[celiar]

Originally Posted by BigAl

Lyme Disease isendemic mainly in thew New Forest in the UK.

Lyme disease is only actually recognised as being endemic in Scotland, and it is a notifiable disease there. There are 'hot spots' in the rest of the UK but in fact cases of Lyme disease have been reported from 80% of the regions of England and Wales, so we have to assume that nowhere is safe!

Originally Posted by BigAl

You can get proprietary tick tweezers to remove the ticks either from yourseld or from a pet - probably from a veterinary surgery or from Boots.

You have to pull the tick off steadily using a twisting motion, either clockwise or ACW. This is to ensure that the head is not left embedded or it could give rise to an infection - this is the greatest risk.

There is a fabulous little tool that is used by many gamekeepers and it is recommended by many vets too. It's called an O'Tom Tick Twister, I have no affiliation with the company at all, I've just found it to be the most effective and easiest way of getting them off my dog.

Originally Posted by BigAl

An alternative, especially if you get one while out on a picnic, is to smear it with something greasy like butter, margarine or vaseline. This blocks up the tick's breathing pores and essentially suffocates it, so it eventually drops off.

If you stress a tick by smothering it with butter, vaseline, whisky, surgical spirits or anything else, as you said it suffocates it. It will eventually drop off, but because it is being stressed it will first regurgitate the contents of it's gut, together with any infectious organisms it may be carrying, back into its host, whether that be human or animal. Its survival instinct, when under stress, is to make itself small in order to make its escape easier, and to do this it vomits the contents of its stomach. Believe me you do not want that going back into you or your pet! Trying to burn them off with a cigarette or something similar has the same effect.

People should also NEVER use their fingers to try to pull a tick off. Squeezing a tick will have the same effect as trying to smother it, and if your fingers are in the vicinity when it regurgitates the contents of its stomach, bacteria can enter through the tiniest cut you may have, or it can be transferred by mucous membranes if you were to touch your mouth or stick your finger up your nose afterwards!

The safest way to remove embedded ticks is to use fine long-nosed tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to the hosts skin as possible and pull upwards with steady even pressure. Or use a Tick Twister which is even easier. These methods are far less liable to make the tick 'panic'.

See: http://www.bada-uk.org/leaflets.html

Click on 'Outdoor pursuits' leaflet, and as well as information on the various infections that can be transmitted by infected ticks, on the second page is a detailed description of how to remove ticks safely.

As a lover of the outdoors and wildlife, but also as a 'Lyme' disease sufferer, I really want people to continue to enjoy their outdoor hobbies, but also to avoid becoming ill if at all possible.