Why is it better to ask for help?
If possible, go to the doctor as soon as you see a tick attached to your body. The doctor knows how to properly remove the parasite and treat the skin.
Tatyana Loshkareva
You can get help at the nearest emergency room. Go there immediately. If you don’t know where it is or how to get there, dial the ambulance number – 103, they will give you 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 a tick
To safely get rid of the parasite, 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. Through the slightest wound you can get an infection.
- Disinfectant and cotton wool to treat the wound. Alcohol, chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide or iodine solution are suitable.
- Tweezers with fine tips, strong thread or a twister. The latter is very convenient to use, but more difficult to find. It is sold mainly in regular and veterinary pharmacies and in online stores. You can easily buy tweezers or threads in 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.
- Warm water and soap. Or at least wet wipes to clean your hands.
10
Twister. Photo: Beru
20
Tweezers with thin tips. Photo: Beru
How to remove a tick with a twister
First of all, wash your hands with soap, put on protective gloves and disinfect the tool.
Carefully move the twister towards the tick body so that the parasite is between two teeth – in the crevice. Slowly rotate the handle around its axis until you reach it.
How to do this correctly, watch the video.
After this, wash your hands again with soap and wipe the bite area with a disinfectant.
How to remove a tick with tweezers
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap, put on protective gloves and disinfect the tool.
Gently grasp the bloodsucker with tweezers as close to the skin as possible. Slowly and smoothly pull the parasite up, without sudden movements. Do not pull out or twist, otherwise the head may remain in the wound.
Wash your hands in warm water and soap. Afterwards, disinfect the bite site.
How to pull out a tick with a thread
Clean your hands with soap and water, put on protective gloves, and moisten 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 treat the wound with a disinfectant.
What to do if the tick head comes off
The head looks like a black dot, so you will notice that it has separated. If it remains in the wound, wipe the skin with cotton wool or a bandage moistened with a disinfectant.
Then remove the head with a sterile needle.
What not to do
Igor Spirin talks about this.
Igor Spirin
General practitioner.
Many folk remedies are actually ineffective and even dangerous. It is forbidden:
- Handle 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, Vaseline, alcohol, toothpaste, or nail polish onto the tick to suffocate it. While you wait for the parasite to start suffocating and crawl out, a lot of time will pass. And due to lack of air, he can drool into the wound. This will increase risk of infection.
- Set fire to the tick. This method is just as useless as the previous one. The parasite will not come out, you will simply set it on fire and burn yourself.
- Press on the tick when it is on the skin. This way you will only squeeze the saliva out of it and it will go into the blood.
What to do with a tick
Russian recommendations contain information that ticks must be taken for testing. But nowhere else in the world are such analyzes not practiced. The fact is that whether there is an infection in the tick or not, this will not affect the treatment tactics. You still need to see your doctor and discuss therapy with him. In addition, the analysis can always turn out to be either false positive or false negative. Although in reality it is rather meaningless.
Find out more 🔬
When you need to see a doctor urgently
It would be good immediately after you see a tick attached to your body. If you have not done this, then in the following cases you must go to the hospital.
- Within 3–14 days, a rash appeared near the bite. This may be a sign of tick-borne borreliosis. Even if the stains have faded over time, you are still at risk.
- Flu-like symptoms appeared. Usually these are chills, fever, weakness, muscle and joint pain, and headache. They may indicate tick-borne borreliosis or encephalitis.
- The bite turned red and inflamed.
You can learn about outbreaks of tick-borne encephalitis and the epidemiological situation in general on the website Rospotrebnadzor your area. Information is in the “Sanitary and epidemiological situation” section.
How to prevent a tick bite
When going on a hike or just a walk in the forest, take precautions.
- Treat clothing, 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 containing one of these active ingredients to your body: picardin, diethyltoluamide, oil of lemon eucalyptus. Be sure to read the instructions carefully.
- Avoid places where ticks are most likely to hang out – tall grass and bushes.
- Wear thick clothing with long sleeves. Ankles, waist and wrists should be covered to prevent ticks from crawling into the gap between the body and clothing.
- Inspect your companions’ and yours’ clothing every couple of hours. If you find a tick, remove it, or better yet, burn it.
- Upon returning home, carefully check all your belongings again. Then dry them in the clothes dryer for 10 minutes or simply hang them to air naturally.
- Also inspect and dry tents, bags, backpacks, and shoes, if possible.
- Take a shower as quickly as possible. If the tick is on the body, but has not yet attached itself, water will wash away the parasite.
be ready 📝
