Can Ticks be Tested for Lyme Disease in Southeastern Massachusetts?

Yes. Absolutely ticks can be tested and you should take advantage of it whenever you remove a tick from you, a child, or your pet.

Living in Massachusetts means living with the threat of tick bites and Lyme disease whenever venturing outdoors. Because of the threat, most residents know someone who has had Lyme disease and are familiar with the potential difficulty in diagnosing the disease. But if you practice daily tick safety, you can avoid the hassle of diagnosis, by having ticks tested after safe removal from you, your child, or your pet.

How to Have a Tick Tested

When you follow our tips for safe tick removal, you have a few options of what you can do with that tick. We recommend not disposing of it so that you can take advantage of the option to have it tested. If you want to know if the tick was carrying a disease, feel free to send it to tickreport.com right away. Having the peace-of-mind of knowing your tick was not carrying any diseases can provide great comfort.

If you are less concerned, still do not flush or destroy your tick. Please place it in a plastic baggy or tightly sealed bottle. Mark the baggy with the date and who the tick was pulled from. Store it somewhere safe. For at least the next 30 days, observe the person or pet who had the unfortunate displeasure of a tick bite, for symptoms of illness. Should they become ill, you can then send your tick to tickreport.com to potentially receive a faster diagnosis if in fact, the illness is tick-borne.

If you safely remove a tick but are unsure of the level of threat in your neighborhood, you can also use tickreport.com/stats to learn what diseases have been found within your city’s tested tick population.

In the meantime, if you would like to lower your risk for tick bites and tick-borne disease when spending time outdoors at home. Call Mosquito Squad of Southeastern Massachusetts today. We can eliminate the ticks on your property by 85-90% with our popular intensive tick treatment.