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Tick bites are a risk to everyone living or visiting Sweden. Read about how to remove ticks from your child, what diseases children are at risk of, and how to detect them.
How should I remove a tick from my child?
There are so many different ideas online about how to remove a tick. Butter, oil, acetone, nail polish or, why not gasoline? And should it be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise?
The good news is that you don’t have to rub the tick with anything at all. And don’t rotate it either.
Pull it straight out!
Use a pair of tweezers or a tick picker. (I always use tweezers, because I have them at home and they can also be used for other purposes). Grasp the tick, close to where it attaches to the skin, and pull straight up. That way you are more likely to pull out the whole tick!
Is it dangerous if I didn’t pull out the whole tick?
Sometimes there will be a little bit of the tick left. This is not dangerous. If you think you can dislodge that piece with your tweezers, then try. But if it’s so small that it doesn’t work, you can just let it be. The body will repel the bite itself.
What diseases can the child get from a tick bite?
There are mainly two diseases that are transmitted from ticks to humans in Sweden: Lyme disease and TBE. With Lyme disease, there is antibiotic treatment that works well. It is just a matter of getting the child to understand that they have Lyme disease and it needs to be treated with antibiotics.
Read more about Lyme disease in children here.
Read more about TBE in children here.
As for TBE, there is no specific treatment. Unfortunately, the diesase affects the brain, and children risk symptoms long after the disease has passed. There is a vaccine against TBE, but it is not included in the general vaccination program in Sweden. Children from the age of one can receive the vaccine. Those who say otherwise are ill-educated. I think it is a good investment for everyone living in Sweden, to privately vaccinate their child against TBE. Possibly with the exception of those of you who live in northern Norrland where there are no ticks, or those who do not travel very much to other parts of Sweden.
Read more:
TBE in children – symptoms, infection, treatment and long-term effects
TBE vaccine (tick-borne encephalitis vaccine) and protection against ticks for babies and children