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Tick removal - Symptom

Symptoms:

While most ticks do not carry diseases, some ticks can cause:

Watch for the symptoms of these diseases in the weeks following a tick bite:

  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Muscle or joint aches
  • Other flu-like symptoms
  • Stiff neck
  • Swollen lymph nodes
  • Weakness

Watch for a red spot or rash starting at the location of the bite.

The tick itself can cause paralysis in humans (called tick paralysis). Symptoms include:

  • Incoordination
  • Numbness
  • Spreading paralysis
  • Tingling
  • Weakness
  • Reviewed last on: 5/20/2008
  • Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Long SS. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2003: 1372-1373.

Feder HM Jr, Johnson BJ, O'Connell S, Shapiro ED, Steere AC, Wormser GP. Ad Hoc International Lyme Disease Group. A critical appraisal of "chronic Lyme disease." N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1422-1430.

Halperin JJ, Shapiro ED, Logigian E, Belman AL, Dotevall L, Wormser GP, et al. Practice parameter: treatment of nervous system Lyme disease (an evidence-based review): report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2007;69:91-102.

Wormser GP, Dattwyler RJ, Shapiro ED, Halperin JJ, Steere AC, Klempner MS, et al. The clinical assessment, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and babesiosis: clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;43:1089-1134.