One of the realities of hiking, camping, or even just working in the yard is the possibility of ticks.  Now, I’m not quite like Humphrey Bogart and the leeches in Africa Queen, but close enough — I really don’t like the little bloodsuckers.

I was over at Duke Medical Center yesterday for an appointment and their website had a helpful article about the illnesses you can get from a tick bite., and what to do if you get one (either a bite or an illness).  We had a case of one of them a while back; they’re treatable, but like so many of these things, it’s best to do something about it as soon as you find a symptom.  This article shows what the classic “bulls-eye rash” looks like and also shows what illnesses are most common in different regions.  Here in North Carolina, for instance, Lyme disease is pretty rate, but there’s more Rock,y Mountain spotted fever than you find in Colorado!

You can read the whole thing here.  Then get out your tweezers and mash the little suckers.