Was it a tick?

I took my cousin who has down-syndrome for a walk today and when we got back, she had this little black bump under her skin. I got suspicious about it being a tick. Her mother took her to the hospital and doctors examined her and said: 鈥渋t might be an insect, but it not a tick, TAKE HER HOME AND have her take a shower and try to take the insect out yourself!!!!!!!!!鈥?never mind the carelessness of those doctors (with whom I will have a talk tomorrow), we finally were about to take out the insect. It was a light brown, shrimp shaped, insect. The problem is that we missed a little bit of its body and regardless of our effort we couldn鈥檛 take it out. Any advice on what it could have been and what we should do? If it the pest had lime disease, would a blood test show it this soon?

I'm sorry but I'm not expert enough in entomology to identify this. You might try checking out: www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt It's an entomology website.

I really doubt your cousin has contracted Lyme disease. Not all ticks carry it and ticks attach to the outer skin, they don't burrow. I have no idea where in the world you live but if there is a university near you it might have an entomology department that you could consult. Or perhaps you have a Public Health Dept. that can assist you. I hope you saved the body.

In the meantime, just keep the area of skin clean and observe it for any changes. Don't put jock itch/athlete's foot cream on it. This is a fungicide and is meant to treat fungal infections, not ticks or any other insect.