.
• Be aware of seasonality of risk — greatest in the spring and summer when nymphal ticks are most active and in the late fall and very early spring when adult ticks are active.
• Wear light-colored clothing. Wear long sleeves to see ticks better and tuck pant legs into socks to keep ticks on the outside of clothing.
• Wear high rubber boots when gardening and/or working outside in the yard.
• Inspect yourself and family members daily for ticks following outside activities, particularly when vacationing in tick-infested areas.
• Apply insect repellents containing 20 - 30% DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) to clothes and exposed skin other than the face.
• Apply permethrin compounds (which kill ticks on contact) to clothing.
• Remove attached ticks promptly using tweezers to grasp the tick mouthparts and remove with steady, gentle traction (Studies show transmission of Bb from an infected tick is not likely to occur before 48 hours of attachment).
• Know the signs and symptoms of early Lyme disease or other tick-borne infections (Figure 7) and, if present, seek medical attention without delay.
• Consider modifying the residential landscape, by clearing leaf litter, brush, and tall grass; creating a woodchip border between lawn and grassy areas where infected ticks are know to exist; pruning shrubs and trees to open up shaded areas to sunlight; removing stone walls and woodpiles; erecting deer barriers.