SUN JOURNAL • August 31, 2025
Since I got pummeled by anaplasmosis, my de-tickification ritual has become rather extreme. For starters, I carry a bunch of lint rollers, the kind that uses sticky paper to pluck fuzz off your fabrics. Whenever I come out of the woods, I get as naked as is tasteful for the situation and I then run that roller over every inch of me in hopes of removing any clinging vectors of death that may have wandered onto my skin. I shake my hiking clothes vigorously and change into something fresh. At home, I throw all my hiking clothes into the dryer on its highest, most tick-killing setting. I then take a shower and use a particularly rough scrubby to scourge my flesh. If ticks are found on me in spite of my efforts, I have my steady-handed wife remove them with a commercially available tick remover. The chemical permethrin is used by some tick-averse folks as a way to treat clothing and hopefully repel the beasts. More tick prevention tips can be found at the excellent Tick Lab website at extension.umaine.edu/ticks.