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After being outdoors it is important to do a thorough tick check of yourself and your children. Applying bug spray to your clothing can repel ticks. It is easier to see ticks on light-colored clothing, so that is another useful approach. Tucking your pants into your socks and wearing high boots can also help. Good ways to prevent tick bites are to wear shoes, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants when outside, especially in brushy areas and areas that border forests. It is adult ticks that are responsible for the occurrence of Lyme disease during the fall and early winter. Adult ticks can still transmit Lyme disease but they are easier to spot so they are usually noticed and removed more quickly. Lyme is most common during late spring and summer when the nymphal ticks are more predominant, these ticks are so tiny (about the size of a poppy seed) that they are easier to miss than the adult-sized ticks (about the size of a sesame seed). Is there a time of the year when Lyme disease is most likely? When a human or animal goes past them, ticks latch on to the passerby and search for an area to attach and start feeding. Ticks in their immature or nymphal form are carried by mice, and by deer as adults.
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They tend to also be in higher numbers in old stone walls where mice nest. Ticks are typically found on the underside of low lying shrubs and brush, in areas between forests and open grass and especially in areas where there are deer. Trying to remove these mouthparts can cause more trauma and may cause a local skin infection. The mouthparts will come out over time naturally. As long as the body of the tick has been removed it can no longer transmit infection. What if mouthparts of the tick remain in the skin?ĭo not attempt to remove the mouthparts if they are left in the skin after tick removal. After tick removal wash your hands and the area of the bite with soap and water. Do NOT use a match, nail polish, Vaseline, or kerosene to try and smother the tick – these methods may cause the tick to actually inject its body fluids into the skin raising the possibility of disease transmission. It is important to avoid crushing or squeezing the tick while you are removing it. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull with firm, gentle pressure – do not jerk or twist. The best way to remove a tick is with fine tweezers. That’s why it is important to do regular "tick checks" on yourselves and your children so that ticks can be identified and removed quickly. is still flat) when removed, could not have transmitted Lyme disease or any other infection. A tick that has not yet attached to the skin is easy to remove or is not engorged (i.e.
![tick bite rash tick bite rash](https://www.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/tick_bites_eb.jpg)
This means the tick has to be attached and feeding for more than 36 hours before it can transmit Lyme. The tick has to have taken a "blood meal" from the human host before it can pass along an infection. How long does a tick need to be attached to transmit Lyme disease?Įven if the tick is infected with Borrelia burgdorferi (the organism that causes Lyme disease) the risk of developing Lyme disease is low. It typically occurs at the site of the bite, starting as a red area and then expanding in size over days and weeks. The most visible sign of Lyme disease is the characteristic rash called erythema migrans (EM) or 'bull's eye.' This rash usually develops within one month of the tick bite. Dog ticks and other kinds of ticks are not known to cause Lyme disease. On the Pacific coast, the ticks that transmit Lyme disease are the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus). In the northeast, Mid-Atlantic and north-central states, deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) or black-legged ticks are the only ticks known to transmit Lyme disease. What types of ticks transmit Lyme disease? Please find the answers to these frequently asked questions below and call us with any questions or concerns. Our patients and their parents have been asking a lot of excellent questions about tick bites and Lyme disease. If you or your child gets a tick bite don’t panic, it is important to make note of the size, color, and shape of the tick and to remove the tick promptly. Tick bites are common and with the increasing prevalence of Lyme disease in our area, tick bites cause a lot of worry for parents and children.