Of course, the safest way is avoiding forests and not leaving a city.

When a tick bites you, slowly remove it, turning it anticlockwise. Do NOT use any chemicals until it's removed, otherwise poor animal can vomit inside your body. Creepy.

After every walk near places where ticks live, check your body carefully - an early removed thick got nearly no chance to spread disease.

And - don't panic! Thousands of people are biten every year and do not have lyme. Wait if a rash appears, and if you are a little hypochondriac - ask a doctor for doxycyclinum, therapy should last for 3-4 weeks. If rash appeares, you MUST use antibiotics. And here are some pictures of it: click

If flu-like syndroms appear - make an IgM Western Blot test, or IgM + IgG after few months. If symptoms last for weeks, you can suspect that it's Lyme, even if tests were negative. Remember, it can be any other disease, for tick-borne encephalitis, disease that is really deadly when one uses antibiotics - it's a worst thing you can do, treatment virus infection of brain with an antibiotic.