Prevention is the best cure. Tuck your pant legs into your socks to keep ticks from crawling up your legs, and spray insect repellent containing DEET on your skin and clothes. Avoid sitting on the ground, and stay on well-travelled trails. Check yourself every few hours for ticks. And most important of all, at the end of the day, do a careful full-body examination for ticks.
Homeowners can reduce the tick population in their yards by taking a few simple precautions.
Deer ticks like leaf litter, brush, wood piles, and tall grasses. Keep your lawns clear of leaves and brush regularly, keep woodpiles stored above the ground, and regularly mow the lawn. Areas under birdfeeders should be kept clean so as to not attract mice and other small mammals that scavenge uneaten seed. If there is a very bad tick infestation in your yard, have the area around your home sprayed with a pesticide by professional pest removal specialists, in late spring to kill nymphs, and in the fall to kill adult ticks. Three shots are administered over the course of a year, and after the third shot, the risk of contracting Lyme disease is reduced by about 80.