Jul 2, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
Is that a Tick?
A couple of weeks ago we were in the Dells on vacation. The day after we got home we were getting ready to go outside and play when I heard my wife yell from the bathroom,”Dave, can you come here quick?!” When I got to the bathroom mywife was standing next to my daughter Kate with a comb in her hand and pointing to the top of her head with a horrified look on her face. I looked at her head expecting to see a gaping wound, but what I did find was a tick attached to her scalp. Three things immediately popped into my head. Is that a tick? How do I get it off? Does she need antibiotics?
After my initial panic and instinct to call one of my partners I calmed down and realized that people ask me these questions all the time. First of all, yes it was a tick. There are 2 types of ticks commonly found in Wisconsin between Spring and Fall, the wood tick and the deer tick. Click on the links for pictures. Wood ticks are common throughout the state including the Northshore area, Deer ticks are found more often in the North-woods and Western parts of the state.
University of Wisconsin Tick Safety
As far as taking them off goes, don’t get a match and burn them. I remember my Dad doing that when I was little. I also remember riding on long road trips without wearing a seat belt and getting horrible sunburns. The best way to remove a tick is to grab it as close to the head as possible with a tweezers and pull straight back. You will be surprised by how hard you have to pull to get it off and most likely some skin will come off with it. Avoid twisting the tick so you don’t break it. You want to remove it whole.
As far as antibiotics go, you first want to know which type of tick you or your child was bit by. Click on the link above for pictures or you can do what I do and google image deer and wood ticks. If you were bit by a wood tick, there is no risk of Lyme disease. The only thing you need to do is keep the bite site clean and watch for redness or pus which could be signs of a skin infection at the bite site. That is not likely to happen. If you found a deer tick, you still don’t need antibiotics as long as you were bit in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin about 15-20% of adult deer ticks carry Lyme disease. Ticks also have to be attached for 24-72 hours to transmit Lyme disease. There are no indications for antibiotic prophylaxis, but you should watch closely for a red “bulls eye” rash (see the safety link for pictures) or fevers, muscle aches, joint pains or other symptoms of illness and come in for an appointment if your child has these symptoms. We do usually see a couple of cases of Lyme disease a year in our clinic.
The best way to avoid Lyme disease is to avoid getting bit by ticks. Wear a hat, long pants and long sleeves when hiking or playing in the woods. You should also do a full body tick check at the end of the day too so the tick can be removed before it has been attached for more than 24 hours. Bug spray with DEET is also a good way to avoid tick bites.
After I pulled the tick off of Kate’s head (I had to pull really hard) I looked at it and compared it to the pictures on the Internet. She was bit by a wood tick which calmed everyone in my house down. By that I mean the adults, Kate handled it great. She just wanted to make sure her hair looked “beautiful”.
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