WESTERLY — Threats from an organism no bigger than the head of a pin can make your life miserable and may even be life-threatening, but you don’t have to sit still while they do their worst, says Dr. Thomas N. Mather, professor of entomology and director of the University of Rhode Island Center for Vector-Borne Disease.

Mather, who has conducted research on ticks and disease prevention for more than two decades, said the key to defeating these troublemakers is to remember what your grandmother told you about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.

There have been reports that the incidence of Lyme disease is rampant in Rhode Island, but Mather said “it’s actually slowing down quite a bit. We had three weeks of really hot weather during July and that really put kind of an abrupt stop [to tick attacks], but people are still going to be coming down with disease now because ticks were out earlier.”

Mather noted everything has a season and ticks have had theirs. But even though the season has almost passed, officials are still concerned.

He maintained that it’s not the time to be complacent, but rather time to make a preemptive strike to stave off next year’s problem.

The bad news is there are 717,614 Rhode Islanders currently at risk for encountering a deer tick right where they live. These blood-sucking arachnids transmit Lyme disease, babesiosis [a life-threatening, malaria-like disease] and anaplasmosis [characterized by anemia and by jaundice.]

The good news is that one need only follow a few simple directions to take effective preventive measures. Much of that information can be obtained on the Web site www.tickencounter.org to ward off the parasitic mites which attach themselves and suck the blood not only of people, but cattle, dogs and many other animals.

“I think that people need to keep checking in. Do they really know the facts?” Mather asked.

“They need to keep reminding themselves,” Mather said. “It’s on my mind all of the time, but it’s not on everybody’s mind and I don’t want it to be, but I do want it to be enough on their minds so that they take some action and then they can go about their life feeling safer.”

Mather said the action he prescribes is a preventive method that’s called “Think Tick, Take Action.”

“The word ‘tick’ spells the actions authorities want them to take,” Mather said. “’T’ stands for owning a pointed tweezer. Everyone should own a pointed tweezer for safe tick removal, and in fact, CVS partnered with us last year and again this year to make available reasonably high quality, pointed tweezers at a $5 price point. Everyone in tick risk areas, which is most of southern Rhode Island, should have a good pointy tweezer in the home.”

The letter “I” stands for inspecting oneself at least once a day, because research has shown it takes at least 24 hours after a tick latches on and bites for it to transmit a pathogen. If the tick is removed with a pointed tweezer within 24 hours it can prevent transmission.

The “C” stands for clothing repellants. “Most people are told to use repellants that contain the DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) ingredient,” Mather said. He explained that repellants containing DEET may work fine against mosquitoes, but not so well against ticks. “Another product called Permethrin on clothing is very effective as a deterrent.”

He said treating clothing once a month with Permethrin during May, June and July, the months ticks are rampant, means you only have to do it three times and that you can even wash the clothing. “At the very least everyone should treat their family’s shoes,” he said. This because most ticks start at the level of your shoe and crawl upwards. A study revealed people with treated shoes were 71 times less likely to get a tick bite.

The final letter, ‘K’, simply stands for “Kill the Critters.” “Kill the critters where they are — in your yard,” Mather said. “And for that we recommend perimeter sprays.”

Mather also recommended killing the pests on pets and said that people who follow the four simple actions described in the word “tick” “would not be even close to the level of risk that they are if they don’t.”

Last year Mather warned the onslaught of ticks presented critical health issues that needed to be addressed and suggested trimming the burgeoning deer population in the state.

“We have seen a dramatic northward and eastward spread of deer ticks in Rhode Island just since 1993, when the state-wide tick surveillance began,” Mather noted.