Larval ticks - are they harmless? can they be tested?
That's the simple question....
Here's the long version:
Some area rock climbers just had an experience of hiking and become absolutely covered with hundreds larval ticks, to the point that they couldn't even wash them off. They had several bites from adult ticks as well.
yikeS!!!
But it's weird. My boyfriend told them to get the ticks tested, and they said larval ticks don't carry lyme, and they got the adults early.
I got bit by a deer tick while on a climbing trip; my first time to this area where lots of climbers go all the time.
When I got sick immediately after the bite, everyone said they've never heard of someone getting lyme in the area! Why am I so special, I wonder? bad immune system?
I don't know what to say. If I had saved the tick that bit me, would testing have made a difference? Would I be able to say definitively now whether or not I have babesia in addition to lyme?
Does it make sense to push others to take preventative measures? Somehow, I feel like I was just special to get lyme the ONE time I went climbing there. Everyone else can throw caution to the wind and be fine. Don't I sound crazy, running around saying the sky is falling every time someone sees a tick, when noone else has heard of anyone getting lyme!
Posted by Dawn in VA (Member # 9693) on :
Sometimes it's hard to tell the diff. b/t larvae and nymphs IMHO. Both are so tiny.
You may want to call MDL, Igenex, or other tick-testing labs to see what they have to say about the matter.
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
Any tick can carry Lyme, and anyone who gets even one
needs abx. Someone who's been covered in them, I'm sure others
will tell you as well, should probably be treated with anti-
protozoals as well.
Sure--it very well may be that no one's ever heard of Lyme,
I have been covered with hundreds of "seed" ticks in Tennessee after cutting grass. They were as small as the period on the end of this sentence. At first I was like "wow, I sure have a lot of freckles from being out in the sun today" until I noticed they were moving.
It's basically impossible to get them all off... of course I jumped in the shower and scrubbed like mad anyways..especially my scalp because you just can't SEE, ya know?
My llmd says that you CAN get TBDs from "seed" ticks. Because they are so very small, they can attach themseves to you and get full of blood and drop off before you ever knew they were there.
Dawn
Posted by backintherain (Member # 14385) on :
You know, I think I might be able to encourage them to take 3 weeks of doxy right away, as a preventative measure. (If they could find a doctor who'd prescribe it.)
But I imagine it could be pretty hard to convince people to take treatment for ALL the TBD/TBIs when they feel fine.
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
The spirochete undergoes fission once every 4 weeks--so 3 weeks
won't cut it. SIgh-- god sorry you're in this position!
Well, regardless of whether or not they want to actually
check into working with them, I'd would give them the contact info
for a few LLMD's.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Absolutely correct... ANY tick can carry diseases.
You weren't "special"... Tons of people have probably gotten ill by hiking there. How would you know if they did or didn't become ill?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
-
backintherain,
Ohh, sorry you are in the middle of this
- was this in N. California ?
---
Posted by hokie (Member # 14720) on :
From my perspective, what Dawn in VA said makes sense about the difficulty in telling the difference between a larval and nymphal tick. Have them identified if you still have them.
Having said that, I've read in multiple places that the larval tick cannot transmit disease because it has not bitten a host (yet) (e.g. mouse, deer, rabbit, or whatever) which would transfer the disease. If a larval tick bites a human, the human is the "first bite." I also read that infected "mother" ticks do not pass on infection to the eggs which turn into larval ticks so larval ticks are "clean" until the first bite (which only happens once until they grow into nymphal ticks).
If others have references that what I have learned is potentially inaccurate, please share.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I was thinking "nymphal" ticks... Maybe you're right, hokie?
Larval ticks begin to hatch from their eggs in the early spring, although in Michigan, there may be two larval hatching periods. Larvae will hatch in early spring from eggs that were laid by females in the autumn months. Eggs that were laid in the early spring will hatch in the early summer months.
Larval ticks are very small (approximately 1 millimeter in size) and may bite people. Their preferred hosts, however, are small mammals that live in forested environments (mice, chipmunks, squirrels, etc.). It is at this stage where the tick can acquire the Lyme bacteria. Small mammals may be carriers of the bacteria, previously infected by nymphal ticks, which have fed during the spring. The Lyme disease cycle is dependent on the nymphal ticks emerging and feeding before the larvae to successfully pass infection from one generation to the next. The small mammals remain carriers for a defined period (usually several weeks to months) and show no serious illness. Note: The chance of becoming infected by the bite of a larva is low.
Once the larva has successfully fed, it drops to the forest floor and finds a sheltered environment to `hibernate' and to molt (transform) to the nymphal stage. The nymph will remain inactive until the next spring.
++++++++++
I wouldn't "trust" that I would be safe after a lymphal bite!!!
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
"chance of becoming infected by a larva is low"--
mmmhmmm.
because we know that the govt. provides us with such
accurate info on tbi's.
Posted by Angelica (Member # 15601) on :
I have read before that some ticks are born with Lyme disease. If I can figure out where I read it I will post it.
When ticks are sent out for testing it is not always reliable and they can have co-infections too. They should treat anyway.
Posted by Angelica (Member # 15601) on :
"A tick can be born with the disease that its infected mother tick carries. So, all three stages of the life cycle, larva, nymph and adult, are capable of transmitting disease."
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There is so much misinformation out there about transmission and attachment time to you name it. I live in a town well loved by ticks and so many intelligent well educated adults where I live tell me old wives tales about ticks.
They repeat their theories to people with new bites as well. It gets very frustrating when people refuse to go for meds when they get a bite and or a bulls eyes rash.
Even a good friend of mine would not go for meds when she got a bite yet she has two friends with Lyme disease.
Posted by Melanie Reber (Member # 3707) on :
"A tick can be born with the disease that its infected mother tick carries. So, all three stages of the life cycle, larva, nymph and adult, are capable of transmitting disease."
Good job, Angelica and Melanie!!!
Posted by backintherain (Member # 14385) on :
The climbers were in Missouri.
It does seem odd to me that people say larval ticks aren't advanced enough in their lifecycle to have contracted lyme. I understand that humans and ticks are not the same, but it surprises me if humans can have lyme congenitally, but not ticks. We need better/more research and less suppression of the facts!
As for the men who got covered with and bitten by ticks, I've put forth my best efforts to urge them to seek treatment, even if they feel fine now.
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