Read the headlines lately and you may find yourself not wanting to leave your home this summer—even for a cooling swim during extreme heat. Here’s a horrifying sampler:
- Fear and Algae in the Hamptons: How Flesh-Eating Bacteria Is Invading the East Coast’s Swankiest Waterways (Vanity Fair)
- It Begins as a Tick Bite and Can Be Devastating. And It’s Spreading. (New York Times)
- Michigan Seeks Gross Lake Photos as Inland Algae Blooms Arrive (M Live)
- Vibrio Vulnificus Bacteria Infects Niceville Florida Teen (Pensacola News Journal)
It’s all scary, not to mention climate-related (more on that in a minute), but it is also summer. Go outside you must! Here’s another headline to remind you why being outside is critical: The Nature Cure: How Time Outdoors Transforms Our Memory, Imagination and Logic (The Guardian).
So here’s how to tackle the terrifying and still embrace the beloved school-free season safely and without fear. With the following precautions, you can join your kids in the sprinkler, eat too much watermelon, and enjoy the fireflies.
Terrifying ticks
Climate warming is making some parts of the world, including much of the U.S., more habitable for disease-carrying insects like ticks. There are so many tick-borne illnesses, from Lyme disease to Babesiosis, that it’s understandable to feel afraid.
Perhaps the most talked about this summer is alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), an allergy to red meat and mammalian dairy that can arise after a sugar molecule called alpha-gal enters the human body, typically from a lone star tick bite. It’s popping up in various places across the country from Virginia to Tennessee to Delaware. It’s so concentrated on summer vacation destination Martha’s Vineyard that local grocery stores and menus across the Massachusetts island are dotted with “alpha-gal friendly” signs. No matter what disease from a tick bite scares you the most, it’s still no reason to hunker down indoors.
Here are top tips for protecting yourself from ticks:
- Wear protective clothing that will make it easier to spot ticks, like tall white socks with light-colored long pants tucked into them.
- Walk, hike, and camp on gravel or mown areas and paths, not in ticks’ favorite spots, like grassy fields and meadows or densely wooded areas with leaf litter.
- Tick checks are a must during tick season when you’ve been outside—pay careful attention to your scalp, groin, armpits, behind your ears, and basically anywhere flesh meets flesh and also where clothing meets skin, like your waistline and under your bra.
- Consider bug spray. Some repellants are more toxic than others—active and proven effective ingredients vary from natural oils to synthetic agents. These can be sprayed on clothing and shoes if you’re concerned about using them directly on skin.
- Remember that ticks can be teeny tiny. This means sometimes they attach and feed on humans for a while before they are noticed. Or are never noticed. See a doctor if you’ve had an attached tick on you or notice a “bullseye rash,” a clear indicator of a tick bite on your skin. Early intervention with antibiotics can be useful in combating tick-borne diseases.
Blood-thirsty mosquitoes
Climate change is significantly expanding the geographical range and the breeding season of mosquitoes. These can now carry diseases like dengue, chikungunya, West Nile, and Zika in temperate regions that did not used to be affected.
Preventing mosquito bites involves a mix of strategies like eliminating standing water around where you live, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and as with ticks, using repellents that range from oil of lemon eucalyptus to stronger synthetic chemicals.
Keep in mind that burning anything—a candle or coils—to deter mosquitoes introduces significant pollution to the air you’re breathing, including soot (PM2.5), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and toxic gases, especially if you are burning them indoors. One study showed that the smoke from a single mosquito coil can release as much formaldehyde and soot pollution as burning dozens of cigarettes. Choose another deterrent! Then make a cool beverage and watch a late sunset, buzz-free.
Flesh-eating bacteria
Nothing says summer more than swimming. But what about algal blooms and flesh-eating bacteria, a.k.a. vibrio vulnificus? Let’s start with the flesh-eating stuff, because, well, it sounds like a horror movie. Basically, this potentially deadly bacteria is naturally found in coastal and brackish waters (that’s where salt water and freshwater meet) during the warmer months. While it used to be a Gulf Coast phenomenon, climate chaos-warmed waters have caused cases to surge along the East Coast, with a whopping 800% increase from 1988 to 2018, according to the CDC.
People can get infected if they swim with an open cut or wound or eat contaminated raw or undercooked seafood. It can be deadly. So what to do?
- Check local beach advisories and warnings before swimming or slurping oysters. Heed them!
- You know your own health. If you have cuts, a new tattoo or piercing, or a compromised immune system, swimming—especially in brackish waters—isn’t for you.
- If you swim, shower with soap and running water after.
- Protect feet from cuts on sharp rocks or shells while wading by wearing water shoes.
Icky algal blooms
Swimming in algal blooms is universally not recommended for anyone. But then again, dunking in green scum isn’t enticing, so this might not feel like a hardship.
Blooms typically come from nutrient pollution—too much nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways from both industrial sources as well as farm runoff and septic systems—mixed with increasingly warm temperatures and sunlight. Blooms with the potential to harm human health, pets, livestock, or aquatic ecosystems are called harmful algal blooms (HABs). In freshwater, microscopic cyanobacteria are the most common HAB producers. Slow-moving, warm water is most at risk for HABs.
Follow local waterway advisories and don’t swim, boat, wade, or fish for shellfish when blooms are happening. Head to a local pool instead!
Bottom line: Don’t let the scary stuff keep you indoors all season. With a few preventative measures and some flexibility in plan making, summer fun is well within reach.
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