Disclaimer. I am not a licensed health
practitioner. This is just another post on an item you might wish to
have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your
family as best as possible. No medication, including those available
over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.
Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes
only. It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical
care. A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should
be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.
Unlike the other creepy-crawlies covered recently who are only able to transmit one kind of disease, ticks are more evolved. They spread pain and suffering in a much wider variety of ways (wow, makes them sound like politicians, doesn't it?). Their bites can transmit bacteria, viruses, and other parasites. Some species of ticks may carry more than one kind of disease. It's enough to make you want to bathe in DEET and never go outside if you think about it long enough.
But that approach isn't necessarily healthy, or practical. So let's be a little more realistic.
In an effort to be a bit more logical in the approach to addressing the various tick-borne diseases, today's post will focus on the bacterial diseases transmitted by tick bites. Other tick-borne diseases will be addressed later.
Please refer to the post on
ticks for methods of preventing tick bites and removing ticks.
All tick-borne illnesses:
- If you have the resources, every patient presenting with a tick bite
in a high risk area may be given doxycycline in a 200 mg single dose.
- If I had an immediate family member with a tick that had possibly been attached more than twelve hours, I wouldn't hesitate to use doxycycline in this manner, and assuming I still had an adequate supply.
- Others can use their own supplies or hope for the best. I wouldn't use my supplies prophylactically on someone outside my family.
- Even today, if a patient indicates he has been bitten by a tick, and he displays signs and symptoms consistent with a tick-borne disease (and which are common to many illnesses), a physician will start him on a course of antibiotics immediately. Blood test results take time, and at least one of these tick-borne illnesses can quickly become fatal. If a patient reports flu-like symptoms after a tick bite, antibiotics are automatically administered.
- Regardless
of whether a tick-borne disease is identified sooner or later, antibiotics are still
used. Those identified later may need a longer course of therapy, up to
four weeks, and there is the possibility of suffering the consequences
for life.
- The treatment for most tick-borne diseases that are bacterial in origin is the same--doxycycline. Physicians typically prescribe doxycycline at 100 mg/2x per day/10-14 days. Amoxicillin is another option, 500 mg/3x per day/14 days.
- The common signs and symptoms: headache, rash, muscle and joint pain, altered mental status.
There is very little information in the off-grid medicine books I consulted on the treatment of tick-borne diseases. The best resource I could find is the CDC. Links are posted below.
Lyme disease. Lyme disease mimics many other illnesses, with rashes, headaches, and muscle and joint aches, and has a very long incubation period--up to 30 days. If a patient recalls being bitten by a tick, that helps with diagnosis, but most patients--over 60%--do not recall being bitten. Remember, a tick doesn't latch on and stay on. It attaches for a very long feeding, and then falls off. (Sounds like some of my babies.) Early signs include a characteristic bullseye rash around the site of the attack bite. There may be meningitis or inflammation of heart muscle, neither of which is going to be easily diagnosed in an austere environment. Later symptoms include severe arthritis involving many joints or chronic meningitis--headaches, problems in thinking clearly, and sleepiness.
The ticks that carry Lyme disease are found all over the US, but most infections occur in the Northeast and North Central US.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The ticks carrying this disease are found throughout the US, but most frequently identified in Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The incubation period is 3-12 days. Early signs (1-4 days) include a high fever, severe headache, gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, anorexia), and edema around the eyes and on the back of the hands. Later signs include altered mental status, cerebral edema, pulmonary edema and respiratory distress, necrosis (tissue death requiring amputation), and kidney failure. If there is any suspicion of RMSF, begin treatment immediately. Delay may be fatal.
The rash associated with RMSF begins 2-5 days after the onset of symptoms. The small, flat, pink, non-itchy spots first appear on the wrists, forearms, and ankles and sometimes spread to the trunk, palms and soles. About 10% of patients never develop a rash and the decision to begin treatment should not be based on the presence of a rash. Later, the rash turns red to purple. This is a sign of severe progression of the disease and treatment should have already begun.
Rickettsiosis. The ticks that carry this disease are found in
the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic US, as well as southern Arizona. The
incubation period is 2-10 days. The disease is less severe than RMSF;
the treatment is the same.
Ehrlichiosis. The ticks that carry this disease are found in the Southeast and South Central US. Additional symptoms include fever, chills, and gastrointestinal complaints--vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, and nausea. The incubation period is 5-14 days.
Anaplasmosis. The ticks that carry this disease are found in the Upper Midwest and Northeastern US. Additional symptoms and incubation period are the same as for ehrlichiosis. There is the possibility of co-infection with Lyme disease.
Tick-borne relapsing fever. The ticks that carry this disease are found primarily in the Western US, and most cases occur when people sleep in rustic cabins, whether in the summer when ticks are most active, or in the winter when fires are heating cabins and ticks nesting in walls and woodwork are activated. The incubation period is about 7 days. The febrile periods last 3 days, followed by a 7 day break, then another 3-day fever, and so on. The usual antibiotics are tetracycline or erythromycin, both in the same dosages: 500 mg/4x day/10 days.
Links to related posts:
Ticks--Preventing Bites and Removing Ticks
For further information:
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/rmsf.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/tbrf.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/lyme.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/rickettsiosis.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/anaplasmosis.html
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/ehrlichiosis.html
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30 april 2023
