Althouse: "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."

May 28, 2026

"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."

Advice for tick-o-phobes.

46 comments:

gilbar said...: slathering yourself with DEET is "the most useful thing you can do"
You'd be Surprized how many less ticks you get if you're slathered.

DEET it's Not Just for mosquitos; 5/28/26, 8:04 AM
Dr. Unknowable said...: How are we supposed to know if the tick has been dating?; 5/28/26, 8:08 AM
JES said...: Having had Lymes twice, I am really a tick-o-phobe. Spray before going out, then wash my clothes and shower after. I have read that keeping the tick and putting in the freezer to take to the clinic is also good thing to do. I am wondering if I tested positive the second time because Lyme's just never goes away. Believe me, you don't want Lyme's.; 5/28/26, 8:08 AM
Wince said...: In other words, don’t send your doctor a “tick pic”?; 5/28/26, 8:12 AM
James K said...: "Having had Lymes twice"

Sounds like you're a tick magnet. I had it once, but caught it early, and it wasn't a big deal. The first test came back negative, but the doc put me on an antibiotic anyway because of the look of the bite on my back, and sure enough a few days later the next test was positive.; 5/28/26, 8:17 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: News You Can Use!; 5/28/26, 8:17 AM
Aggie said...: This is good info, share it. I've been taking 1000mg of garlic every day for a couple of years, and haven't had a tick so far in that time. I'm in the woods a lot, tall grass too. Also helps keep chiggers to an absolute minimum, but garlic doesn't work for everybody.

Embrace the possum ! They eat a lot of ticks.; 5/28/26, 8:22 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Alpha-gal is no joke either. Two years ago my wife was petrified (as was I) that she'd contracted it, finding out later her symptoms were just an allergic reaction. Not entirely surprising since she wasn't born near our tick population.

A Brazilian that can't eat beef or pork? Terrifying.; 5/28/26, 8:24 AM
Saint Croix said...: How are we supposed to know if the tick has been dating?

Virgin ticks are green.

I googled it to make sure this was a joke.

No, wait, green ticks are engorged.

Virgin green ticks are engorged? Maybe. Probably.

What you really want is the exhausted married tick who is not engorged at all.

All I'm doing is confusing the AI now.

Lone Star Tick: Unfed females have a bright silvery-white spot in the center of their back, while males are mottled brown with white streaks along the edges of their bodies.

What about non-binary ticks, AI?

"Assuming you meant non-binary TikToks."

Son of a bitch, AI

What about Lone Star non-binary ticks?

The Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is an aggressive tick species found throughout the eastern, southeastern, and midwestern United States. While only adult females boast the iconic white, star-like dot on their backs, a growing body of jokes and memes online playfully refer to them as "non-binary ticks."

The Lone Star tick is well-known for two major concerns:

Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Bites from this tick can transmit a sugar molecule that triggers a severe, delayed allergy to red meat and dairy.

Active Hunting: Unlike other ticks that sit on grass and wait, Lone Star ticks are known to actively chase down their prey.

Doc, I got the Alpha-Gal syndrome!; 5/28/26, 8:27 AM
Iman said...: And the ticking of the doc continueszzzz; 5/28/26, 8:28 AM
Saint Croix said...: AI swears Alpha-Gal syndrome is real. I swear it sounds made up to me. Who is naming these diseases?; 5/28/26, 8:30 AM
ceowens said...: Had one removed last week. Don't take the doxy on an empty stomach if you can help it.; 5/28/26, 8:30 AM
Saint Croix said...: James Talarico is campaigning for people suffering from tick bites and the Alpha-Gal syndrome.

That's when Johnny Carson says, "I did not know that."; 5/28/26, 8:31 AM
dbp said...: Dating ticks can be tricky; they'll suck you dry.; 5/28/26, 8:33 AM
Saint Croix said...: James Talarico is going to bring a note from his doctor to the debate. "That wasn't me, it was a tick bite."; 5/28/26, 8:36 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Yeah. The trick is to ditch them after they've sucked but before you're dry. It's common courtesy to call them a cab at least.; 5/28/26, 8:37 AM
Saint Croix said...: It's a real disease!

Alpha-Gal Syndrome.

Are you a vegetarian? Maybe it's Alpha-Gal Syndrome. Go to a doctor before you vote.; 5/28/26, 8:41 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: My area (the NE) is disastrously tick infested. And, I’ve discovered that it’s an illusion to believe that self-removal is the right course of action. My GP has spent considerable time digging out tiny missed pieces of tick from my arms and back that I thought I’d removed by the traditional method of a still hot match head applied to the tick’s head. Self-removal often does not work.; 5/28/26, 8:41 AM
Saint Croix said...: "Feminist ticks who suck you dry for $100, Alex."; 5/28/26, 8:42 AM
Saint Croix said...: Shouting T, I read it makes it worse. You do the match and the tick immediately dumps all its poisons into your body. You got to pull it out with tweezers.; 5/28/26, 8:43 AM
baghdadbob said...: How do you get rid of a nervous tick?; 5/28/26, 8:45 AM
Leland said...: Wouldn't the effort to track down a tick increase the odds you'll get bitten by one?; 5/28/26, 8:47 AM
baghdadbob said...: Are Beta Males the cure for Alpha Gal Syndrome?; 5/28/26, 8:48 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I've only gotten a tick once in my life, and it was when I was a child. I don't know why. I walk in the woods once or twice a day, and I never even find one crawling on me.

By the way, as the linked piece shows, you're supposed to remove them with tweezers, not try to burn them with a match or a cigarette.; 5/28/26, 9:00 AM
Leland said...: If it was a snake bite; should you tape the snake to a card and hand it to the doctor? On dating, do you carry around one of those stamps where you dial in the date? Where does one stamp the date on the snake or tick?; 5/28/26, 9:10 AM
Peachy said...: Ticks are the worst dates.; 5/28/26, 9:16 AM
ronetc said...: I am so old we used to have ticks all the time in my rural neck of the woods. No one, near as I know, ever got deathly sick from a tick bite. Have ticks mutated . . . or people's immune systems . . . or has gain of function research been performed on ticks that have now been released in the wild?; 5/28/26, 9:17 AM
baghdadbob said...: ronetc said...
"Have ticks mutated . . . or people's immune systems . . . or has gain of function research been performed on ticks that have now been released in the wild?"

Don't be a conspiracy nut. Pay no attention to Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center, located an easy swim from a Connecticut coastal town named "Lyme." Nothing to see here. Move along.; 5/28/26, 9:30 AM
gilbar said...: ronetc said...
"Have ticks mutated"?

not the ticks.. just the diseases.
Alpha-gal is a genetically contructed "allergy", that makes humans nausious if they consume ANY animal protean.
(of course, they "say" that it makes you allergic to "red meat"..
which is TOTALLY TRUE, because red meat is an animal protean, and Alpha-gal makes you unable to consume ANY animal protean)

where did this Alpha-gal thing come from?
no one knows (at least, no one is saying)..
However, we DO KNOW that Bill Gates paid for the construction.
where did his people build it at? no one is saying.

But; it's here now.. and soon, ALL people will be unable to eat animal protean.. HURRAY!; 5/28/26, 10:38 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Lone Star ticks are known to actively chase down their prey."

I'm old, but not that old.; 5/28/26, 10:48 AM
bagoh20 said...: Personally, Alpha-Gal syndrome would be grounds for suicide.; 5/28/26, 10:50 AM
Old and slow said...: Well, at least now there is something positive to be said about living in the desert.; 5/28/26, 11:03 AM
Tom T. said...: I tried this with my prostate doctor. It wasn't helpful.; 5/28/26, 11:21 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Back in the dumb ol' days, my Dad burned them out with a cigarette. Fortunately, that was my only tick. of course, no lyme disease back in the 70s, or if there was we didn't know about it.; 5/28/26, 11:26 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Ticks supposedly don't like citrus, so smear yourself in Lemon juice.; 5/28/26, 11:27 AM
Randomizer said...: I had a tick latched on last Spring, and another one this year. They half-way burrow into the soft flesh, so the head is not available to be gently grasped with tweezers. We are told that using a match to the tick butt causes the tick to vomit into the wound, but how do they know that?

Grabbing the back side of the tick with tweezers would have pinched it in half, so I used a lighter to heat up a small screwdriver, and touched that to the tick. She backed out and was pulled off.

I have a dog and am not bedridden, so go outside a couple of dozen times per day. Ticks are so bad lately, it doesn't require bushwhacking to encounter a tick. Walking on the lawn is enough.

I spray my shoes with Sawyer Products Permethrin, but don't tape pant legs or take two dozen showers per day. My doctor wrote me a prescription for doxycycline to take if bitten.

When the vaccine, VLA15, is available, I will get that.

There are current clinical trials for TP05. That is similar to the anti-tick medication, Credelio, that dogs and cats get monthly to kill ticks when they bite and before they can transmit anything. I want that also.

If you don't have a dog or don't like getting off the pavement, the incessant tick hysteria is just another scary story they tell us. If you have a nice patch in the suburbs, with fruit trees and a small garden, ticks are about the only current threat that demands attention.; 5/28/26, 11:27 AM
ducky said...: @gilbar My medical microbiology prof told me she would rather be slathered with DEET for 30 minutes than drink 1/4 cup of raw milk - that has stayed with me.

The podcast Patient Zero is a great treatise on tick infections, the medical establishment, the refusal of experts to acknowledge new diseases, the issue of "pre-fed" ticks attaching to you - a super entertaining series.; 5/28/26, 11:42 AM
Rabel said...: If you're on GLP-1 drugs the ticks take a quick bite and then go away to hit the gym and do some ab work.; 5/28/26, 12:13 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Possums! They eat thousands of ticks!; 5/28/26, 12:30 PM
Rabel said...: So where are these killer ticks?

The CDC is on it!

Dane County - 619 cases of Lyme disease since 2019 reported.; 5/28/26, 12:33 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: "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."

You don’t need a doctor. If you’re dating ticks your problem is obvious.; 5/28/26, 12:54 PM
William said...: I wouldn't mind taking off 15 lbs, but the drug still seems a bit experimental. I'm an octogenarian so I'll never live long enough to discover the long term effects. It will probably turn out to be a sure cure for whatever kills me......They haven't come up with a drug with the epic sweep of penicillin in a few generations. They're about due.; 5/28/26, 1:05 PM
boatbuilder said...: That possum thing was apparently either a hoax or a very flawed experiment.; 5/28/26, 1:06 PM
JES said...: The reporting is for 2019 to 2022. The protcol that I know of is if you report a tick bit to the doc within 24 hours you get one dose of antibiotic. If it is over 24 hours you get two weeks of antibiotic. If you have symptoms, mainly because you didn't know you had a tick bite, then you get tested. The reporting is most likely based on positive tests, and you will only get a postive test if Lyme is well established in your system after days or weeks of the bite. By then you are on the path to some pretty horrible stuff. On almost another subject, there is quite a ruckus now about using dogs and other animals for medical research and the dogs are being "rescued". An ongoing research program right now is using dogs is for a vaccine for Lyme disease.; 5/28/26, 1:14 PM
Josephbleau said...: In Virginia they say that the tick has his face in your blood so he must breathe thru his ass, so cover him with Vaseline and he will need to pull his head out of you and will fall off, unless he is covered with so much he sticks to you and suffocates. Be patient.; 5/28/26, 1:29 PM
boatbuilder said...: To remove ticks--use a q-tip soaked in nail polish remover (or acetone), hold it on the tick to disable/disorient the tick, then carefully pull it out with tweezers.
Doesn't always work--I currently have two cyst-type lumps from tick parts that didn't come out cleanly. No diseases that I know of but my golf game has gone to hell recently. I'm going with that excuse.
We have a large garden and meadow and are constantly exposed. Also a very active and hairy springer spaniel. (Treated with that monthly drug that kills the ticks, but they don't die until they dig in). Spray pyrethrin on the shoes (also on my golf shoes--I seem to spend a lot of time in the deep grass). When you come inside, take your clothes off and throw them in the dryer on high for a few minutes.
Apparently the tick has to be embedded for an extended period (I think its 24 to 48 hours for Lyme disease and/or babeosis) before it can transmit the disease.
If you pay close attention to all of this bug/disease stuff you would never go outside at all.; 5/28/26, 1:32 PM