Dill speaks with Sun Journal about protection against ticks, mosquitoes

Jim Dill, a pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, was interviewed by the Sun Journal for an article about tick and mosquito season. “It’s a bad year for ticks. There’s a lot of ticks around,” Dill said, adding deer ticks thrive in high humidity, which is what the state has had along with rain. Already, staff in his office are coming in from outside with “twice as many ticks as last year,” he said. “It could mean people are more aware, or it could mean it’s much worse.” He recommends wearing repellents on the skin, and a stronger repellent, Permethrin, for clothing only; wearing light-colored clothing; tucking pant legs into socks; and throwing clothes you’ve worn outside in the dryer for 15 minutes on high heat. “Most critical is to do tick checks every night when you’ve been out and about,” he said. How abundant mosquitoes are this year depends on where you are, Dill said. Mosquitoes breed in standing water, the article states. If something is too heavy to empty, like a birdbath, “flush it out with a hose once a week,” Dill suggested.