Lyme Disease

[brummievet]

Interesting that people are suggesting that they get tick attachments quite high up on the body (including the nether regions!). Ticks prefer warm moist areas so will tend to migrate to places you'd rather they wouldn't be... I have only ever found them on my chest. I too am a magnet for any parasite!

As for removal I can only really speak with experience for animals. A couple of veterinary studies have compared various methods for tick removal and likelihood of complete removal (i.e. including the head) and post removal complications such as localised bacterial infection. The tick remover IDP has put a link to were shown to be most effective and safest in cats and dogs, with tweezers being least effective and more likely to leave the head in. I have always used an O-Tom tick remover on me and my patients as they are so easy to use. I think you get two or three sizes of remover in a packet, which means you get a small one which I find useful for removing the small ones before they've had a good feed. The key thing is to 'pull and twist' without squeezing the body. These removers stop the body from being squeezed.

We see a lot of hedgehogs brought in with loads of ticks. We used to bath them in olive oil or cooking oil as this helps to loosen them. However, this is no longer recommended as it may cause the tick to regurgitate its stomach contents, which increases the risk of tick-borne disease transmission. Manual removal is now recommended. This advice could be said for us too. Best not to put oil or vaseline on them.

There's quite a useful page and video on the BMC site, which is probably relevant to us fell runners:

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/get-ready-to-tackle-ticks.

[Rob Furness]

As far as I'm aware I've never had a tick. I don't tend to get mosquito bites either. Maybe they just don't like me for some reason. Here's hoping!

[Daletownrunner]

As far as I'm aware I've never had a tick. I don't tend to get mosquito bites either. Maybe they just don't like me for some reason. Here's hoping!

Maybe your not sweet enough :-) everything seems to like me even those horrible little midgey things

[IanDarkpeak]

Definitely agree that uk doctors are generally pretty complacent about the dangers posed by ticks, I was 'recalled' to the doctors after a visit after I'd had a nasty looking tick bite in Denmark, although I'm on the edge of the Lake District I'm pretty certain that the doctor I spoke to didn't know what I was actually talking about and only recalled me after speaking to a colleague, for the record, my record is four ticks on one run, I have heard of someone who had thirteen!!!! The ones behind my knees seem to always be particularly bad, although I am still 'scratting' the Danish one on my ankle which I got well over a year ago.

if you go back a few pages you may find a post where I said I'd had 1 tick in 30 ish years to my knowledge then last year had 5 in the peak and 25+ over 3 days in northern Scotland on my body but only 4 bites. the rest I got off whilst they were crawling...I'm itching now....

[Graham Breeze]

The Fellrunner June 1998

pages 26-28, also p 7 in letters.

From memory Lyme Disease has also featured in other editions but I do not recall exactly when.

[kennedr]

There was an item discussing Ticks on yesterday's Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show. They were mentioning some preferable alternative removal option to tweezers. Sounded like a mini claw hammer (no you don't squash the damn things!) interm of removing it like you'd use a hammer to remove a nail.

[Knightrunner]

I've used Vaseline on myself and others including the dog and it works a treat, they simply drop off after a while. I've read here and elsewhere eg BMC page not to use this but no one says why. The removal tools / tweezers / nails, some say twist and some say don't. I'm just glad we're all agreed!

[The Navigator]

I've used Vaseline on myself and others including the dog and it works a treat, they simply drop off after a while. I've read here and elsewhere eg BMC page not to use this but no one says why. The removal tools / tweezers / nails, some say twist and some say don't. I'm just glad we're all agreed!

I think that the general consensus is that using Vaseline etc causes the tick to regurgitate stomach contents into the bite, thereby increasing the risk of infection by tick-bourn disease.

[IanDarkpeak]

There was an item discussing Ticks on yesterday's Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show. They were mentioning some preferable alternative removal option to tweezers. Sounded like a mini claw hammer (no you don't squash the damn things!) interm of removing it like you'd use a hammer to remove a nail.

that's the tom o tick tool I've mentioned earlier...Jeremy Vine!!! why was he talking about some thing useful, he's usually a condescending pr.... oops I forget my self.. sorry

I've used Vaseline on myself and others including the dog and it works a treat, they simply drop off after a while. I've read here and elsewhere eg BMC page not to use this but no one says why. The removal tools / tweezers / nails, some say twist and some say don't. I'm just glad we're all agreed!

As Kevin says never use vasoline or anything that will make the tick regurgitate..

I think the twisting think is just badly worded..I've always been told that its a short single rotation.
the ticks are thin at the mouth end like a standard screw driver, you don't screw them out, you slide the tick removal tool along the thin axis and then rotate 90 degrees so the remover is facing the flat axis, the tool grips much better. or so I find. maybe this is where the confusion is.

[The Navigator]

This is the tick remover I use: http://www.misotrading.co.uk/

Its the best one I've tried and I much prefer it to the tweezer-type removers or the tom o'tick