Removal · field guidance

Eating garlic to repel ticks

Dietary garlic and garlic capsules have not been shown in controlled studies to reliably keep ticks from biting.

Steps

schema.org/HowTo
  1. 01
    DO NOT rely on eating garlic, taking garlic capsules, or rubbing garlic on skin to keep ticks off.
  2. 02
    A few small studies have looked at garlic and found, at best, a weak and inconsistent effect; nothing approaching the protection of registered repellents.
  3. 03
    If you trust garlic and skip real repellents, you walk through tick habitat unprotected.
  4. 04
    Instead, use an EPA-registered repellent on skin (DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus) and treat clothing with permethrin.
  5. 05
    Do a thorough tick check after coming indoors and shower within two hours.

Wild facts

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