Should You Get a Tick Tested?

Quick answer

For most people, no. CDC and the 2020 IDSA/AAN/ACR Lyme guideline advise against testing a removed tick for Lyme bacteria to decide on treatment. A positive tick does not mean you were infected, and a negative one can falsely reassure you. Knowing the tick’s species, and how long it was attached, is what actually helps.

Why a tick test doesn’t settle the question

• A positive result means the tick carried the bacteria. It does not mean the tick passed them to you. A tick generally needs to be attached for more than 24 hours to spread Lyme disease, according to CDC. See how long a tick needs to be attached.
• A negative result can be false comfort. You may have been bitten by a different tick that you never found.
• Quality. Tick-testing labs are not held to the same quality-control standards as labs that test people.

The guideline also advises against blood tests right after a bite if you have no symptoms. Testing makes sense later, if symptoms appear; see our Lyme disease test guide.

What is useful: identifying the tick

Tick identification (species, life stage, how swollen it is) is not the same as testing for germs, and it is useful:

• Species. In the U.S., Lyme disease is spread by the blacklegged (deer) tick in the East and Midwest and the western blacklegged tick on the Pacific coast. CDC says lone star ticks and American dog ticks do not spread Lyme. See ticks that carry Lyme disease.
• Life stage and engorgement. CDC’s guidance for clinicians asks them to look at whether the tick is a nymph or adult and how engorged it is, to estimate how long it fed. That helps decide whether a single preventive antibiotic dose may be considered (see our first 72 hours checklist).

Your own clinician can look at the tick. These free photo identification programs were active when we checked them in October 2026:

Elsewhere, try your state or county health department or extension office (Oregon State University Extension, for example, refers Oregonians to their county health department). These services name the tick; they don’t test it for germs.

How to save a tick

1. Remove it first. Use fine-tipped tweezers close to the skin and pull straight up with steady pressure (CDC). Don’t crush it with your fingers.
2. Kill and keep it. CDC’s clinician guidance suggests rubbing alcohol or a sealed bag or container. University programs also use the freezer: Oregon State Extension suggests a sealed bag in the freezer, and the Illinois service asks for at least 30 minutes frozen in a secure container before mailing.
3. Photograph it top and bottom against a plain, light background. Photos are what the free ID programs need.
4. Label it with the date, where on your body it was, and where you think you picked it up.

If you don’t want to keep it, CDC lists ways to dispose of a live tick: a sealed container, wrapped tightly in tape, flushed down the toilet, or placed in alcohol.

When tick testing is used

Surveillance and research. Health agencies and researchers test ticks collected from the environment, and CDC publishes maps of where Lyme bacteria and other germs have been found in blacklegged ticks. This helps define high-risk areas, one reason your clinician asks where you were. See our risk map and Lyme disease by state.

Paid tests for the public. Some labs test ticks mailed in by the public, and opinions differ on their value. TickEncounter at the University of Rhode Island says a result can be one input in deciding whether to treat someone without symptoms, but also that it is no substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis and that a positive tick does not mean germs were passed on. CDC and the guideline don’t recommend using tick results for treatment decisions. If you test anyway, share the result with your clinician and don’t delay care.

Frequently asked questions