A retained mouthpart is not a tube of bacteria; transmission risk is mostly tied to whether the tick fed long enough, not whether the head broke off.
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Steps
schema.org/HowTo
01
DO NOT assume that broken-off mouthparts will transmit Lyme on their own.
02
The Borrelia bacteria live in the tick's midgut and salivary glands, not in the chitinous mouthparts. A retained hypostome behaves more like a splinter; the body has been removed and the feeding has stopped.
03
Transmission risk is more closely tied to attachment time. For Lyme, risk rises substantially after about 36-48 hours of attachment.
04
If you cannot easily remove the mouthparts with clean tweezers, leave them and let the skin heal naturally.
05
Watch for an expanding rash or flu-like symptoms over the next 30 days and consult a clinician if any develop.