Tick Bites and Lyme Disease
Habits
There are a number of different types of ticks in Britain all of which need occasional blood meals to survive. Each type of tick usually feeds off a particular type of animal. When this 'host' animal is not available, the tick will seek an alternative supply of blood and humans may be bitten.
Food
Once on the skin, the tick injects its saliva which prevents the blood from clotting and makes the bite painless. It buries its head beneath the skin and remains attached for about two days feeding slowly for the first 24-36 hours and then rapidly gorging itself. During this stage, the tick becomes much bigger. After feeding, the tick will drop off the body.
Lyme Disease
In 1986 doctors at Southampton General Hospital discovered that bites from a tiny tick which normally lives on deer can cause illness in humans.
Lyme Disease can cause flu-like symptoms (tiredness, headaches and pain in the joints and muscles). If untreated it can, in severe cases, lead to arthritis and a stiff neck. This can be mistaken for meningitis.
Only one in every 5000 tick bites is likely to lead to illness. The risk of getting the disease is therefore small.
How to Remove the Tick
If you pull at the tick's body, you are likely to crush it and leave the head buried in your skin. This can cause an abscess at the site of the bite.
To make the tick loosen its grip, you should apply a drop of methylated spirit, petrol, alcohol, neat TCP or nail polish remover to its body and wait a few moments before easing it out of the skin with tweezers.
Treat the wound with antiseptic and cover it with a sticking plaster.
What to do Following a Tick Bite
Most tick bites will require no further action.
The first sign to watch out for is a red skin rash which starts at the site of the tick bite and spreads outward in a ring shape. This rash can be up to 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter.
This may be followed by:
- headache
- fever/chills
- stiff neck
- pain in the joints
- difficulty remembering and concentrating.
If any of these symptoms occur see a doctor. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. The earlier the disease is diagnosed the easier it is to treat.
All doctors in the New Forest area are aware of Lyme Disease and will know what action to take. If you are a visitor to the area and symptoms develop after your return home, show your doctor this information.
Note for Doctors:
- For further information please see:- D. Williams and C.J. Rolles. Lyme Disease in a Hampshire Child - medical curiosity or the beginning of an epidemic? British Medical Journal Volume 292, 14 June 1986.
- Lyme Disease. Cases occurring during pregnancy. Weekly Epidemiological Record No. 39, 26 September 1986.
Further information can be obtained from:
- NHS Direct (this is an external hyperlink)
- British Lyme Disease Foundation (this is an external hyperlink)
If the number of tick bites continues, then contact your local Environmental Health Department at regulatory@fareham.gov.uk or telephone us on 01329 236100.
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