DEET

There's a lot of hype around the Zika Virus, and just like when everyone was panicking over Ebola last year, there'a a lot of media exaggeration, social rumor, and misinformation out there. What is Zika? Zika virus disease exhibits symptoms including fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a...

Spring & Summer mean outdoor activities. Outdoors means ticks and risk of Lyme Disease. The CDC says: Before gardening, camping, hiking, or just playing outdoors, make tick bite prevention part of your outdoor plans. DEET, showers, and tick checks can stop ticks. Kids are five times more likely than adults to die from Ticks Ticks cause Disease – Fight the Bite...

Stop Ticks. Reduce your chances of getting a tickborne disease by using repellents, checking for ticks, and showering after being outdoors. If you have a tick bite followed by a fever or rash, seek medical attention. Gardening, camping, hiking, and playing outdoors – when enjoying these activities, don't forget to take steps to prevent bites from ticks that share the...

Is DEET bad? No - it's actually a very effective insect repellent (also spelled insect repellant accurately, in  case you were wondering) and the environmental impact and safety concerns are mostly urban legend and FAR outweighed by the efficacy and heath benefits (you don't want Lyme Disease or West Nile Virus, do you?) Environmental Working Group’s science review concluded that...