Think about that: children have died from 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴. It's easy to be smug power user complaining about design when you only consider how you interact with things.
Good point about the size. Unengorged nymph ticks are tough to spot. That's why most people don't notice them until after multiple days of feeding. The adults are much easier to catch early, and thus pose less of a threat.
For storage, a Ziplock bag works well (especially for mailing). Just make sure it's sealed air tight. A prescription pill bottle works great too because of the secure lid.
Yeah, that's proper procedure--except for the scotch tape. Our lab techs need to tediously remove ticks from adhesive every day because some authority (first-aid manuals?) is telling people to do that. It ends up in pieces after extraction which hinders us from identifying the species, life stage, and duration of engorgement. Hopefully this practice phases out with time.
We can't get reimbursed by health insurance because we aren't a medical facility, but rather a DNA lab. I'm sure in some regard, it's a downside. However, it does force us to compete intensely on price, value & service. And I'm happy with that because consumers win.
Surprised to see Lyme disease on HN, since bringing affordable DNA testing for B. burgdorferi & other pathogens to the public is the startup I've been working on since 2014.
As mentioned in other comments, serological tests fall short in various ways (accuracy, time). If you keep the tick that bit you, we can test it for the presence Lyme, and several other pathogens. If negative, we can effectively rule out much of the risk. Super quick & accurate, too.
