You Should Never Remove a Tick With Your Fingers, a Nurse Says

• The nurse explained why ticks should not be removed with fingers.
• If you use your finger, you run the risk of the tick regurgitating stomach contents into your body.
• Tick ​​bites can spread diseases such as Lyme disease.

With tick season approaching in the United States, one nurse cautioned against removing ticks with your fingers.

If ticks aren’t removed properly, stomach contents can regurgitate into the body, said Jennifer Quante, a Texas-based nurse who makes health videos, in a recent article. tick tock. This may increase the risk of infection, according to Harvard Medical School.

how to get rid of ticks

The correct way to remove a tick is to use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the surface of the skin as possible. CDC advises. Then pull it up slowly and try not to twist it. Twisting can break the tick’s mouth and leave it in the skin.

If part of the tick cannot be removed easily, leave it alone and allow the skin to heal. After removing the tick, wash the affected area and hands thoroughly with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.

To dispose of live mites, soak them in alcohol, flush them down the toilet, place them in a sealed bag or container, or wrap them tightly with tape.

The CDC says that anyone who develops a rash or fever within a few weeks of a tick bite should be tested.

“Never, never, remove it yourself. Unfortunately, until you have tweezers, you have to leave it there,” Quante said.

Kwante said all folk remedies, such as burning the mites with flames and smothering them with petroleum jelly or essential oils, are dangerous.

Ticks can spread diseases such as Lyme disease

Not all ticks carry disease, but bites from infected ticks can cause Lyme disease and rare diseases such as Powassan and Heartland viruses.Quante Recommended After removing the tick, place it in a ziplock bag and send it for testing to see if it is infected.

Insiders have previously reported that cases of Lyme disease have surged in the United States and Europe in what could be the worst months on record as climate change expands tick ranges.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease spread by black-footed mites, caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi, less commonly called Borrelia mayonii. It is usually easily treated with antibiotics, but infection can cause debilitating symptoms such as: Lyme arthritis If left untreated, it causes fatigue.

About 500,000 Americans suffer from Lyme disease each year. CDC estimateand research shows that 15% of the world suffers from the disease.

Early symptoms usually include fever, muscle aches, swollen and painful joints, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and sometimes a red bull eye rash known as erythema migrans.