Tick Prevention Week

Tick Prevention Week was started in April 2006. The board members of BADA-UK (Borreliosis & Associated Diseases Awareness) decided that the best way to focus their campaign to raise awareness about ticks and the diseases they carry was to condense the campaign for one awareness week each year just before the spring holidays when people get out and about more.

For the past two years we have focused on adults and have featured some sad case histories. This year our focus is on children and making sure that they are tick aware too.

Making children tick aware doesn't have to be scary. Ticks are one of nature's potential hazards but that doesn't mean we should panic. Being tick aware means that if someone is bitten, we know what to do and what to look out for. Being tick aware means knowing how to discourage ticks from biting us. Teaching our children to be prepared this way is no different to teaching them to put on a seat belt in the car or not to take sweets from strangers.

Ticks are part of nature. They're irritating, they don't seem to serve any purpose (except to transport infectious organisms from one creature to the next) and they're not very pretty, but they do deserve some respect because they can sometimes make us sick.

Knowing what ticks are, where they are likely to be found, how to prevent them from biting us, and what to do if we are bitten will help to keep us safe.

Whether you are a parent, a guardian, a teacher or a club leader, Tick Prevention Week is a time that you can introduce children to the subject of ticks and how to avoid them.