We know! Ticks are scary.  Tick bites can carry diseases including Lyme Disease, and let’s be honest, to have a tick on your body, or on a loved one is downright creepy. Bottom line – ticks on people is a recipe for unhappiness and possibly even the potential for some serious sickness.

So the good news is while tickets are parasitic, most tick bites on people do not result in the transmission of a disease.

If you do happen to find a tick on yourself or a loved one the prevailing recommendation is that you use a pointy pair of tweezers to immediately remove the tick by clamping down as close to your body as you can and then pulling the tick out in a straight line. Do not try to “squeeze the life out of the tick” while it is still attached to you body as the tick might release inner body fluid that could cause you to get sick, and also that you do not violently yank the tick out as portions of the tick could remain attached to you.

image originally sourced from the the Center for Disease Control

Older methods such as petroleum jelly, rubbing alcohol or using a match are also not recommended as appropriate ways of removing a tick from your body.

If you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing a tick from your body, see your doctor. Be sure to tell the doctor about your tick bite and any other details related to your recent tick bite such as location and timing of the bite.

Tick Resources for People

CDC: Symptoms of Tickborne Illness

WebMD: Check Your Symptoms

Tick-borne diseases include:

• Lyme disease
• Babesiosis
• Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis
• Tularemia
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Colorado tick fever
• Human monocytic ehrlichiosis
• Relapsing fever