Ticks (HB)
With ticks, we are more concerned with the long term illnesses they can give us more than the bites themselves.
Incubation periods for tick-borne illnesses vary with each type of illness–from a few days to a few weeks or more. Patients are typically asymptotic (no symptoms) during the incubation period. Ticks cause many different diseases.
We are only going to discuss the two most common, Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. If you want to learn more or get freaked out ticks, this is a good spot.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
The infection starts between 1 and 4 days after the incubation period, and the patient presents with flu-like symptoms that include severe headache and high fever. They can develop swelling on their hands, and their face appears puffy from fluid leaking into the muscle tissue. They have a history of poor appetite and food intake caused by the general feeling of being sick along with N+V. Within a few days of the first symptoms, the patient can(<10% do not) develop a rash that starts on the hands and lower arms and the feet and ankles and looks similar to hives. The difference is they don’t itch, they are not raised or puffy, and it moves from the extremities towards the trunk. Hives are itchy, puffy, and generally start in the truck of the body and move outward. Within a week or so, the rash will darken to a purple color and is a very bad sign with poor outcomes unless the patient gets IV antibiotics ASAP.
As the infection takes hold, they will show signs of altered mental status that will start to increase ICP. The respiratory system can have problems that can lead to respiratory failure along with kidney failure. This is called Multiorgan failure, and this is bad.
Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted through the bite of an infected deer tick. Anyone can get it, but people who spend more time outdoors are at higher risk.
Early signs of infection are a rash, headache, fever, general fatigue. If caught early Lyme Disease is easily treatable with antibiotics. If the infection is allowed to progress, it can make its way to the joints, heart, and nervous system. If you have the capability to bring the tick with you to the clinic, do so–they can generally be tested for the disease.
Prevention
You can prevent ticks from accessing your body through a combination of physical barriers (like clothing that prevents penetration) and chemical warfare (like DEET and permethrin)
Signs and Symptoms
The most common symptoms we see with almost all tick-borne diseases are flu-like symptoms, generalized weakness, arthritis-like pain, and fevers. The fevers may be steady, or they may come and go.
In some cases, the patient is not aware that a tick bit them, or they may not have the signs that we think they should. This lack of awareness makes it more difficult to say it is a tick-borne illness, especially early on in the infection. As the infection worsens, it doesn’t matter what the cause was–the patient will kook sick, act sick, and feel sick.
Treatment
Remove the tick carefully by pulling it off. You can also use a “tick spoon,” which is just a spoon with a small notch cut in it. You want to make sure that you pull the head out of the wound at the same time you get the body. It is possible to break the head off, leaving that as a source of infection.
Do not use methods like burning matches, vaseline, soap, etc.–they are more likely to cause the tick to move into the wound or vomit their stomach contents into your body.