Lyme’s Disease and Ticks: Resources for Protecting Yourself

After another unseasonably warm Winter, I had my usual feeling that it just wasn’t cold enough to kill off all the fleas and ticks. Ticks carry Lyme’s Disease and after I woke up to find one (a verified Deer Tick) embedded with his little head into the back of my leg for a little bite of parasitic breakfast, I immediately thought the worst and called the Doctor. I think of all the routines, tricks, and preaching that I do to watch out for these little deviant entomological pests and realized that no one is exempt (not even me) – it really IS hard protecting yourself from being bitten and possibly contracting this incurable disease. One bite and days of worry waiting for the Lyme’s Disease blood results to come back, I’d have to say that I’m a stressed out mess. I’ve been using this inquisitive energy to find some extremely useful resources for Lyme’s Disease and ticks… resources for protecting yourself.

I do all those things you think you are supposed to do to help in protecting yourself from Lyme’s Disease. I wash my sheets often (my pets sleep on the bed with me), vacuum every other day (ok… that might be a bit of my OCD coming out), I groom my pets to keep the shedding problem to a minimum, I wear light colored clothing when out, long pants, knee high socks, long sleeves when possible, bug spray (with DEET)… the whole nine yards (looking like a Roman Knight in my armor right before battle with the soldiers of the entomological parasitic army)… I treat my animals, I check my animals, I even check myself for ticks… but to just wake up with one… I’m reeling in worry. Sure I’ve been bitten before (not since I started using an amazing flea/tick collar… but more on that in a bit), I twist them out, no mark, just add a dab of antibiotic cream and go about my merry way but… this one has me unusually disturbed. This bite wasn’t normal. It was bright red, painful, swollen and I thought I saw the atypical ‘bulls-eye’ forming. Although I got it out as soon as I saw it with a Tick Tornado (tick remover), the doctor said to keep putting antibiotic cream on it for 7 days and go to the lab and get tested. Now I sit impatiently waiting for the results. What’s worse… the bite or waiting to find out if I’m infected?

I finally KNOW what I did wrong… Please don’t make the same mistake.

What is a tick and how cold it has to be to kill them –

When I went to college at Penn State University, one of my favorite classes was “Entomology” – the study of insects. It was one of those classes that you take because either you need a really great elective, or you take it because you just like bugs (the creepier and crawlier the better). Well it’s no secret that I like weird things so obviously I really enjoyed (and learned a great deal in) this class. Foremost, ticks are NOT insects. Ticks are arachnids (like spiders) possessing 8 legs and NO antenna. If you remember from high school Biology class, you can tell if it is insect because it has 6 legs (and ‘I-N-S-E-C-T’ has 6 letters). Additionally all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs. Bugs, like leaf-hoppers and cicadas, have six legs (think ‘insect’) but have straw-like mouth parts for sucking (that makes them a true bug). Ticks neither have 6 legs, antenna, nor straw-like mouths, therefore they are neither bugs nor insects.  

I also remember from class that in order to kill off the ticks it has to be really cold. Since ticks can escape the cold by crawling into leaf litter, deep soil, or under an insulating blanket of snow (DCNR, 2018), temperatures can be too cold for us but not cold enough to kill off the ticks. In fact, it has be well below zero for at least a month to kill MOST of the ticks. Studies have also shown that it is the magnitude (how cold it is) and frequency (how many cold days) in combination when assessing cold temperatures, that aptly eradicates tick populations. Recent fluctuating cold and warm days during our Pennsylvania winters can trick the ticks to crawl back up to the ground surface when it’s warm, only to be trapped by a sudden cold snap that catches them off guard, prevents their re-escape, and thusly killing them from the cold. (DCNR, 2018). Unfortunately, we have seen too many warm days (low cold magnitude) and not enough cold days (low cold frequency) to keep tick populations under control.

The difference between a common dog tick and a deer tick –

There are hundreds of types of ticks, but the most problematic (and disease carrying) ticks for humans are the dog tick, the lone star tick, and the black-legged tick (aka…deer tick). Each carries a different pathogen for disease.

Just because you pull off a large grayish engorged tick from your dog doesn’t mean it’s a dog tick…

The dog tick:

This tick is known as the American Dog Tick or the Brown Dog Tick which can vary according to where you live. However, these ticks are migrating from their typical habitats due to changing weather patterns and unseasonably warmer winters in the North. Therefore, there is the possibility of either of these dog ticks being located in much of the areas within the United States. The most common characteristic of these ticks are that they typically feed on dogs but will also feed on humans. After several hours of feeding, they become engorged where they have a dullish gray color and are quite large. So when we see these engorged dull gray ticks on our dogs we think “Dog tick… no risk… right?”… but that’s wrong. ALL ticks become large when engorged and it is very difficult to tell the engorged dog tick from the engorged deer tick. Dog ticks also can carry and spread Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) which is found in only about 1% of the dog tick population (Shepard, 2011). RMSF was first discovered in the Rocky Mountain region but is more prevalent in the Southeastern United States.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF):

Symptoms –These include nausea, fever, headaches, and a rash. Symptoms typically appear in 5-7 days but could show in as little as 2 days or as late as 14 days. The tick needs to feed between 5-20 hours before transmitting the disease.

Diagnosis – A doctor can check for RMSF through laboratory testing.

Treatment – Includes doxycycline antibiotics.

Recovery – A full recovery can be expected if treated. Untreated it can reappear for years and be fatal in the extremely young, the elderly, or in those with compromised immune systems.

The Lone Star tick:

Did you know that a tick bite can cause you to NEVER be able to eat red meat again?…

This tick is a reddish brown with a ‘white spot’ (its ‘lone star’) on its back. They are found in the Southeast, Eastern, and Mid-Western US but are migrating northward as the winters become warmer in the North and Northwest. The most interesting fact about these little vampires is that their saliva contains a carbohydrate called ‘Alpha-gal’ which is similarly found in red meat. When the saliva of the Lone Star tick is transmitted to their human host, some find an newly acquired allergy to meat (Alpha-gal Syndrome). Dr. Scott Commins at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville stated for Katie Moisse of ABC News, “People will eat beef and then anywhere from three to six hours later start having a reaction; anything from hives to full-blown anaphylactic shock…”, becoming “agonizing enough to convert lifelong carnivores into wary vegetarians.”(Moisse, 2012). Although this is an acquired allergy and NOT a disease treatable with antibiotics, it is something that will not go away… and wouldn’t that be devastating to all of the cheeseburger, steak, and Bar-B-Que lovers across the US?…

More seriously… there are 2 problematic transmitted diseases to consider when possibly being bit by a Lone Star Tick: “Ehrlichiosis” – a bacterial infection that produces flu like symptoms,  and “Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI)” – a bacterial infection that produces a rash similar to Lyme’s Disease accompanied by fatigue, fever, headache, muscle and joint pains.

Ehrlichiosis –

Symptoms –These include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, fever, severe headaches, muscle aches and a rash that is red splotches or pinpoint dots (more common in children). Symptoms typically appear in 5 days and are mild to moderate. The tick needs to feed for approximately 24 hours before transmitting the disease.  

Diagnosis – A doctor can check for ehrlichiosis through laboratory testing, however if suspected, a doctor will most likely prescribe antibiotics until the laboratory testing results confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment – Includes oral doxycycline antibiotics.

Recovery – A full recovery can be expected if treated. Untreated it can cause brain damage, respiratory failure, organ failure and death. This disease is more severe for those who go untreated, the extremely young, the elderly, or in those with compromised immune systems.

Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI) –

Symptoms – These include fatigue, headache, fever, muscle pains, and a ‘bulls-eye’ rash that can reach 3+ inches in diameter approximately 6 days after being bitten. The tick needs to feed for approximately 24 hours before transmitting the disease.

Diagnosis – A doctor CAN NOT check for STARI with the usual laboratory testing because the pathogenetic cause is unknown.

Treatment – Since STARI mimics Lyme’s Disease, doctors typically treat it with oral doxycycline antibiotics.

Recovery – A full recovery can be expected and faster recovery was reported by patients with the use of doxycycline antibiotics, however, this has not been scientifically verified.  

The deer tick:

This tick is located everywhere in the US except Hawaii. It is North America’s most common tick and is most prevalent in the Northeast, Midwest, and Great Lakes Regions. It is black with 8 legs and a reddish-brown curve on its back. It is the carrier of Anaplasmosis (a white blood cell disease), Babesiosis (a red blood cell disease), the rare Powassan virus infection, and the most common and problematic for humans – Lyme’s Disease. Pennsylvania ranks highest with reported cases of Lyme’s Disease in the United States (mostly due to the large amounts of wooded areas comprising the state).

Lyme’s Disease –

Symptoms –Includes a “bulls-eye” rash as early as 3 -7 days after being bitten. Rash can grow to around 12+ inches around the bite area. Additional symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle and joint aches.  Symptoms get progressively worse and dangerous if left untreated. The tick needs to feed for approximately 36 hours before the disease is transmitted.

Diagnosis – A doctor can check for Lyme’s Disease through laboratory testing.

Treatment – Includes oral doxycycline antibiotics.

Recovery – A full recovery can be expected although there is no known cure. Untreated, it can manifest itself with fever, rash, joint and muscular problem including arthritis. Further complications include irregular heart-beat, dizziness, shortness of breath, nerve pain, and inflammation of the brain or spinal cord.  

Predicting risk – Life-cycles of ticks:

Foremost, all ticks need a host blood meal in order to move onto the next life stage. Therefore, in late Spring to early Summer, tick eggs hatch and the little suckers start looking for their first meal. At this point they are extremely tiny and are called tick Larvae. They have 6 legs (yes only 6 at this point) and start feeding on small rodents as they come out from their birthing burrows in the ground. By late Summer a small percent have attached themselves to an immune (yet infected) Whitetail Deer and thusly are now carriers of the Lyme’s Disease… but yet the percentage of these ticks that are able to transmit Lyme’s Disease to humans is very low. They are still extremely small and easily undetected.

After the Fall and Winter of their first year, if they live through the cold, they become Nymphs and now have 8 legs and start coming out looking for a host in Spring to early Summer. They will again feed all through the summer and by this time they are a little bit bigger and identifiable to which type of tick they are. The chances that these ticks are now carriers of Lyme’s Disease has increased.

As Fall and Winter of their second year approaches, they have turned into an Adult Deer Tick and the chances that they now carry Lyme’s Disease has increased even further. In the Spring they will attach themselves to a host for their ‘final meal’, lay their eggs, and die. Now a new cycle begins with new and uninfected deer ticks.

So consider this… if you get bitten by a deer tick, your chances of NOT contracting Lyme’s Disease is greater when the tick is smaller and less mature. The down side to that is… they are so much smaller to see.

How to EFFECTIVELY remove a tick:

A common misnomer is that when a tick has its head embedded in your skin, that you can use petroleum jelly, heat, butter… the thought to simply burn or suffocate it out. That is soooo false. Ticks can hold their breath for DAYS and they can stand extreme cold and hot when having a meal so NO… these ideas don’t really work.

Another misnomer is that by pulling the tick straight up with tweezers will get them out… I never got them out without leaving the head in…and you can find on the internet where some say that leaving the head in is ok as it will work its way out… but there IS the possibility of infection so… NO… that’s gross.

The ONLY thing that has worked every single time in removing a tick from me, my dog, my cat, anything… 100% of the time has been the Tick Tornado tick remover. Slide it around the tick until it is all the way into the jaws, spin it and the tick comes out INTACT…EVERY SINGLE TIME. Then after I curse at it, try to pinch it, kill it, and even call it names… I flush it down the toilet. TAKE THAT you nasty tick.

Other things to consider:

• A round, warm, inflamed area around the tick bite is not uncommon and resembles a reddened mosquito bite. It can be itchy and/or slightly painful but may NOT be indicative of a Lyme’s Disease ‘bulls-eye’. This is the body’s normal reaction to a bite and can be treated with topical antibiotics.
• Lyme’s Disease is commonly found in and most notably transmitted by… the Adult deer tick which is easier to see. Nymph deer ticks are generally too young to be carrying the disease but… you have a greater chance of being bit by one because they are smaller and harder to see.
• Deer ticks must be on you for approximately 36 hours in order to transmit Lyme’s Disease at which point they have already started to become engorged and larger with blood. That means that if you pull off a small black tick with the red curved back thinking ‘Yea that’s a Deer tick’, it hasn’t been on you long enough to get engorged and you probably did NOT contract Lyme’s Disease.
• Just because a tick may test positive for Lyme’s Disease, it does NOT mean it will give it to you.
• A vaccine for Lyme’s Disease is available for dogs – but NOT for humans.
• Chickens and Guinea LOVE to eat fleas and ticks. They can eat hundreds of ticks in an hour. They are a great addition to any homestead or yard where ticks are a problem.

My mistake when I got bitten:

• I should have just gotten on the AutoShip plan from Chewy.com and not worried about it. You see… I misjudged the timing of Spring. I put a note on my calendar to get flea/tick collars but ticks don’t go by a paper calendar. They just know when it’s Spring better than we do (and they don’t need a groundhog coming out of a hole to announce it).  
• The tick that I pulled out (with my Tick Tornado tick remover) was a tiny black tick with a reddish-brown curve on its back. Yes it was a deer tick, but it could not have been on me for long or it would have started to become engorged with blood. Therefore, if it was carrying Lyme’s Disease, it didn’t have the chance to give it to me.

Resources and strategies for protecting yourself from Lyme’s Disease:

Don’t get bit, don’t get stressed out, and don’t worry and wait impatiently for laboratory test results to come back. Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in North Central Pa, are constantly tracking and keeping residents informed on the progress of the tick life cycle and the prevalence of Lyme’s Disease within the state. Additionally, The Tick Research Lab through the East Stroudsburg University in Eastern Pennsylvania, has an amazing tick identification guide. Browse through their internet cards and identify ticks near you and get more information on the diseases each carries. Additionally, The Tick Research Laboratory can test your mailed tick specimen (a basic panel screening is FREE for PA residents) to identify the existence of tick born diseases so you can know for certain if there is a potential threat for causing harm to you, your family, or your pets.

Especially when Spring and Summer weather gets warmer and we spend more time outside, don’t let ticks scare you. They like wooded areas to search for hosts, jump or fall upon their next meal, and migrate to warm, moist places on the body. So if you are planning to spend some time outdoors, here are some simple things you can do to PREVENT being the next parasitic entomological blood meal:

• Wear light-colored clothing (ticks are easier to spot),
• Wear long pants tucked into knee-high socks (to keep them from crawling up your pants),
• Wear long sleeves,
• Wear a hat to keep them off your head (and out of your hair),
• Check yourself, your loved ones, and your pets after being outside (see diagram below),
• Shower right away to wash off ticks not embedded yet (and they are easier to spot),
• Vacuum your carpet regularly and sweep floors often to keep them from making a home,
• Use products containing DEET to repel ticks,
• Spray permethrin*** products around areas in your yard where your family plays, and
• Keep a good quality flea/tick collar on your pet year round.

Prevention for your pets:

Prevention is much easier than treatment…

The mistake I made this year is that I took the pets’ flea/tick collars off in December and didn’t get new ones back on them in time for tick season. When they are on and since I have been using the Soresto® flea/tick collar on my pets, I haven’t seen any fleas or ticks on my pets or in my home. It lasts for 8 months and is the ONLY collar that has kept my pets 100% FREE of fleas and ticks (but you have to put it on them… ). Now you know what I did wrong… PLEASE don’t make the same mistake. Get a Soresto®. Protect your pets, protect yourself.

Soresto flea and tick collars protect for up to 8 months and there are collars made especially for:

• Large dogs over 18 lbs,
• Small dogs up to 18 lbs,
• and Cats.

So now I got my blood test results back and I’m negative for the Lyme’s Disease bacteria, however, I am to continue to monitor my bite for the next month for size (and that “bulls-eye” reaction). Should I exhibit any flu-like symptoms (that is not COVID-19) in the next few days to weeks, I am to contact the doctor again and be retested. Trust me… prevention is much easier than any treatment for these tick borne diseases. Stay safe.

*** Permethrin products are extremely effective for killing ticks (mosquitoes, bed bugs, lice, and even scabies) around the home. The EPA has announced that they are safe for dogs and humans (and specifically children), however do not digest, inhale, or get permethrin products in your eyes or mouth. They are NOT safe around cats. For more information on permethrin, visit the EPA’s website at https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/repellent-treated-clothing

Don’t forget to check out my post: 5 Simple steps to a TICK FREE yard

Thanks for stopping by.

~Enjoy it Simple… Sue 😊

References:

CDC. (2019). Ehrlichiosis: Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 1, 2019. Web. Retrieved April 10, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/ehrlichiosis/prevention/index.html

CDC. (2019). Rocky mountain spotted fever. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 19, 2019. Web. Retrieved April 10, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/rmsf.html

CDC. (2019). Signs and symptoms of untreated Lyme’s Disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 15, 2019. Web. Retrieved April 10, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/signs_symptoms/index.html

CDC. (2018). Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness: STARI or Lyme?. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 19, 2018. Web. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/stari/symptoms/index.html

DCNR. (2018). Will a harsh PA Winter kill ticks?. Good Natured – A look at the good things happening in PA’s natural places. Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources. January 17, 2018. Web. Retrieved April 9, 2020 from https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/GoodNatured/Pages/Article.aspx?post=27

Moisse, K. (2012). Allergic to meat: Lone star tick may make vegetarians of some. ABC News Network. June 20, 2012. Web. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/allergic-meat-lone-star-tick-spreading-vegetarianism/story?id=16610228

Shepard, B. (2011). Tiny tick packs a big wallop: Rocky Mountain spotted fever. UAB News. University of Alabama at Birmingham. June 27, 2011. Web. Retrieved April 10, 2020 from https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/1376-tiny-tick-packs-a-big-wallop-rocky-mountain-spotted-fever

Images:

The American Dog Tick – Courtesy of The Tick Lab of East Stroudsburg University.

The Lone Star Ticks – Courtesy of The Tick Lab of East Stroudsburg University.

The Black-legged Tick – Courtesy of the Tick Lab of East Stroudsburg University.

Bulls-eye rash – courtesy of James Gathany, CDC and the Washington State Department of Health.

Life cycle of the Deer Tick – Courtesy of the CDC.

Three stages of deer tick – Courtesy of the Washington State Department of Health.

The three most problematic ticks for humans – Courtesy of the CDC

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