Upon discovery of a tick attached to your skin, try not to panic.
Ticks usually take between 8 and 48 hours to transmit a
disease after it's dug itself in. The worst thing you
could do is squeeze it with your fingers, this will force
the contents inside the ticks stomach into your blood stream.
Forget the advice which suggests to either coat the tick with petroleum jelly
or burn it with a match to enable the tick to release its grip. These
methods are usually don't work. Try instead to use tweezers,
grasping the tick by it's head, this will get you as close to the skin as
possible. Then pull slowly and gently to remove the tick,
clean the bite wound and wash your hands and tweezers thoroughly with hot soapy water.
