Topic: can you get infected from accidentally touching a tick?
gigimac
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posted
I was petting my cat earlier and felt some small lumps on him. I looked down and to my horror his ears were dotted with tiny nymph ticks. Some so tiny and colorless that it is amazing one can see them at all.
I immediately washed my hands and i am not sure that I even directly touched one but could have.
I really hadn't even been thinking about the possibility of ticks since it's been much colder lately.
Should I be worried and is there anything I can do?
Posts: 1534 | From Greensboro NC | Registered: Aug 2011
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posted
It doesn't seem like there would be a concern just by touching them...I would think only if one was embedded in your skin.
Posts: 463 | From Sandusky, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2012
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Keebler
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posted
- Yes, I've read very credible reports of this happening more than once (though if undetected for some time would be hard to pin-point all possibilities for transmission).
And, as with all cases, lyme is not the only microbe to consider.
If the tick burps, literally, any of its mouth or stomach contents get onto skin that may have an irritation or break in the skin -
- infection would be more likely than if tick "moisture" were just sitting ON the skin (though that's never a good idea, either. Spirochetes can bore through any tissue).
However, that you were able to immediately wash your hands and did not say that any tick moisture got into a cut or anything, it's likely no concern.
As you were aware, I'm sure you did not touch your nose or eyes with possibly contaminated hands.
Still, if you are being treated now, all bases should be covered but if you have any questions, talk to your (past? or present?) LLMD.
If possible, try to keep your pet from kissing your face as that can transmit bartonella or other infections, too.
For future reference, ticks are kicking ALL YEAR LONG, they've even been seen in snow. Christmas Trees can bring them into the house, too. -
[ 10-12-2012, 01:42 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
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posted
Am thinking it would be a good idea to get your cat protected...
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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Lymedin2010
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Member # 34322
posted
There was a case where a tuck researcher accidentally dropped a tick on a halogen lamp. These lamps run VERY hot and the tick exploded on contact.
A particle got in this persons eye. Weeks later they developed Lyme symptoms.
posted
This in something that needs to be much more widely published.
If you touch a tick and it is infected with either rocky mountain spotted fever or bartonella and you have a break in your skin such as a cut you could get infected with those diseases. Actually the pathogens are in the ticks poop.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Lymedin2010
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posted
Nicely said.... It's in their poop!
Those outdoor BBQ's are a nice way to spread some of these infections and parasites. �A fly lands on your meal and poops before you swat it away. �An insect lands in your drink and you take a few sips before you realize (it's happened to me).
You run and accidentally swallow an insect in the moment (happened to me too).
Now let's look at the circle of life. �Animals such as rabbits, squirrels, reptiles, raccoons, chipmunks, mice, deer, elk and the likes get bitten by various insects. �From ticks, fleas, horse flies, mites, and Mosquitos.
Those insects in return are eaten by predatory insects such as ants, spiders, praying mantis and such, which in return are eaten by smaller mammals and reptiles.
Those insects also poop on everything around us. �From vegetation to my house. �Yes I see small poop markings all over my house where there is a light source outside.
Mammals die and are eaten by carnivores and other insects as well as maggots from flies. �Flies poop everywhere and are eaten by many other insects, birds, reptiles, and small mammals.
Some of these reservoirs might be dead ends for many parasites. �Borrelia is a steadfast and multi species organism. �
Forget about spirochete and cyst forms. �The spore or granular form can lay dormant in an unfavorable environment, such as any insect or mammal that is not a perfect suitor, until it is eaten by another. �The spore form is almost like a virus, containing only an enclosure and DNA or RNA.
What makes ticks that notorious is that they make great vectors of multi species transmission, besides just BB. �Anyone of those insects or animals can pass BB, but ticks are super passers of a diverse packet.
I personally believe in articles such as this, where claims are made that many carry BB. �Since there are many ways to transmit it (not even counting human to human transmission). �It is all around us! �
It is not only until you get a diversified packet of organisms and/or accompanied by a weakened immune system that the full potential of illness is manifested.
Posts: 2087 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2011
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Catgirl
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posted
I feel like it's important for me to avoid freaking out over this. Ticks are everywhere. They are part of nature. Now that I know the signs of lyme, I realize that I got lyme as a child. But it grew so slowly that it never really was a problem for me until I got bit a few more times (35+ years later). I had some fatigue prior to the new bites, but nothing like what I'm dealing with now (even more bites).
Ticks are part of nature. I honestly feel that practically everyone has lyme, they just don't know it. The signs are subtle. So many people where I live think they are just showing signs of old age. Not (tick central). This is part of life. I feel fortunate that I opened my mind to the fact that lyme exists to the extent that it does. I am thankful that I am no longer clueless about it.
Try not to worry about touching the tick. I have done this too. I just decided yesterday for some reason or other that I'm going to live my life whether I'm sick or not (I think it was Bea's husband passing). Even though I feel like crap, and am on an unusually odd and strict diet, I am still going to travel. I refuse to let this stupid disease and the co infections define me.
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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map1131
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posted
I realize ticks are part of the food chain but something is not keeping up with their part of the bargain. Eat more ticks!!!!!!!!!!!!! And their poop!
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Catgirl
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posted
I think the EMFs (cell phone towers, etc) are making these parasites/bacteria grow faster in us.
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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gigimac
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posted
For real Map1131!!! we need to find some kind of bird that loves to feast on these things and cut down the population. My area seems to be infested!!! I was just telling my mom yesterday that I cannot see any gaps in the food chain by ticks being eliminated. Useless and life ruining creatures!!
I am trying not to worry about it and get my cats medicated again.
nonna05I am currently on doxy and flagyl so hopefully that helps. I have not gotten to a point where I can say I'm a lot better after a yr of off and on treatment(have had a hard time tolerating treatment.) I can say some things have gotten a little better though.
Posts: 1534 | From Greensboro NC | Registered: Aug 2011
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Keebler
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posted
- gigimac,
Guinea Hens love to eat ticks. They are very loud and therefore can be rough on the ears and nerves. They also like to wander about a whole neighborhood if possible.
Still . . . they do well for the right location and owners/neighbors not bothered by their frantic calls.
I've always wondered, though, what happens when an infected tick get eaten by a bird? Wouldn't the belly of the bird then get infected and it then become systemic?
Would the bird droppings carry more than the basic diseases that we are used to hearing about (such as toxoplasmosis)?
As lyme and other TBD are just so hard to conquer, if a bird's belly has some effect to quelch TBD, I'd want to know more.
If not, how do the birds not get ill? Or do they? -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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gigimac
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posted
I have wondered the same thing keebler, it doesn't seem like animals are symptomatic as much as we are when it comes to lyme, at least to my limited knowledge.
Has anyone seen the kind of ticks I am seeing? they are sooo tiny and colorless, almost white and they start to get darker as they stay attached and suck blood until they are the dark color of the adult ticks. sooo disgusting!!
Posts: 1534 | From Greensboro NC | Registered: Aug 2011
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posted
I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that deer are not necessarily carring Lyme disease because, in general, they have highly functioning immune systems.
From what I understood, deer are hosts to the ticks, the ticks fall off and then attach themselves to mice and other small rhodents that do carry the disease.
Perhaps animals such as deer and guinea hens don't commonly get the disease?
Posts: 141 | From East Coast USA | Registered: Sep 2010
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Lymedin2010
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Catgirl, I am just like you. My symptoms were so subtle & I had fatigue. The nice kind of fatigue where I can just dose off & sleep comfortably. Always tired & never rested or rested for very long before I got tired again.
If I trace it back & can take my symptoms pre teen as well. I definitely saw a tick on me when I was 23 & about 7 years later I started to develop headaches.
I just met a lady who pulled 2 ticks out of a child's head in CT & she claims to have constant headaches and questioned this. As was mentioned, there are many with mild and non threatening symptoms.
Yes, environmental factors definitely contribute to our weekend immune sys & allow infections to blossom. Have you ever seen "Mountain Men" on the history channel? These guys are outdoors all the time. They hunt and trap animals and they live and walk through the woods all the time. They even handle deer meet with their bare hands.
So why aren't they getting sick? Maybe because the environmental factors are not as taxing on them? Maybe because their eating home/garden grown vegetables & all natural?
I have seen very small ticks & never knew they came that small. Someone was trying to warn me one time & I never saw one of the small deer tick. The tick I found on myself was fairly large by comparison & not a deer tick.
Can you take a picture of this transparent tick using Macro mode?
Posts: 2087 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2011
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Lymedin2010
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posted
I just did a quick search...are these the clear ticks?
gigimac
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Member # 33353
posted
I believe these are freshly hatched/born (however the devils come into the world) ticks. Do they carry the disease before they ever have their first meal?
Posts: 1534 | From Greensboro NC | Registered: Aug 2011
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Lymedin2010
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"Bb tends to infect the B-lymphocytes and other components of the immune system that are responsible for creating the antibodies, which are then measured by an ELISA test or Western Blot test.
�Since antibody production is greatly compromised in infected individuals, it makes no sense to use these tests as the gold standard or benchmark for the presence of Bb (7).
We also are aware that in endemic areas in the US up to 22 percent of stinging flies and mosquitoes (2, 8, 9, and 10) are carriers of Bb and co-infections.�
In South East Germany and Eastern Europe 12 percent of mosquitoes have been shown to be infected. In addition, many spiders, flees, lice and other stinging insects carry spirochetes and co-infections. Making the history of a tick bite a condition for a physician to be willing to even consider the possibility of a Bb infection seems cynical and cruel.
To use conventional diagnostic tests such as the Western Blot, one has to think in paradoxes: the patient has to be treated with an effective treatment modality first before the patient recovers enough to produce the antibodies, which then are looked for in the test.�
A positive Western Blot proves that the treatment given worked to some degree. A negative Western Blot does not and cannot prove the absence of the infection.
Having taken another route altogether, we have recognized that today many if not most Americans are carriers of the infection. Most infected people are symptomatic, but the severity and type of the symptoms varies greatly.
The microbes often invade tissues that had been injured: your chronic neck pain or sciatica really may be a Bb infection. The same may be true for your chronic TMJ problem, your adrenal fatigue, your thyroid dysfunction, your GERD and many other seemingly unrelated symptoms.
Many Bb symptoms are mistaken for problems of natural or premature aging."
Posts: 2087 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2011
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