There
is nothing quite like the creepy feeling as a tick crawls on your
body looking for a place to set up its drilling rig. For the first
time in two and a half decades of dealing with ticks, this year many
of their bites resulted in welts. We used to conduct 'tick checks" before the kids went to bed - they never seemed to get welts.
It was time for me to do some
research. The internet, of course. A review of literature revealed
that there was very little good data about “our” local wood
ticks, the Dermacentor
variabilis
or “Dog Tick”. So I tapped another resource, a listserv run by
the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada. Thanks to my colleagues
from across Canada and especially those from the prairie provinces,
the answers here are a summary of what rural doctors had to say:
Q.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO REMOVE TICKS?
A.
The quickest and surest is to hold the body of the tick between thumb
and forefinger and perform a quick twist-pull with the wrist.
Tweezers and needle-nose plyers are good second choices applying the
same wrist movement. There is a little gadget on the market that can
be slid under the tick to “pop” it off (I haven't seen it but I
am told that it is sold in camping supplies).
Methods
such as soaking an attached tick with vaseline, rubbing alcohol, or
witch hazel work but take more time. Applying a lighted match or
cigarette to the tick is probably more likely to cause damage to the
victim although it will kill the tick (the theory that the “tick
backs into the heat” is absurd).
Q.
WHAT ABOUT THE MOUTH PARTS AND THE HEAD? WHAT if THEY ARE LEFT
BEHIND?
A.
Not one doctor reported heads being left behind after removal of the
tick by any method. (In our house, we always check to see that there
is a piece of skin in the jaws of the removed insect. A useless
exercise because we don't do anything if we don't see skin.) The
idea that the “heads migrate” is likely false; in spite of the
widespread prevalence of the belief, no physician reported this
finding.
To
our knowledge, we have not had any mouth parts left behind. But if
we did, a dermatologist stated that “Retained mouth parts would be
very small and cause a minor irritation. The body would deal with
them by literally dissolving them.”
Q.
WHAT CAUSES THE ITCH AND WELT?
A.
Ticks inject a local anaesthetic when they attach which is why we
usually don't feel the attachment. They also inject a blood thinner
so that the blood can be more easily sucked up. Either could cause a
tissue reaction (like hives or mosquito bites) but the local
anesthetic is probably the culprit. It is a neurotoxin and is
injected in different amounts which explains the variability of the
skin reactions.
It
is not known whether the length of time that the tick was attached or
the method of releasing the tick has any effect upon the development
of a welt.
Q.
WHAT DISEASES ARE TRANSMITTED BY TICKS?
A.
Our local ticks are not disease vectors. Rocky Mountain Spotted
Fever, and a Progressive Paralysis occur, as the name implied,
largely in the Mountains. Lyme Disease is coming from Eastern Canada
and the USA and is carried by the deer or black-legged tick which is
about half the size of the dog tick. Know your ticks; know the signs
of the disease.
Although
no physician reported seeing an infected bite, the itch could cause
such scratching that the broken skin could get infected.
Q.
WHAT ABOUT PETS?
Ticks
are very annoying to large animals like horses or cattle, especially
when the tick is engorged. Cats usually clean them off by
themselves. Dogs need a little help; the neurotoxic effect can
result in centimetre wide denuded areas with fairly significant
scabs. The scabs, even when they are piled up, are not mouth parts or
heads and do not need to be removed.
ON
A PERSONAL NOTE:
This
spring for the month of June in the Touchwood Hills Southwest of
Wynyard, we removed up to seven ticks a day using the “finger-pinch”
method. Not all bites resulted in welts but, when they did, the itch
was unbearable. One “bite” left a huge area on my lower leg
looking and feeling much like an infection - reddened and hot
(cellulitis). It was gone the next morning.
When
we remove ticks, we put them in a small “tick jar” containing
rubbing alcohol - notoriously hard shelled, they are otherwise
difficult to kill. A hammer on a hard surface works, as does the
judicious application of a pair of plyers.
Prevention
is key. The following precautions work: wear long pants tucked into
socks plus long- sleeved shirts, tight collars and cuffs. Wrap a
scarf around your neck. For exposed skin, use DEET. Don't walk in
tall grass.
There
were a lot of myths and misinformation uncovered in looking for
scientific research about the “dog tick” and I suspect they will
continue to abound. With respect to the “migrated head” story,
if anyone has or suspects that they might have a bonifide “migrated”
head under his or her skin, please call me. To show my appreciation,
I'll make a house call!
