I had ticks on me twice when I was a kid. Once on the top of my right shoulder and once in the bend of my left knee. My dad yanked them along with the heads with a pair of tweezers and I never felt any ill effects afterwards. Still pretty scary, though. My cats have had ticks a bunch of times.
So I just got in from a fire over the weekend. That place was tick central. HOLY! We went swimming at the end of the day and came back to the rock to find our towels covered in ticks. On the truck ride home today I was digging through my hair and a shook out a couple. Must of had 20 on me all weekend. None IN me though!!