What To Do With A Tick Bite And How To Remove A Tick On Your Own

Ticks are a bunch of tiny arthropods and their main source of food is the blood of animals which includes humans. They can be found on trees, leaf litter, tall grasses and even in your backyard in some rare cases. they wait patiently in their usual hiding spots until a suitable host walks past them and they cling onto the fur or skin of the host. Once they are on the host's skin Soft-bodied ticks usually have their fill after a few hours but their hard-bodied cousins may stay on the host's skin for up to 2 weeks.

Although it is very rare to contract disease from ticks, they have been known to spread the following disease to man:

- Colorado tick fever
- Babesiosis
- Tick paralysis
- Rocky mountain spotted fever
- Lyme disease
- Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis (HGE)
- Human Monocytic Ehrlichiosis (HME)
- Relapsing fever
- Q fever
- Tularemia

The type of disease contracted depends on the location, type of tick, duration of the tick's attachment to the host's skin and season of the year.

How To Get Rid Of Ticks On Your Own

1. Apply some disinfectant like isopropyl alcohol to sterilize the tick bite area.
2. Wear a pair of PVC gloves if possible and use a pair of tweezers or forceps to clamp the tick close to the skin of it's head. Be careful not to swivel, jolt or squash the tick.
3. Pull the tick straight out and apply a steady amount of pressure until the tick lets go.
4. Use a sterilized needle to remove the tick's head or any other body part that got stuck in the skin.
5. Apply some disinfectant ointment onto the bite wound and area around it.
6. Wash your hands thoroughly with disinfectant soap like Dettol to kill any traces of germs on your hands and fingers.
7. If possible, place the abstracted tick into a bottle and bring it to a doctor for identification.

When To Visit A Doctor

- You cannot remove the tick or part of the tick from the skin.
- You develop a fever, rash, headache, muscle pains, joint pains or flu-like symptoms 2 to 14 days after the tick bite.
- You develop widespread rashes 2 to 14 days after the tick bite.
- You develop redness, pus, swelling or yellow drainage from the tick bite wound 1 to 2 days after the tick bite.
- You develop a red-ring or a bull's eye rash around the tick bite wound 3 to 30 days after the tick bite.
- You have difficulty moving your legs.
- You feel ill and want to make sure your sickness is not related to your tick bite.

Visit Natalie's Skin Disease Archive for more tips on how to deal with a variety of skin diseases.