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https://lymealert.com/how-it-works/ https://lymealert.com/how-it-works/ I’m not optimistic this will be all that helpful. Just because the tick you found is ne
by mgerdts 3mo ago
https://lymealert.com/how-it-works/ https://lymealert.com/how-it-works/
I’m not optimistic this will be all that helpful. Just because the tick you found is negative, that tells you nothing about those you did not find. Just because a tick is positive, that does not mean that it has infected whoever it was attached to.
My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged. None of the ticks shown were engorged.
- _ink_ 3mo agoI think it's super helpful. Sure it doesn't help with ticks, you don't find, but in my experience it starts to itch eventually even with the tick attached. If it's negative good, if it's positive go see a doctor.
- kaikai 3mo ago> My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged. None of the ticks shown were engorged. I’ve hear stats as long as 24 hours and as short as 30 seconds. One nurse told me that removing ticks by grasping and pulling means they transmit immediately, because you squeeze their contents through their mouths. I no longer believe any of the stats; seems like it could be at any time.
- mgerdts 3mo ago> you squeeze their contents through their mouths Whenever someone recommends removal using tweezers, I wonder if the person offering this advice has ever removed a well attached tick. I’ve found tools like a Tick Tornado work better, but are still problematic with smaller ticks. https://www.zenpetusa.com/tick-tornado https://www.zenpetusa.com/tick-tornado
- CamperBob2 3mo agoWe always covered them with coal-tar ointment (ichthyol / ichthammal) for a few minutes. They detached without a problem after that, with nothing more than a subtle hint from the tweezers. Just breaking out the tweezers and yanking away was most emphatically not recommended. It can leave the mouth parts behind, if nothing else.
- aorloff 3mo agoOn dogs my friend likes to strike a match, touch the extinguished tip to the back of the tick, and then pull it out with tweezers. Seems to work
- sciencejerk 3mo agoFrom experience, you might end up with 2nd degree burns and burn the bugger into a hot crispy pile of ash.
- LargoLasskhyfv 3mo agoNow that you say it... Makes me wonder of what would happen when you'd use the tips of two blank wires connected to a 1.5V battery? ZAP! Could be made into a small USB-gadget, to have it always available? Zaptastick!
- bookofjoe 3mo agoI like this. Better: ZapStick!
- LargoLasskhyfv 3mo agoI actually searched for things like that after posting. It's already a thing*, in many different variations. Some use piezo-electrics, advertised as 'battery free'. And countless other stuff, many with some variation of Zap(p) in their names. *Sort of, didn't see small 'passive' ones powered by USB. Edit: Thinking about it, one could abuse and modify one of the countless e-vapes for it? Small enough in most cases, and self-powered.
- bookofjoe 3mo agoThis is your ticket to $$$. All you need is a friend with Steve Wozniak-like capability and Bob's your uncle.
- mireg 3mo agoI always carry a tick removal card in my wallet. Perfect removal every time. Even the tiny ones.
- lukan 3mo agoThe cards I found close to useless. The tools in the link from the parent poster, which are actually for pets, work much, much better. And tiny ones are easy to remove with finger nails and some spit. But it requires some skill, do not stress out the ticks while they are attached and be careful to not partially remove it. (Just had to remove 3 ticks on me I failed to spot after a late night walk yesterday, bigger and medium sized ones with tool, the small one with fingernail) edit: and found a 4th one, but a tiny one(nymphe), they don't carry lyme disease as only ticks who have previously bitten a infected animal before will have it
- Georgelemental 3mo agoIt depends on the disease. Lyme takes many hours, as it must migrate across the tick's gut, but there are others that can transmit in minutes.
- yread 3mo agoI've removed several hundred ticks using soap on a wet cloth and doing one counter-clockwise rotation on the tick. No lyme, tick-borne encephalitis so far. Key thing is to check after every hike, keep checking their favorite places (where the skin gets thinner and softer) and check before you scratch something that itches. Having an easy to use method which doesn't need special tools also helps by being able to immediately remove them.
- vaylian 3mo agoWhy the soap? Does it loosen the grip of the tick?
- RetroTechie 3mo ago> Key thing is to check after every hike There's the common advice to wear long pants & tuck them into socks. But at times I've found the exact opposite: short pants are fine. Why: ticks can be hard to find on clothing. So you get home, inspect legs etc, and (later) a tick crawls from pants onto your leg & you may not notice. Bare legs otoh make it trivial to check for ticks regularly during a walk, and/or when you feel something crawling up your leg. Since they're not yet attached then, a flick of your finger & they're off.
- sarchertech 3mo agoSoak your pants socks and shoes in permethrin and this isn’t a problem.
- bradfa 3mo agoJust be careful doing this if you have cats as pets.
- sarchertech 3mo agoI don’t have cats but from what I’ve read, you just need to keep them away from it until it dries.
- micromacrofoot 3mo agothere have been times in my life where this could have saved me a doctors visit, and that's good enough for me
- lukan 3mo agoYou went to a doctor because you had a tick, or because you had symptoms? (like the red ring)
- micromacrofoot 3mo agofor a prophylactic dose of antibiotics after having a tick latched for an unknown amount of time the US gets a persistent amount of emergency room visits for this sort of treatment (tens of thousands annually), and with all the news about increased tick and lyme exposure a larger number of people treat it preemptively, especially with children
- lukan 3mo agoHm, that approach would have me at the doctor every second day and being on antibiotic all the time. I am outdoors a lot and had 5 ticks on me just today after not checking enough last night after being outside. I only would consider antibiotics if the red ring appears. In general I suppose I already have resistance .. or the disease slumbering in my body.
- annzabelle 3mo agoSame. I've found engorged ticks a half dozen times in my life. Never had the red ring and never had antibiotics for it. I've got hypothyroidism (genetic) and some mental health issues, but I am otherwise healthy and run 15 miles a week. I really don't believe that the vague long term symptoms a lot of people are describing in this thread are from ticks, especially people who don't spend much time outside in lyme endemic regions. Lyme has become a favorite label for quacks to describe the fatigue/pain syndrome that is sometimes called fibromyalgia. We don't really know what causes it (and it's probably not ticks), and taking high dose doxycycline for months is not the answer, other than maybe as a placebo.
- exogenousdata 3mo agoUnfortunately there are a number of tick-borne illnesses. Eg, Powassan virus is a viral infection that attacks the central nervous system (leading to encephalitis). It can be transmitted within hours or even just 15 minutes of tick attachment. Another is Alpha Gal. It is a molecule carried in tick saliva that can cause serious allergies to red meat and even dairy. Because the molecule is in the saliva, it can be delivered immediately.
- Aurornis 3mo agoThis is very helpful for determining if prophylactic treatment is necessary after discovering a tick. If someone doesn’t notice a tick then they aren’t going to be considering prophylactic treatment anyway. It’s for the cases where ticks are discovered.
- JimBlackwood 3mo agoAccording to the dutch public health institute, the longer the tick is in the body, the bigger the chance of transmission. Early removal also does not prevent lyme, it just reduces the chances. Next to that, in The Netherlands we have a site to report tick bites and if they had lyme disease or not. It’s good to know if you should be extra vigilant after a bite from a certain area. I think the self-test could be very useful for such sites.
- SyneRyder 3mo agoUpstate New York has a site for testing and reporting / tracking. Costs are $80 USD for a comprehensive test though. It looks like they'll test just for Lyme for $20, but if you found a tick on you I imagine you'll want to know all the diseases it has potentially given you. At least I did. https://nyticks.org/ https://nyticks.org/
- bregma 3mo agoA site to report tick bytes. Is there a similar site to report mosquito bites? They also carry many debilitation or fatal diseases. I live in prime tick country. During peak season (March through June and again September through November) I can get 3 or 4 tick bites a day. I don't always get them all because they're completely painless while they're embedded (although I react strongly after they've been removed) and I've been diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease twice after developing all the classic symptoms. I am not alone in my area. If there was a site where you report tick bites here it would need to be pretty robust to handle the load and it would serve no purpose. The local authorities have acknowledged the rampant outbreak of Lyme in the region. You do not need to provide the tick to authorities for identification. All you need to do is go to any pharmacy and tell them you've been bitten by a tick and they'll write you a prescription for Doxycycline on the spot.
- armitron 3mo agoThat must do wonders for antibiotic resistance.
- Fomite 3mo agoThis is one of the things that is oft repeated by my vector disease colleagues -- your infection may not be caused by the tick you found, but by the tick you didn't.
- nkrisc 3mo agoDo ticks commonly detach on their own before being noticed? Because from what I’ve seen of fully engorged ticks I don’t think I would fail to discover that. Or maybe an earlier stage where they’re smaller?
- zxexz 3mo agoI always thought that too. I spend a lot of time outside and check rigorously. Very often I find a recently attached tick. Found a fully-engorged deer tick half-detached not too long ago - pulled it off jaw-intact. In treatment for early-mid stage disseminated Lyme again, for the third time. Certainly a hidden tax one pays living in New England...I've recently put a lot more effort into things like permethrin. From what I understand, you're spot on with your last note. Larval stage can be extremely hard to see even when fully engorged. Adult-stage ticks (at least Deer Ticks) are the size of a large grain of cooked brown rice. I've seen fully engorged nymph-stage that rival the size of a grape...
- nkrisc 3mo agoI’ve been fortunate that all the ticks I’ve found on myself I discovered before they began feeding because I am very hairy and they tickled my hairs on my legs as they made their way up. One other I found crawling up my white tshirt. Good reminder to wear light colored clothes when you’re out where ticks are.
- locallost 3mo agoI think you need to stop overthinking. Yes it can make you sick, but the only thing you can do is be on the lookout for it and be smart about avoiding it. I've had around 4-5 ticks in the last years, my kids and family probably around 15-20, one recently near my ankle that probably could've been avoided if I wasn't wearing short trousers. But anyway nobody ever got sick from it and we live in a region with a high prevalence of tick caused encephalitis. There's a vaccine for that so we're all vaccinated now. Otherwise just enjoy your life.
- DANmode 3mo ago> My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged This understanding will age like milk.
- 1970-01-01 3mo agoAs everyone is different, there is no "best" method to remove one however there's lots of wrong ways. The only thing everyone agrees with is sooner is always better. I'm surprised "laser tick remover" isn't a thing yet.