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Spring: Risks and tips

Prevention Tips

  • Be prepared.

  • Spring Forward! Change the batteries in your carbon monoxide alarms when you set your clocks forward. Keep appliances, furnaces, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves in good repair.

  • Spring cleaning means dangerously strong chemicals may be within reach. 

    • Read and follow the directions on the product label.

    • Turn on fans and open windows.

    • Be especially careful with oven cleaners, drain openers, toilet bowl cleaners and rust removers. These caustics burn on skin or eye contact and are among the most dangerous products found in homes. Always keep them away from children – up high and locked away!

    • Don’t mix cleaning products unless the label directs you to. Toxic gases may form. Never mix bleach with a cleaner that contains ammonia (generates chloramine gas) or a cleaner that contains an acid (generates chlorine gas).

    • Store products in their original containers. The transfer of cleaners, pesticides or auto fluids to food or soda containers has caused some of the most serious poisonings in unsuspecting victims.

  • skunk with tail up

    What happens if a skunk sprays me?

    Skunks spray to repel potential predators with a foul-smelling, oily secretion stored in their perianal glands. For humans, it usually does not result in much more than short-term irritation. In dogs, in addition to irritation it can rarely cause a more serious condition in which the red blood cells are destroyed. Leaving skunks (as well as all wildlife) alone and making your home less attractive and inaccessible to them are the keys to prevention.

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  • woman holding california poppy

    What to know about California poppy products

    The California poppy (Echscholzia californica) has been used as an herbal product and can be purchased as as capsules, tablets, loose leaves for tea, and an extract. The plant contains several alkaloids which some believe can help with sleep, anxiety, and pain. However, there are no useful studies conducted in humans that support these claims.

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  • closeup of colorful tulips

    Tulip bulb toxicity: Internal and external effects

    Tulips are beautiful and hardy plants grown from bulbs. Although a variety of symptoms have followed eating tulip bulbs, the exact toxicity of the plant when eaten has not been fully established. However, a well-documented toxicity from handling tulips is known as "tulip fingers."

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  • tick habitat sign

    Treating tick bites

    Ticks are most active during warmer months (April-September), but tick bites can happen during any time of the year. Ticks live in grassy, wooded, brush-filled areas or even on animals. Tick exposure can happen in your own backyard. See a healthcare provider if you experience fever, rash, or aches within a few weeks of a tick bite.

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  • mother applying tick repellent on son

    An introduction to common tick-borne diseases

    Ticks are experts at feeding on your blood and, in return for your generosity, transmitting disease to you. There are several different kinds of bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases transmitted by ticks, and tick-borne diseases are on the rise. Prevention is key: do what you can to prevent them from having access to you.

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