What is tick bites?

Ticks are small spiderlike animals. They bite to fasten themselves onto your skin and feed on your blood.

Ticks can carry diseases. But most ticks do not carry diseases, and most tick bites do not cause serious health problems.

Some people may have an allergic reaction to a tick bite. This reaction may be mild, with symptoms like itching and swelling. In rare cases, a severe allergic reaction may occur.

Most of the time, all you need to do for a tick bite is relieve any symptoms you may have.

Most ticks don't carry diseases. But if they do carry a disease, it can be passed on when they bite.

Many of the diseases ticks pass to humans can cause flu-like symptoms, including:

• Fever.
• Headache.
• Muscle aches (myalgia).
• A general feeling of illness (malaise).
• Nausea and vomiting.

A doctor can evaluate the cause of your flu-like symptoms and recommend treatment.

• Put ice or a cold pack on the bite for 15 to 20 minutes once an hour. Put a thin cloth between the ice and your skin.
• Try an over-the-counter medicine to relieve itching, redness, swelling, and pain. Be safe with medicines. Read and follow all instructions on the label.
  • Take an antihistamine medicine to help relieve itching, redness, and swelling.
  • Use a spray of local anesthetic that contains benzocaine, such as Solarcaine. It may help relieve pain. If your skin reacts to the spray, stop using it.
  • Put calamine lotion on the skin. It may help relieve itching.

To avoid tick bites

• Avoid ticks:
  • Learn where ticks are found in your community, and stay away from those areas if possible.
  • Cover as much of your body as possible when you work or play in grassy or wooded areas.
  • Use insect repellents, such as products containing DEET. You can spray them on your skin.
  • Take steps to control ticks on your property if you live in an area where Lyme disease occurs. Clear leaves, brush, tall grasses, woodpiles, and stone fences from around your house and the edges of your yard or garden. This may help get rid of ticks.
• When you come in from outdoors, check your body for ticks, including your groin, head, and underarms. The ticks may be about the size of a sesame seed. If no one else can help you check for ticks on your scalp, comb your hair with a fine-tooth comb.
• If you find a tick, remove it quickly. Use tweezers to grasp the tick as close to its mouth (the part in your skin) as possible. Slowly pull the tick straight out—do not twist or yank—until its mouth releases from your skin. If part of the tick stays in the skin, leave it alone. It will likely come out on its own in a few days.
• Ticks can come into your house on clothing, outdoor gear, and pets. These ticks can fall off and attach to you.
  • Check your clothing and outdoor gear. Remove any ticks you find. Then put your clothing in a clothes dryer on high heat for about 4 minutes to kill any ticks that might remain.
  • Check your pets for ticks after they have been outdoors.

Diseases ticks may pass to humans include:

• Lyme disease. Symptoms usually start 1 to 4 weeks after the tick bite, with up to 90% of people developing an expanding, circular red skin rash.
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Symptoms usually start about 2 to 14 days after the tick bite.
• Tularemia. Symptoms usually start within 21 days (but average 1 to 10 days) after the tick bite or other exposure.
• Ehrlichiosis. Symptoms usually start from 1 to 21 days (average of 7 days) after the tick bite.
• Relapsing fever. Symptoms usually start 3 to 11 days (average of 6 days) after the tick bite.
• Colorado tick fever. Symptoms usually start within 14 days (average of 3 to 6 days) of the tick bite.
• Babesiosis. Symptoms usually start 1 to 6 weeks after the tick bite.

In some parts of the world, tick bites may cause other tick-borne diseases, such as South African tick-bite fever.