Overview of Tick Removal
Ticks are tiny blood-sucking creatures, related to spiders, that attach themselves to animals, including humans, to feed. Discovering a tick on your body or a loved one can be quite worrying. This is because ticks can carry many different types of diseases, including bacterial, viral, and diseases caused by tiny parasites, which can be harmful to humans. Moreover, the variety of diseases transmitted by ticks seems to be increasing. Additionally, many tick varieties are spreading to new areas, perhaps partly due to changes in the climate.
Removing a tick is not just about physically taking it off the person. Doctors should think about what kind of tick it is, where ticks are commonly found, and whether any additional treatments are needed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a great source of information for all doctors who are treating patients with tick bites.
Anatomy and Physiology of Tick Removal
Ticks are small creatures that undergo various stages throughout their life, needing to consume blood at each step in their life cycle to stay alive. It’s worth noting, though, that not all ticks bite humans, and of those that do, not all transmit diseases.
In the United States alone, there are seven types of ticks commonly found that can bite humans and are known to spread disease. These ticks occur in different parts of the country. The list includes:
- American dog tick (also known by its scientific name Dermacentor variabilis and Dermacentor similis)
- Blacklegged tick (or Ixodes scapularis)
- Brown dog tick (otherwise known as Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato)
- Gulf Coast tick (also called Amblyomma maculatum)
- Lone star tick (known scientifically as Amblyomma americanum)
- Rocky Mountain wood tick (or Dermacentor andersoni)
- Western blacklegged tick (also referred to as Ixodes pacificus)
Why do People Need Tick Removal
Ticks are small blood-sucking bugs that can attach to your skin if you’ve been outdoors, especially in grassy or wooded areas. If you find a tick on your body, it should be removed as soon as possible. In some parts of the world, ticks carry diseases that could transfer to humans, which may need further treatment. It’s a good idea to check your entire body for ticks if you’ve been in an area where ticks might be present, like forests or fields with long grass. They’re especially drawn to warm, hidden areas of the body and can also latch onto pets and children.
If a tick has already started feeding on your blood, it may still be possible to prevent any diseases they might be carrying from entering your body. This usually depends on how long the tick has been there and which type it is, as different ticks can carry different diseases.
There are several different types of ticks you might encounter, especially in the United States:
1. American dog ticks, or wood ticks, which can transmit tularemia, a rare, infectious disease, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a serious bacterial infection. These ticks are often found east of the Rocky Mountains and along parts of the Pacific Coast. They’re mostly active in spring and summer.
2. Blacklegged ticks, known carriers of Lyme disease, among other conditions, are common in the northeast and upper-midwest United States. You’ll most likely encounter them in spring, summer, and fall, but they might still bite if it’s warm enough in winter.
3. Brown dog ticks, found worldwide, can transmit diseases to both dogs and humans, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
4. Gulf Coast ticks, mostly found in coastal areas of the U.S., can transmit a type of spotted fever. These ticks usually feed on birds, rodents, and other wildlife, but they can also bite humans.
5. Lone star ticks, found throughout the southeastern and upper-midwestern United States, can transmit several diseases, including tularemia and ehrlichiosis, a bacterial illness.
6. The Rocky Mountain wood tick, found in the Rocky Mountain states and parts of southwest Canada, can transmit several diseases, including tularemia and Colorado tick fever.
7. The Western blacklegged tick, found along the U.S. Pacific coast and in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, can transmit Lyme disease, among others.
Remember, if you find a tick on your body, it’s important to remove it as soon as possible to reduce your risk of getting a tick-borne disease. Make sure to check yourself thoroughly after spending time in tick-prone areas.
When a Person Should Avoid Tick Removal
There are no reasons why a tick cannot be removed.
Equipment used for Tick Removal
If you need to remove a tick, you don’t necessarily need a special kit. You can remove a tick with some simple tools that you may already have at home:
* Tweezers or hemostats, which are surgical tools, that have fine tips and are properly aligned. You’ll be using these to grab and remove the tick.
* Alcohol prep wipes, which are wipes soaked in alcohol. You’ll use these for cleaning the area before and after removing the tick.
* A small piece of gauze, about 2 inches by 2 inches. This will be used to stop any bleeding that might occur after you remove the tick.
* Topical antibiotic ointment, a cream or gel that you can apply to the skin to prevent infection.
* Wound dressing, something to cover the area after you’ve cleaned and treated it.
Who is needed to perform Tick Removal?
Some people might be able to do this process at home. If you go to a clinic, any trained medical professional can help remove a tick. Usually, this medical professional gets help from a nurse, a technician, or a medical assistant.
Preparing for Tick Removal
The patient should be made comfortable and the tick should be clearly visible. The skin area where the tick has attached itself can be cleaned with a pad soaked in alcohol.
How is Tick Removal performed
To remove a tick, use tweezers or a similar tool to grab onto the tick’s head, right where it’s attached to the skin. It’s important to hold onto the head and not the body. If you only pull off the tick’s body, the head could stay stuck in the skin. This could lead to an infection, and it would be more difficult to remove the head later on.
Once you have a firm grip on the tick’s head, pull it straight out, away from the skin. Try not to twist or jerk the tick, as this could break it. It’s normal for a small bit of skin to come off with the tick. Once you’ve pulled off the tick, dispose of it in a safe way.
After removing the tick, make sure to clean the skin where the tick was attached. You can then apply a topical antibiotic, such as Bacitracin, to help prevent an infection. Cover the area with a bandage.
You usually won’t need a tetanus shot after a tick bite.
Possible Complications of Tick Removal
If you’ve ever had a tick bite, you know it’s usually easy to remove the tick. However, sometimes complications can happen.
When the entire tick isn’t removed, parts of its mouth can remain in your skin. This can cause local inflammation, which is a fancy way of saying the skin gets red and swollen. These leftover mouthparts can also potentially lead to infections. Signs of an infection include redness, warmth, swelling, tenderness and a likely chance you’ll see some pus.
Did you know tick saliva can cause allergies? Although it’s rare, some people can have local or body-wide reactions after a tick bite. You might already expect some redness around the bite site, expanding redness, hive-like reactions, formation of a red lump, or even difficulty breathing could mean you’re having an allergic reaction.
Even though it’s not directly caused by removing a tick, there’s a chance that you can get infections from bacteria, viruses, or other small organisms the tick was carrying when it bit you. The risk of catching a disease from a tick depends on the type of tick that bit you and where you are geographically.
To avoid the problems that come with tick bites, it’s recommended to stay away from areas where you know ticks live, use bug repellant with DEET as it’s instructed on the labeling, apply a substance named permethrin to your clothes, and wear your clothes in a ‘downward cascade’. This means dressing in a way where ticks can’t crawl upwards, like tucking your pants into your boots.
What Else Should I Know About Tick Removal?
Lyme disease is a concern when you’ve been bitten by an I scapularis tick. But even if your bite is from an area where the bacteria causing Lyme disease (B burgdorferi) is common, you won’t usually catch Lyme disease if the tick hasn’t been feeding on your blood. Doctors recommend a preventive antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease if:
- The tick is certainly an adult or nymphal I scapularis tick
- The tick has been attached for more than 36 hours judging from its blood-filled appearance or from knowing when exactly when exposure took place
- Antibiotic treatment can be started within 72 hours of removing the tick
- There’s evidence that more than 20% of local ticks are infected with B burgdorferi
- Doxycycline is safe for you to use
If these conditions hold true, then a single dose of doxycycline might be given. However, there isn’t much information about taking antibiotics more than 72 hours after removing a tick. More than 20% of the I scapularis ticks are infected with B burgdorferi in parts of New England, the mid-Atlantic States, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, but not most other places in the U.S. We don’t know if antibiotic treatment after a tick bite will cut the risk of anaplasmosis or babesiosis – two other tick-borne diseases.
Amoxicillin is not suggested as a replacement if doxycycline can’t be used. We don’t have information about effective short treatments, the complications from a longer treatment, how well antibiotics can treat Lyme disease once infection sets in, or the low risk that a serious Lyme disease complication will develop from a tick bite.
Whether you receive preventive treatment or not, you should seek medical help if you develop Lyme disease symptoms after a tick bite.
