Tick bites: What you need to know
During spring and summer, ticks are out and hungry. If you find a tick on you or suspect that a tick is behind your rash or bump, it’s important to know the symptoms that may indicate an allergic reaction or tickborne disease.
IN THIS POST
- How to remove a tick
- What to do after removing a tick
- How to treat a tick bite
- Can tick bites make you sick?
- When to seek medical care for a tick bite
- How to prevent tick bites
How to remove a tick
Once on your body, ticks tend to gravitate toward places where they can easily attach, like your hairline, ears, bellybutton, armpits and groin area. If you notice a tick on you or your child, resist quickly pulling it off. Hastily removing a tick can result in part of the tick breaking off and being left behind in your skin, which could lead to an infection.
To prevent an infection, it’s important to be careful when removing an imbedded tick from your skin.
To remove a tick, it’s best to use tweezers and follow these steps as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Position tweezers around the head of the tick, as close as you can get to the skin’s surface.
- Apply even pressure to the tick’s body with the tweezers and steadily pull upward or away from the skin.
- Once the tick is removed, inspect the skin. If any parts of the tick are still visible, try your best to gently remove them from your skin with the tweezers.
What to do after removing a tick
After you remove a tick, take steps to ensure it can’t reattach to you or someone else. The CDC recommends placing it in rubbing alcohol or a sealed container, or flushing it down the toilet.
How to treat a tick bite
A tick attached to you or your child can be concerning. Fortunately, most people experience no symptoms or only very mild ones, like a small raised red bump and minor swelling at the bite site. In these cases, thoroughly cleaning the skin with soap and water and using an over-the-counter antibiotic cream like Bacitracin™ is all you need to do.
Can tick bites make you sick?
While most tick bites are harmless, ticks can transmit a variety of illnesses, including Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. In the Midwest, deer ticks can carry Lyme disease, which can cause flu-like symptoms and a bullseye-shaped rash. Signs of Lyme disease typically show up three to 30 days after transmission.
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According to medical studies, deer ticks must be attached for 24 or more hours to transmit Lyme disease. However, when you find a tick, it can be really hard to know how long it’s been attached.
If you remove a live deer tick from your skin or think one may have bitten you, it’s important to be vigilant and monitor for symptoms.
When to seek medical care for a tick bite
When left untreated, tickborne illnesses like Lyme disease can progress and lead to serious and long-term complications, including muscle weakness, joint pain and swelling, and severe headaches. If you experience any of the following symptoms, you’ll need to be seen in person so a clinician can recommend additional testing and determine next steps. For deer tick bites, treatment typically includes a single dose of antibiotics to help prevent Lyme disease.
Concerning tick bite symptoms
- Fever of 101 degrees or higher
- Body ache and chills
- Joint pain and swollen lymph node
- Severe headache
- Rash—especially if rash has a bullseye appearance and/or spreads to other parts of your body
- Develop an open sore and/or infection at bite site
How to prevent tick bites
Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the risk of being bit by a tick. Ticks live in tall grass, shrubs and trees, and their best chance of finding a host is to hitch a ride on an unsuspecting animal or hiker. That’s why if you plan to spend time outdoors near tall grass or the woods, it's a good idea to take precautions.
Tips for preventing tick bites
- Wear long-sleeved tops and tuck pant legs into socks
- Stay on hiking or biking trails and avoid straying into heavily wooded areas
- Use insect repellent that contains ingredients such as DEET, picaridin or Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus
- Remove and wash clothing after spending time outdoors
- Shower as soon as possible to prevent ticks from attaching to skin
- Perform a thorough tick check of yourself, kids and pets before bedtime
Don’t let ticks suck the fun out of your summer plans. Take steps to prevent tick bites and, if you or your little one suffers a bite, act promptly and seek treatment for tick bites at Virtuwell.
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