Tick Testing Facilities

Live ticks are the best specimens for testing, so try to keep them alive by keeping them in your refrigerator in a small pill bottle or a baggie. Dead ticks may be tested by some, but not all, laboratories, so ask before sending.

Even if no spirochetes are found through testing, this may not mean that the tick was not infected, so negative test results are not a guarantee that the person bitten will not develop Lyme disease and you should still watch for symptoms to develop.

A positive test result does not necessarily mean that you will develop a tick-borne disease. Tick testing results are not definitive in diagnosing Lyme Disease and other illnesses. Testing should be used only as an aid by your physician in the diagnosis of a tick-borne illness.

To find a laboratory to send the tick for testing, do a search of the Internet using the search words "tick testing." Ask the proper procedure for sending the tick for testing.