Skin protection for military and veterans

01 · The field

Sun, brush and no sink

Range days, patrols and field exercises put skin through all of it at once. Hours of sun on whatever the uniform leaves open. Brush and wet ground full of ticks and mosquitoes. And when the day’s done, often no running water to wash up with.

Ticks can’t jump or fly. They climb low brush and grass and wait with their front legs out for someone to brush past. Mosquitoes breed in standing water, even in a discarded tire or a puddle by the motor pool.

Lyme disease, spread by the blacklegged (deer) tick, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States.R&R Lotion, Vector-Borne Diseases white paper, pp. 6 and 9

02 · The bite

How a bite becomes a disease

• Germ (virus, bacteria or parasite)
• Host

Vector-borne diseases are infections that blood-feeding mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and flies pass to people. The insect picks up the germ from one host, the germ grows inside it, and the next bite delivers it through the insect’s saliva.

Mosquitoes find you by what you give off. They pick up the carbon dioxide you breathe out from a distance, lactic acid from hard work as they close in, and body odor at the last few inches. A sweating crew on a ruck march is easy to find.

Source: R&R Lotion, Vector-Borne Diseases white paper, pp. 3, 4 and 11.

03 · What develops

What a bite can carry

• Germ in the saliva
• Blood vessel

Most bites are just itchy. Some carry disease. In the U.S., mosquitoes spread West Nile virus, and ticks spread Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus. Overseas, mosquitoes also carry malaria, dengue, Zika and chikungunya.

• Lyme disease: early signs are flu-like (fever, headache, tiredness) and often a bull’s-eye rash.
• West Nile virus: most people have no symptoms or a mild, flu-like illness 3 to 14 days after the bite. Severe neurological cases are rare.

A tick generally has to stay attached for more than 24 hours to pass on an infection, so finding and removing ticks the same day matters.R&R Lotion, Vector-Borne Diseases white paper, p. 6

04 · Why we built it

Built for crews in gear

A repellent doesn’t kill anything. It makes you harder for biting insects to find. We built ours on IR3535, an EPA-registered biopesticide, because it’s virtually odorless, goes on light and doesn’t fight with the rest of your kit.

Hand sanitizer doesn’t work well on hands that are visibly dirty or greasy. That’s why the field kit has a scrub you can towel off.CDC, When and How to Wash Your Hands

05 · In the field

When to put it on

1. 1
   Before you step offSunscreen first on exposed skin. Wait 10 to 15 minutes, then repellent over dry, exposed skin. For your face, spray your palm and rub it on. Never spray the face.
2. 2
   Every 2 hoursReapply sunscreen at least every 2 hours, and after 80 minutes of sweating. Reapply repellent about every 8 hours, no more than 3 times a day.
3. 3
   Before chow, after the latrineNo sink? Waterless hand cleaner: apply, scrub, towel off.
4. 4
   End of the dayTick check: knees, groin, armpits, behind the ears, belly button and scalp. Grab an attached tick close to the skin with fine-tipped tweezers, pull slowly and steadily, then clean the bite.

Follow the Drug Facts and EPA label directions on each product, and your unit’s field hygiene SOP.