For years there has been a social media post doing the rounds claiming to have the safe and easy way to remove ticks.
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The 2013 Facebook past, from a nurse, involved just soap and a cotton ball.
But experts have told AAP FactCheck that despite being shared 27,000 times, the remedy doesn't hold up to inspection.
The recommended way to remove ticks is by freezing, or using tweezers, forceps or a tick remover, they say.
Ticks, with a "mouthful of hooks" attach themselves deeply to skin to feed on blood which can, in the process, transmit bacteria and viruses through their saliva.
The original remedy was to "apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball, cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds", before the tick would come out on its own, stuck to the cotton ball.
The reality, however, is not so easy, and the soapy cotton ball remedy is not recommended for the 70 species of ticks in Australia and more than 800 around the world.
"It is not a safe way to remove ticks," says Professor Stephen Doggett, director of the Department of Medical Entomology, NSW Health Pathology, at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.
Prof Doggett told AAP FactCheck the Australian paralysis tick, found on the east coast, should be killed in place by freezing with an ether-based spray or dabbed with a permethrin-based scabies cream.
Fine tweezers and tick removers can also be used.
The New Zealand Ministry of Health told AAP FactCheck that if using tweezers, ticks must be grabbed close to the skin and pulled out at the angle the tick is attached.
"This helps to limit the risk of breaking the tick's mouthparts. A secondary infection can occur if the mouthparts get stuck in the skin.
"The skin needs to be disinfected once the tick has been removed."
Australian health officials advise against using "folklore remedies" such as matches or pins.
Australian Associated Press
