As an insect management technician for the Schuylkill Conservation District, Kyle Schutt spends a lot of time outdoors.

During this season, he’s out collecting adult mosquito samples to see whether they carry the West Nile virus and whether control measures are needed.

And then he’ll begin collecting ticks, and they too will be sent to a Department of Environmental Protection laboratory, to see what diseases they might harbor.

One of them is Lyme disease - and it’s one that Schutt doesn’t want to get.

Transmitted by the bite of an infected black legged tick, or deer tick, Lyme disease is found in every Pennsylvania county - from forested areas to urban places.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health notes that it is one of the most common infectious diseases in the commonwealth, with the latest data from 2018 showing that 10,028 cases were reported. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control believes that the number of actual cases is much higher - or about 10 times the amount of those reported.

“This means that Pennsylvania may have around 100,000 cases a year. That is about 1 case for every 100 people in Pennsylvania every year,” the health department says.

The disease often - but not always - presents with a bull’s-eye shaped rash, and in its initial stages, can cause fever, chills, headaches and joint pains.

Humans and domestic animals can be treated successfully with antibiotics, according to the health department. If not, the disease can lead to facial palsy, arthritis, severe headaches, heart palpitations and problems with short term memory.

Schutt takes precautions to avoid being bitten by ticks, including pretreating his clothing with Permethrin spray or using repellent with DEET or other EPA-approved active ingredients.

“It can also be beneficial to give my clothing a quick glance over while in the field if I had to walk through anything that looked like good tick habitat,” he said.

He recommended that hikers and walkers stay in the middle of trails in attempt to avoid contact with the vegetation where ticks might be living.

“After being in the woods its always a good idea to toss your clothes in the dryer for a cycle as this will dry out and kill any ticks that may be on the clothing,” Schutt said. “A quick shower will also help to knock off any ticks that are crawling around on you and not yet attached.”

Despite the precautions, he has found a tick or two crawling around on his clothing.

“But I don’t like to let that stop me from doing the activities I enjoy,” he said.

Folks can also make their homes less attractive to ticks.

The Penn State Extension advises removing leaves, clearing brush and keeping grass mowed. A cleared 3-foot bath between yards and wooded edges can also reduce tick presence.

Acaricides, or chemicals that are toxic to ticks, can be applied to gardens, lawns and the edge of woodlands near homes. The extension advises that no commercial essential oil products have demonstrated long-term effectiveness against ticks and cautions that some acaricides can be harmful if not used properly.

According to information from The Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania, ticks are becoming more active as temperatures warm. Caution should be taken while walking your dog, gardening, hiking, yard work, camping and picnics.

The lab, based at East Stroudsburg University, is continuing to offer free Basic Panel Tick Testing for Pennsylvania residents, thanks to funds received from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The tests scan the ticks for Lyme and other diseases. More information is available at www.ticklab.org/test-my-tick.

To date, the lab has tested 65,135, and has found infections in 18,871 of the specimens.