Dr. Tammy Lundstrom<\/a>, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Trinity Health told The Post.<\/p>\nForcing the fluid or saliva of the tick into the body is how disease-causing organisms \u2014 like Borrelia burgdorferi,\u00a0which causes Lyme disease \u2014 can enter the bloodstream, according to Schroder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer the saliva-to-skin connection exists, the higher the risk of infection,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom years of treating patients, controlled removal is what protects you, not speed.\u201d<\/p>\n
How should you safely remove a tick?<\/p>\n
To properly get a tick out, both Schroder and Lundstrom recommend using fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible.<\/p>\n
While avoiding squeezing the tick\u2019s body, gently pull the tick away from the skin, firmly using steady pressure.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t twist or jerk the tick, as \u201cmouthparts may be left in the skin during removal, resulting in a secondary infection if they are twisted or jerked,\u201d Schroder said.<\/p>\n
Once the tick is out, don\u2019t crush it. Instead, place it in a sealed container, wrap it in tape or flush it down the toilet.<\/p>\n
Be sure to clean the infected area with rubbing alcohol and wash your hands thoroughly.<\/p>\n
But both experts say that\u2019s not the final step.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that most people overlook is that there is a 30-day monitoring period,\u201d Schroder said.\u00a0\u201cIf you get a rash that looks like a bullseye around the bite or you have fever and muscle pain, seek medical attention immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Lyme disease is easily treated with antibiotics in the early stages, it becomes more difficult to treat if ignored.<\/p>\n
Lundstrom also recommends checking the rest of your body for any extra visitors, \u201cpaying special attention to areas covered in hair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond checking for and detaching them, tick bites can also be prevented by wearing EPA-registered insect repellent and permethrin-treated clothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tick these TikTok tricks off your list. With the rise in disease-harboring ticks across the country also comes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":905589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[6335,210,37416,26056,69116,19803,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-905588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-exclusive","tag-health","tag-infections","tag-insects","tag-lyme-disease","tag-ticks","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/131550813.jpg\")
With tick populations on the rise this summer, viral online hacks on the best way to remove them are making the rounds. Alexander \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/132713162.jpg\")
One TikTok tick removal hack is to light a match to \u201cburn\u201d the bug away, but experts say this does more harm than good. \u00c3\u00c2\u00a4\u00c3\u00c2\u00b5\u00c3\u00c2\u00b4\u00c3\u00c2\u00be\u00c3\u00e2\u00ac \u00c3\u00c2\u00a6\u00c3\u00c2\u00b5\u00c3\u00c2\u00bb\u00c3\u00c6\u00c3\u00c2\u00b9\u00c3\u00c2\u00ba\u00c3\u00c2\u00be \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n