does that mean u r not infected? this tick that bit me last week ..i did not see the engorged body like i did when i was pulling a tick off my kitty kat..please comment
Posted by TadichGrill (Member # 19679) on :
You can get tick diseases while pulling a tick out of another person. The diseases can go through your skin if you do not wear gloves according to one support group meeting I attended. I would get tested. You might have pushed the contents of the ticks stomach out and into you when you removed the tick.
Posted by nenet (Member # 13174) on :
quote:Originally posted by nomolyme:
if a tick bites u and is not engorged with blood does that mean u r not infected?
no, it doesn't mean you aren't infected. Studies have shown that Lyme and other coinfections can be transferred immediately on tick bite.
The thinking that you read about, where they say 24-48 hours etc., is just that you have a higher chance of infection, because it is likely more of the infectious agent has been able to be transferred. It is a guess, and not accurate.
Bottom line, if you have been bitten, there is a chance of infection.
Also something very important to remember and be warned about - you can get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (a misnomer - it is all over the US, not from or only in Rocky Mtns.) just from touching a tick that carries it, or coming in contact with its excrement/fluids.
You can have RMSF in a chronic phase, without the usual rash and fever in the beginning - many here have experienced this.
Hope that helps.
Posted by nomolyme (Member # 18639) on :
what is rmsf?
Posted by just don (Member # 1129) on :
rocky mountain spotted fever
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
Mine wasn't attached--if it's in the tick's saliva, just preparing t ve bite site can be enough to infec.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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It's not so much what the tick sucks out of you as what it injects.
A tick that is not yet engorged most certainly can still infect with its bite (it if is an infected tick).
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Posted by Marz (Member # 3446) on :
I thought these critters were so small you couldn't see them after they dug in.
I had atypical red spot and no hint of anything in the center when the red spot appeared anyway.