Tick bite, please calm me -photos.

[Anonymousemouses]

On holiday in France (40 odd miles from Calais).

Visited some castle ruins yesterday and was wearing light cotton, full-length, Jean type trousers.

This morning I thought I had a scab, but realised it wasn't when I scratched it.

DH pulled it out with tweezers, but think it's north is left behind, but can't see anything.

We're going home Friday night, I've put antiseptic wound wash on.

You could go to the pharmacie. They are a lot more proactive than Boots ( they are always my first port of call) and will advise you what to do. Do not go to the hospital- you’ll be there all day and a tick bite doesn’t warrant that. You could look on the site Doctolib, and get an appointment with a doctor généraliste around where you are staying - you tick autour de vous on the options. It only costs 25 euro or so and you will get it partly reimbursed but will have to pay the insurance bit later.
I often am bitten. It’s only if there is a red aureole that they will put you on antibiotics.

You need to get the head removed. Leaving it in increases the risk of infections. In the UK I would say that's a visit to a Minor Injuries Unit. On holiday - use your travel insurance.

Even if you do not develop the classic rash, if you have any flu-like illness, sore throat, or generally grotty illness in the next 6w you must go to the GP and tell them that you had a tick bite. Lyme is easily treated with antibiotics, but only in its first manifestation. If you leave it, thinking that you're not that ill, you may appear to recover but it then reappears months or years later as a chronic, debilitating condition.

My hillwalking family have had ticks several times, but only once did anyone get ill. I took ds to the GP with a sore throat and temperature about 3w after he had a tick. (Normally I would have treated him at home.) GP wasn't convinced it was Lyme because there had been no rash, and wanted to treat for bacterial tonsillitis. Different antibiotics. I pushed for treating ds for Lyme. They said the antibiotics for Lyme would not affect tonsillitis and he would get iller if I was wrong. I said that they could prescribe the other antibiotic if I was wrong but that ds would be chronically ill if it was Lyme and we did not treat it. Ds was given the antibiotics for Lyme and swiftly recovered.