How to remove a tick correctly

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Leave oil and gasoline alone - they will not help get rid of the parasite.

Why is it better to ask for help

If possible, go to the doctor as soon as you see a sucked tick on the body. The doctor will not only remove the parasite and process the skin, but also immediately send it for analysis.

The nearest emergency room can help you. Go there immediately. If you do not know where he is and how to get through there, dial the ambulance number - 103, you will be given the address.

Keep in mind that the likelihood of contracting tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis depends on the duration of contact with the parasite. Therefore, you need to remove it very quickly!

If you cannot see a doctor, remove the bloodsucker yourself.

What to prepare before removing the tick

To get rid of the parasite safely, you will need:

• Latex or rubber gloves, or a regular plastic bag. You need to protect your skin in case you accidentally crush a tick or its saliva gets on you. You can get an infection through the slightest wound.
• Disinfectant and cotton wool to treat the wound. Alcohol, chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide, or iodine solution will do.
• Fine-tipped tweezers, strong thread or twist. The latter is very convenient to use, but more difficult to find. It is sold mainly in pharmacies, veterinary pharmacies and online stores. It is easy to buy tweezers or thread at household chemical stores and supermarkets. Be sure to pay attention to the tips of the tweezers. They should be thin so as not to crush the tick. Flat and wide ends will not work.
• A jar with a tight lid and a little more cotton wool moistened with water. This is necessary for transporting the parasite to the laboratory.
• Warm water and soap. Or at least wet wipes to wipe your hands.

Extractor. Photo: I take

Tweezers with fine ends. Photo: I take

How to remove a tick with a wringer

First, wash your hands with soap, wear protective gloves and disinfect the instrument.

Carefully move the twist to the tick body so that the parasite is between two teeth - in the crevice. Rotate the handle slowly around its axis until you reach it.

How to do it right, look at the video.

After that, wash your hands again with soap, and wipe the bite site with a disinfectant.

How to remove a tick with tweezers

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap, wear protective gloves and disinfect the instrument.

Gently grab the bloodsucker with tweezers as close to the skin as possible. Pull the parasite up slowly and smoothly, without any sudden movements. Do not pull out or twist, otherwise the head may remain in the wound.

Wash your hands in warm water and soap. Then disinfect the bite site.

How to pull out a tick with a thread

Clean your hands with soap and water, wear protective gloves and dampen the thread with disinfectant.

Tie it in a knot near the tick's proboscis. Pull the parasite upward with smooth movements, without twisting it, so as not to tear off the head.

After removing the bloodsucker, wash your hands again with soap and water and treat the wound with a disinfectant.

What to do if the tick head comes off

The head looks like a black point, so you will notice that it has detached. If it remains in the wound, wipe the skin with cotton wool or a bandage soaked in disinfectant.

Then remove the head with a sterile needle, previously calcined over a fire.

What not to do

Igor Spirin talks about this.

Igor Spirin General practitioner, deputy chief physician of the Intermed multidisciplinary clinic.

Many folk remedies are actually ineffective and even dangerous. It is forbidden:

• Take the parasite with your bare hands when removing it from a person or animal. You need to wear gloves or at least a plastic bag.
• Pour oil, gasoline, glue, petroleum jelly, alcohol, toothpaste, or nail polish on the tick to suffocate it. While you wait for the parasite to begin to suffocate and come out, it will take a long time. And also due to lack of air, he can saliva into the wound. This will increase Tick bites: What are ticks and how can they be removed? risk of infection.
• Set the tick on fire. This method is just as useless as the previous one. The parasite will not come out, you just set it on fire and burn yourself.
• Press down on the tick when it is on the skin. So you just squeeze the saliva out of it, and it will enter the blood.

How to deal with a tick

Do not throw it away after removing it. Place the parasite in a jar of wet cotton swab, close the lid tightly. You can store the tick in the refrigerator, but not more than 1-2 days, otherwise the bloodsucker will simply die.

Take the bloodsucker to any clinic where the tick is tested. You can view the nearest laboratories and seroprophylaxis centers on the Encephalitis.ru website. The analysis is paid, but in public clinics it is usually cheaper than in private ones.

This will tell you if the tick is infected or not. The result will be known in 1–4 days, ask the exact time directly in the laboratory. If the parasite is contagious, you can quickly begin treatment.

Olga Polyakova General practitioner, senior medical consultant of the Teledoktor-24 service.

You need to send a tick for analysis within two days. The parasite must be alive. Only then can an infection be detected.

If it is not possible to make a check, burn the parasite. And carefully observe the condition of the bitten so as not to miss the symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis or borreliosis.

When you need to see a doctor urgently

It would be nice right after seeing a tick sucked on the body. If you have not done this, then in the following cases you must go to the hospital.

• A rash appeared next to the bite within 3-14 days. This could be a sign of tick-borne borreliosis. Even if the stains have passed over time, you are still in danger.
• Flu-like symptoms appeared. Usually it is chills, fever, weakness, pain in muscles and joints, headache. They may indicate tick-borne borreliosis or encephalitis.
• The bite turned red and inflamed.

If tick-borne encephalitis has been reported in your area, do not wait for a tick test for infection. Immediately contact the seroprophylaxis point (this is a method of preventing infectious diseases) or an infectious disease doctor. It will be necessary to carry out emergency prophylaxis on the first day or at least within three days.

Tatiana Loshkareva

You can find out about outbreaks of tick-borne encephalitis and, in general, about the epidemiological situation on the Rospotrebnadzor website of your region. Information is in the section "Sanitary and Epidemiological Situation".

How to prevent a tick bite

When going on a hike or just for a walk in the forest, take precautions and no one will bite you.

• Spray clothes, shoes, tents, bags and other equipment with a spray containing 0.5% permethrin. This substance is deadly for ticks. Follow the instructions carefully.
• Apply a repellent to the body with one of these active ingredients: picardine, diethyltoluamide, lemon eucalyptus oil. Be sure to read the instructions carefully.
• Avoid places where ticks are most common - tall grasses and bushes.
• Wear tight, long-sleeved clothing. The ankles, waist and wrists should be covered so that the tick does not crawl into the gap between the body and clothing.
• Check your companions' clothes and yours every couple of hours. If you find a tick, remove it, or rather burn it.
• When you return home, check everything carefully again. Then dry them in a tumble dryer for 10 minutes, or simply hang them up to air naturally.
• Tents, bags, backpacks, shoes, too, inspect and dry, if possible.
• Take a shower as soon as possible. If the tick is on the body, but did not have time to attach, the water will wash off the parasite.