鉴于我们现在听到的关于蜱虫的一切，这似乎是值得分享的好信息。

“在我接触过无数蜱虫之后，我学到了这些。首先，不管你叔叔跟你说了什么，都忘了吧。没有火柴。没有指甲油。没有凡士林。没有肥皂蘸棉球。所有这些东西都会做同样可怕的事，它们会让蜱虫感到压力，而压力大的蜱虫会在松口前把肠道内容物排回到咬伤处。如果你稍微想想那到底意味着什么，就会明白这正是莱姆病和其他疾病传播的方式，所以你不是在加速它的脱离。你是在让它把东西吐到你身上。用细头镊子。夹住口器进入皮肤的地方，而不是身体，头部。垂直向上拉，保持稳定，不要扭动，不要猛拉。它会感觉像是在抵抗，因为它确实在抵抗，口器上有倒刺。只要保持压力，几秒钟后它就会松开。如果有碎片留在皮肤里，别管它。你的身体会把碎片排出去。用针去挖会造成比碎片本身更大的伤害。用酒精或肥皂清洁。洗手。现在是大多数人忽略的部分：不要冲掉蜱虫。用胶带把它粘到索引卡上。透明包装胶带直接盖住身体，写上日期和你身体的哪个部位，然后把卡片放进抽屉。如果你接下来30天内出现任何异常，皮疹、发烧、关节痛、那种不是流感的流感感觉，那个蜱虫就跟你一起去医生那里。有些实验室会直接测试蜱虫本身，这比等待你血液中出现抗体更快，也往往更可靠。一张贴着有日期的蜱虫的卡片，是你递给试图弄清你出了什么问题的医生最有用的东西之一。还有一件事值得大声说出来：如果你拔掉的蜱虫已经肿胀，而且你无法发誓它在24小时内离开了你的身体，那天就给你的医生打电话。不要等皮疹。不到四分之三的莱姆病病例甚至会出现经典的靶心状皮疹。在鹿蜱咬伤后72小时内服用一次预防性多西环素，就能大大降低莱姆病的风险，而蜱虫多发地区的医生大多会开这个处方，不会让你为难，尤其是如果你带着粘在卡片上的蜱虫和清晰的时间线走进去。”

With everything we are hearing right now about ticks this seems like good information to share.

“Here’s what I’ve learned after more ticks than I care to count.First, whatever your uncle told you, forget it. No matches. No nail polish. No Vaseline. No soap on a cotton ball. All of those do the same terrible thing, they stress the tick out, and a stressed tick empties its gut back into the bite before letting go. Which, if you think about what that actually means for a second, is literally how Lyme and the rest get transmitted so you’re not speeding up its exit. You’re making it throw up into you.Fine-tipped tweezers. Grip right where the mouthparts enter the skin, not the body, the head. Pull straight up, steady, no twisting, no jerking. It’ll feel like it’s resisting because it is, the mouthparts are barbed. Just keep the pressure on and it lets go in a few seconds. If a piece breaks off in the skin, leave it alone. Your body pushes splinters out. Digging around with a needle does more damage then the fragment ever would.Clean it with alcohol or soap. Wash your hands.Now here’s the part most people skip: don’t flush the tick.Tape it to an index card. Clear packing tape right over the body, write the date and where on your body it was, and stick the card in a drawer. If you come down with anything weird in the next 30 days, rash, fever, joint pain, that flu-that-isn’t-flu feeling, that tick goes with you to the doctor. Some labs will test the tick itself, which is faster and often more reliable than waiting for antibodies to show up in your own blood. A dated tick taped to a card is one of the most useful things you can hand a doctor who’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.The other thing worth saying out loud: if the tick was engorged when you pulled it, and you can’t swear it was off your body within 24 hours, call your doctor that same day. Don’t wait for a rash. Fewer than three out of four Lyme cases even produce theic bullseye. A single preventive dose of doxycycline within 72 hours of a deer tick bite cuts the Lyme odds way down, and most docs in tick country will write that prescription without giving you a hard time, especially if you walk in with the tick taped to a card and a clear timeline.”