CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- As temperatures rise, so do tick bites and tick-related illnesses. The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) encourages being prepared if you’re enjoying the outdoors this summer. The VDH said anytime the temperature is above freezing, there’s a chance to find ticks. But as warm temperatures become more consistent, the more comfortable they are to be out.  The VDH said over 1,700 people got medical care for tick bites or illnesses in April. That’s up from nearly no one in February. Courtesy of the Virginia Department of Health “If you found a tick on you, that’s half of the battle," Eleanor Labgold, State Public Health Entomologist for VDH said. "Some of these ticks can be so tiny that they’re so easy to miss. Less than the size of a poppy seed.”  Labgold said the best way to prevent a tick-related illness is by doing a few body scans every 30 to 60 minutes if you’re outdoors.  “Check places like your armpits, check the back of your knees, check your hairline," she said. "Check, you know, any dark moist place. A tick will really try to find a spot in your body to hide as best as it can.” There are about 16 tick species throughout Virginia, but only three that the VHD finds regularly on people: the black-legged tick (deer tick), American dog tick and lone star tick.  Some tick-related diseases, like Lyme disease, take up to 24 hours to transmit from tick to human. Alpha gal syndrome from a lone star tick, which can cause a fatal red meat and dairy allergy, is more based on a person’s immune system.  “I recommend whenever you go to your healthcare provider, just mention if your outdoors a lot, if you find a tick on you at some point, that’ll kind of help them with their assessment of you," Labgold said. A clean pair of tweezers to remove it should do the trick. Wash the area with soap and water after. Keep an eye out for abnormal rash or fever in the 5-14 days following. Labgold said when it comes to tick-bite-prevention, she recommends permethrin. It kills the tick on contact and can be put on clothing, shoes or gear but not the skin. Deet can be applied to the skin, but she said to read application instructions, Labgold doesn’t want the fear of ticks to keep people from the outdoors.   “If you’re outside in Virginia, you’re in tick habitat," she said. “But don’t let it deter you for spending time outdoors because the Commonwealth is so beautiful and there’s so many wonderful things to see across Virginia and we don’t want people to have this fear prevent them from spending time outdoors.”  The VDH has a Citizen Tick Survey where people can send in a photo or actual tick to Labgold and she’ll identify what kind of tick it is and what stage of life it’s in.  ...read more read less