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Tick bites

in adults and children

Infoblatt_Zeckenstiche (PDF, 276 KB)

Anyone who spends time in the woods, bushes or on a meadow, among other things,can easily come into contact with ticks.

A tick bite is usually harmless. However, if a tick has the appropriate virus or bacteria, it can transmit tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or borreliosis. There is a vaccination against TBE.

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How and where can you detect a tick bite?

  • A tick bite is usually not painful. You only notice it when you spot the tick.
  • After spending time outdoors, check your clothes and body for ticks as soon as possible. As ticks sometimes crawl around on your body for several hours, you may be able to remove them before they bite.
  • Ticks prefer soft and warm parts of the body (e.g. armpits, skin folds, genital area). Children are often stung on the scalp or neck.

What can you do yourself in case of a tick bite?

You can usually remove a tick yourself:
  • Use tweezers with angled tips - but no tweezers with flat tips. Hold the tick as close as possible to the puncture point and pull it out slowly, pulling evenly, as straight as possible and without squeezing it. 
  • Tick tweezers, cards or hooks are also suitable for removing ticks. The pharmacy will explain to you how to use them correctly.
  • If no suitable tool is available, you can remove the tick with your fingernails. Hold the tick as close as possible to the puncture and do not squeeze it when pulling it out.
  • Then disinfect the puncture.


What else you should know about a tick bite:
  • If the tick's trunk (a small black spot) remains in the wound, a slight inflammation can develop. This is usually harmless and goes away on its own.
  • Never use nail polish, glue, toothpaste, alcohol, oil or liquid soap to remove ticks. This can increase the risk of infection.
  • Observe the puncture for several weeks after the tick removal. A small itchy reddening around the puncture is normal at first. It goes away by itself after a few days.


When to seek medical advice?


Contact your family doctor when:

  • a few days or weeks after the tick bite, a ring-shaped reddening of the skin forms around the bite.
  • You have flu-like symptoms (such as fever, fatigue, headaches and pain in the limbs) within six weeks of the tick bite.
  • the puncture becomes inflamed.
  • the tick has stung a hard-to-reach or very sensitive area of skin (e.g. ear canal, eyelid, genital area).