Ticks are blood feeding parasites. Ticks are known as vectors because they can transmit different pathogens responsible for several diseases including Colorado Tick Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Tularemia and relapsing fever. While there are 27 species of ticks in Colorado, almost all human encounters w/ ticks in Colorado involve the Rocky Mountain wood tick, a tick that only lives in the western U.S. and southern Canada at elevations between 4,000 and 10,000 feet. Another highly prevalent tick is the brown dog tick which is specific to dogs.

Before you go out!

DO:

• Wear protective clothing! Wearing long sleeved shirts, long pants tucked into your socks and close toed shoes can keep ticks from getting onto your skin, as ticks are usually acquired while brushing against low vegetation.
  • wear light colored clothing, as this makes it easier to find ticks that have been picked up
  • Treat clothing w/ permethrin as this can help kill or repel ticks for days to weeks! Do not apply directly to skin.
• Use Tick repellent. This includes the well-known DEET along with picaridin, IR3535 and oil of lemon eucalyptus
  • Repellent can be applied either directly to skin or to clothing, AND is most effective if applied to the lower body that is likely to come in contact with ticks first!
  • If applying repellents to skin:
    • DO NOT use high concentration formulas on children (DEET concentration > 30)
    • AVOID applying repellents to your hands or other areas that may come in contact with your mouth
    • DO NOT put repellent on wounds
    • ALWAYS wash skin that has had repellent on it.
• Remember: Dogs can get ticks too! Don’t forget to consult your veterinarian about how to protect your furry friends against ticks.

When you go out: DO NOT assume that you won’t get bit.

• Avoid tick habitat
  • Ticks are most active in spring and early summer and are concentrated where animal hosts most commonly travel, including areas of brush along field and woodland edges or commonly traveled animal host paths though grassy areas.
    • DO try to avoid exposure in these areas by staying in the center of marked trails when hiking to avoid brushing vegetation that ticks may be perched on waiting for you!
  • If possible, avoid these sites during tick season.
  • If you live in known tick territory, you may even get a tick bite in your own backyard! Decrease this risk by creating a tick-free zone around your house by keeping your lawn mowed, eliminating rodent habitats (wood or rock piles) around your house, and placing wood chips between your lawn and tall grasses or woods.

After coming back inside

• Perform a tick check which includes botha visual and physical inspection of your entire body, as well as your gear and pets. Because ticks take several hours to settle and begin feeding, you have time to detect and remove them. You tend to not feel ticks because their saliva has histamine suppression and analgesic effects. Ticks like warm, moist and dark areas but can latch anywhere.
  • Examine your scalp, ears, underarms, in and around the belly button, around the waist, groin/pubic area, buttocks and behind your knees.
  • If camping, perform tick checks daily on humans AND pets, making sure to examine children at least twice daily. Again, pay special attention to the head and neck and don’t forget to check clothing for crawling ticks.
  • Shower and wash your clothes after returning home from the outdoors.

If you or a family member get bit by a tick: DO NOT PANIC, and DO NOT immediately rush to the emergency room! If the tick has been attached for less than a day, the chance of the tick transmitting one of these diseases is low. Removing ticks can be tricky, as they use their mouthparts to firmly attach to the skin.

Best method for tick removal -> remove as quickly as possible!

1. Grasp the tick with fine tipped tweezers as close to the skin as possible. If tweezers are not available, use a rubber gloved hand or place tissue or thin plastic over the tick before removing it to avoid possible transmission of disease.

2. Pull tick SLOWLY and with STEADY PRESSURE STRAIGHT away from the skin

• DO NOT:
  • Crush, puncture, twist or jerk the tick as you remove it. This may increase risk of the tick regurgitating infected body fluids into the skin or leaving mouthparts in skin

3. After the tick is removed, disinfectant the attachment site on skin and WASH YOUR HANDS. Dispose of the live tick by placing in a sealed bag/container and submersing it in alcohol, then wrapping it tightly and crushing it in duct tape, OR flushing it down the toilet.

• DO NOT:
  • crush the tick in your fingers
  • try to suffocate the tick still on the person by covering it with petroleum jelly OR touching it with a hot match to suffocate -> these methods can cause the tick to burst and INCREASE time the tick is attached, as well as making the tick more difficult to grasp

Remember: the goal is to remove the tick quickly from the host as opposed to waiting for it to detach on its own.

If you remove the tick and are worried, you can always put the tick in a sealed container with alcohol and bring the dead tick to your medical provider.

If you develop a rash or flu-like symptoms (fever, fatigue, body aches, headache) within several weeks of removing tick, see your medical provider and tell him/her about the recent tick bite, when it occurred and where you acquired the tick.

Remember: These diseases are very treatable if caught early enough!

Stay tuned for next month’s explanation of the tick life cycle and tick-borne diseases in the high country!

References

1. Colorado Tick and Tick Born Diseases fact sheet. https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/colorado-ticks-and-tick-borne-diseases-5-593/ Accessed on 8/8/20

2. Peterson J., Robinson Howe. P. Lyme Disease: An Uptick in Cases for 2017. Wilderness Medicine Magazine: https://www.wms.org/magazine/1213/Lyme-Disease. Accessed 8/8/20

3. Do’s and Don’t’s of Tick Time: https://awls.org/wilderness-medicine-case-studies/dos-and-donts-of-tick-time/ Accessed 8/8/20

Laurie Pinkerton is a 3^rd year Physician Assistant Student studying at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Originally from Northern, VA, she graduated from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA with a degree in Biology in 2014. She moved to Keystone to live that ski life and stayed for 2 years, working as a pharmacy tech at Prescription Alternatives and as a medical assistant at Summit Cardiology. Prior to starting PA school, she moved to Idaho where she learned about organic farming and alternative medicine.  She has loved every second of being back in Summit County and learning here at Ebert Family Practice. She looks forward to practicing Integrative Medicine in the near future.