Why you should never remove a tick with your fingers, according to a nurse
- A nurse explained why you should never remove a tick with your fingers.
- Using your fingers risks the tick regurgitating its stomach contents into your body.
A registered nurse has warned against removing ticks with your fingers, amid a particularly bad tick season in the US.
Not removing a tick correctly risks regurgitating its stomach contents into your body, Jennifer Quante, a Texas–based nurse who makes health-related videos, said in a recent TikTok. This could increase the risk of infection, according to Harvard Medical School.
How to remove a tick
If any parts of the tick can't be removed easily, leave the area and let the skin heal. Once you have removed the tick, thoroughly wash the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.
To dispose of a live tick, either put it in alcohol, flush it down the toilet, place it in a sealed bag or container, or wrap it tightly in tape.
The CDC says you should always get checked out if you develop a rash or fever in the weeks following a tick bite.
"Never, ever, ever, ever remove it with your own hands. You're just gonna have to, unfortunately, let it stay there until you get access to tweezers," Quante said.
Quante said folklore remedies, such as burning the tick with a flame or trying to suffocate it with petroleum jelly or essential oils, are all risky.
Ticks can spread disease including Lyme
Not all ticks carry disease, but the bites of those that do can cause Lyme and rarer conditions such as Powassan virus disease and Heartland virus disease. Quante recommended putting the tick in a zip-lock bag after you've removed it and sending it out for testing to check if it's infected.
Insider previously reported that the number of Lyme infections in the US and Europe has soared in recent months in what could be the worst season on record, as tick territories expand due to climate change.
Lyme disease, a tick-borne condition spread by the blacklegged tick, is caused by a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, and Borrelia mayonii less commonly. Though it can usually be easily treated with antibiotics, the infection can cause debilitating symptoms, such as Lyme arthritis and fatigue, if left untreated.
Around 500,000 Americans a year are affected by Lyme disease, according to CDC estimates, and research suggests that 15% of the world has caught the disease.
Early symptoms typically include a fever, muscle aches, joint swelling or pain, headaches, swollen lymph nodes, and sometimes a red bull's eye rash, known as erythema migrans.