Do you know what to do with a tick? How to remove it and where to send it for testing? This blog post will share some basic tick safety tips to help you and your family stay safe this season.
Prevention is the best way to protect you and your family from tick-borne diseases. Lint rollers make an excellent tick catching tool and can be a fun way to incorporate a tick check into your pick up routine. Simply roll or brush off your child’s legs and arms, and make sure to check their hair and head closely. Be sure to investigate the lint roller afterwards! At bedtime, consider a bath and do another full body check; paying close attention to ‘hot spots’: behind the ears, knee’s, groin area, and armpits. Research has shown that ticks gravitate to the warmest parts of our bodies. Remember, finding a tick before it bites is the best way to protect yourself. It’s worth it to teach your child to take tick checks seriously!
HELP! I’ve found a tick….now what?! The answer to this has three parts;
1) A tick that is found crawling on clothing or skin and has not attached itself can be removed, killed and discarded. Ticks take time to attach so a big part of prevention is to find the tick before it bites! Pathogens are transmitted through the saliva of the tick and this process takes many hours. This is why is SUPER important to check for ticks often, to ensure you find the tick BEFORE it bites.
2) If you find a tick attached to skin follow these guidelines (as recommended by the BCCDC) to safely remove it and store it properly for testing:
- Using tweezers (needle nose work best) grasp the tick at the head as close to the skin as possible. Squeeze gently and pull straight up slowly. If you do it properly the tick should still be alive. Dead or alive, make sure you save your tick for testing!
- Place the tick in a sealed container and label the container with where the tick came from, the area that was bitten, and date and time the tick was collected.
- Clean the tick bite area with alcohol based sanitizer or soap and water.
- Monitor the bite site and consider taking photo’s to monitor any changes. Look for rash or redness around the bite area, but remember that not all people infected will present with a rash. It is best to test your tick for optimal accuracy.
3) Identify what type of tick you have. All ticks have the ability to carry disease. Black Legged and American Dog ticks are most commonly found in BC. While Lyme is more commonly found in Blacklegged Ticks, Dog (or Wood) ticks can carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or cause tick paralysis. It is always a wise choice to test your tick so you can know for certain.
Testing your tick is extremely important. Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose as government testing has proven to be inconsistent and may not even be available. One of the best ways to test your tick for Lyme and other pathogens is to send it to www.geneticks.ca. Geneticks is an Ontario based lab that will test for the full spectrum of tick pathogens FAST. Early diagnosis and treatment can stop the infection before it has a chance to spread.
Concern over ticks and their diseases is real, but does not need to prevent us from enjoying our time outdoors. Tick safety and awareness is key to ensuring you and your family can stay safe. Grab yourself one of these handy ‘Tick Removal Kit’s’ that has all the information and tools you need to remove and store a tick properly.
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