![]() ![]() So it can be helpful if you get it identified." "If it's not a blacklegged tick, you don't need to worry about Lyme disease. If you're in an area with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, then you would," DeHart said. "If it can be identified and it's a dog tick and you're not in an area where worries about that are significant, then you don't need to worry much about it. If the tick is engorged or has been attached a long time, however, it's not a bad idea to have it identified for potential future reference.Īcademic labs can do the identification, or some services can even do identification via images alone, he added. There's no need to call a doctor after most tick bites, DeHart said, particularly if you find them and remove them. The ticks of greatest concern for disease transmission are those with broad host ranges, including the blacklegged tick ( Ixodes scapularis), the lone star tick ( Amblyomma americanum), and the American dog tick ( Dermacentor variabilis). There are many types of ticks and they transmit "a greater diversity of pathogens than any other vector," Oliver noted, from bacteria and viruses to protozoans. "If you catch them early, then you really decrease the risk that they're going to transmit anything to you," DeHart said. Infectious disease physician Del DeHart, MD, of the University of Michigan Health-West, agreed that there's "no need to seek medical care after most tick bites, particularly if you see them and remove them." Only then can they migrate to the salivary glands and be transmitted to the host, he said. Instead, they live in the mid-gut and "need to be activated by the tick taking a blood meal," he explained. ![]() That's because Borrelia don't live in the salivary glands of the tick. "If you do tick checks every day and make sure you remove any attached ticks, your risk of Lyme disease is very low, even if the tick was infected," Oliver told MedPage Today. ![]()
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