Somerville Sharing Tips to Help Prevent Mosquito and Tick Bites This Summer

As summer gets fully underway, the City of Somerville is reminding residents to stay vigilant against bug bites. Mosquitoes and ticks are both extremely common in Massachusetts and may carry or spread viruses and bacteria that can make you sick.

Help Avoid Mosquito and Tick Bites 

• Use insect repellent when outdoors. 

• When weather permits, wear long sleeves, long pants, and socks outdoors to help keep mosquitoes and ticks away from your skin. Tuck your pants into your socks for better protection against ticks. 

• If you can, schedule outdoor activities to avoid the hours from dusk to dawn when mosquitoes are most active. If you cannot schedule activities around these times, take extra care to use repellent and wear protective clothing. 

• Stick to main pathways and the center of trails. Ticks are most commonly found in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, so brushing against tall grass and bushes increases your risk of exposure to ticks. Ticks only attach when you come into direct contact with them — they cannot jump or fly. 

Steps to Help Keep Mosquitoes and Ticks Away from Your Home 

• Drain standing water from around your home, like rain gutters, drains, and unused flowerpots. This helps limit places around your home for mosquitoes to breed. 

• Install window and door screens or repair damaged screens to help keep mosquitoes outside. 

• Keep grass cut short and remove leaves and brush to help reduce any ticks around your home. 

Check for Ticks 

• After spending time outside in potentially tick-infested areas, check yourself, children, pets, and clothing for ticks. Ticks are tiny, so look for new “freckles.” Ticks may be on areas between the toes, back of the knees, groin, armpits, and neck, along the hairline, and behind the ears. 

• If you find a tick attached to your skin, don't panic and carefully remove it as soon as possible. Use fine point tweezers to grip the tick as close to your skin as possible and pull straight out with steady pressure. Then, thoroughly clean the bite area. 

Mosquito- and Tick-borne Illnesses 

Both West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) are usually transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. Only a small number of mosquitoes are infected at any given time, so being bitten by a mosquito does not mean you will get sick.

The State does seasonal testing for WNV and EEE and updates town-specific risk levels where WNV- or EEE-positive mosquitoes are found. Five samples of WNV-positive mosquitoes have been found so far this summer. No human or animal cases of WNV have been detected so far this year. No evidence of EEE has been found so far this year. Somerville is currently at Low risk for both WNV and EEE. You can check risk maps throughout the summer at: mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-arbovirus-update. 

Different kinds of ticks can bite you and spread diseases. In Massachusetts, ticks can spread more common diseases like Lyme Disease, Babesiosis, and Anaplasmosis, as well as rarer diseases like Tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Powassan virus. If you remove a tick from your skin, note the date and where on your body the tick was removed. Talk to your doctor if you develop a rash or other signs of illness following a tick bite. 

For more information on mosquitoes and ticks, visit: mass.gov/mosquitoes-and-ticks. 

Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should contact the ADA Coordinator in advance at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or ADA@somervillema.gov.  

If you need assistance understanding this information, please contact us at languageaccess@somervillema.gov or call 311 (617-666-3311). The City of Somerville can provide you with an interpreter for free.