Tick Bites: Facts You Need to Know Now
Can a tick bite cause allegy to red meat? How long must a tick feed before it can transmit disease? Test your knowledge about tick borne illnesses with this mini-quiz.
Which of these statements is/are true regarding illnesses caused by tick bites?
a. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is more common in the US mid-Atlantic states.
b. If a bull’s eye-looking rash occurs, you have made the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis.
c. An allergy to red meat may be a result.
d. In mostly all circumstances, the tick must feed for more than 24 hours to transmit disease.
e. All of the above.
ANSWER: E
There are many diseases transmitted by tick bites. Most are bacterial or viral, although one toxin-induced disease- tick paralysis-occurs.1
While it is true that the rickettisial infection RMSF was initially described by Howard Ricketts in Idaho’s Bitter Root Valley in Idaho in the early 1900s, the highest frequency of this potentially fatal vascular endothelial infection1 is highest in the Mid-Atlantic area of the eastern USA- including Virginia and North Carolina. Prompt recognition is necessary to avoid increased morbidity and mortality.2 This infection is also found in Central and South America.