Lably
Skip to content

Tick-borne disease

Medical condition

  • 9 min read
  • 5 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Pathogen, Bacteria and Virus

Lab · Class 12Human Health and DiseaseLab · Class 12Immune System ExplorerLab · Class 8Wastewater StoryLab · Class 8–12The Immune System

The occurrence of ticks and tick-borne illnesses in humans is increasing. Tick populations are spreading into new areas, in part due to climate change. Tick populations are also affected by changes in the populations of their hosts (e.g. deer, cattle, mice, lizards) and those hosts' predators (e.g. foxes). Diversity and availability of hosts and predators can be affected by deforestation and habitat fragmentation.

Because individual ticks can harbor more than one disease-causing agent, patients can be infected with more than one pathogen at the same time, compounding the difficulty in diagnosis and treatment. As the incidence of tick-borne illnesses increases and the geographic areas in which they are found expand, health workers increasingly must be able to distinguish the diverse, and often overlapping, clinical presentations of these diseases.

As of 2020, 18 tick-borne pathogens have been identified in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at least 27 are known globally. New tick-borne diseases have been discovered in the 21st century, due in part to the use of molecular assays and next-generation sequencing.

Prevention

Exposure

Ticks tend to be more active during warmer months, though this varies by geographic region and climate. Areas with woods, bushes, high grass, or leaf litter are likely to have more ticks. People can limit their exposure to tick bites by wearing light-colored clothing (including pants and long sleeves), using insect repellent with 20%–30% N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET), tucking their pants legs into their socks, checking for ticks frequently, and washing and drying their clothing in a hot dryer.

According to the World Health Organization, tick-to-animal transmission is difficult to prevent because animals do not show visible symptoms; the only effective prevention relies on killing ticks on the livestock production facility.

Signs and symptoms

Ticks also have the potential to induce a motor illness characterized by acute, ascending flaccid paralysis. This condition can be fatal if not treated promptly, affecting both humans and animals. It is mainly associated with certain species of ticks. Symptoms typically range from fatigue, numbness in the legs, muscle aches, and, in some cases, paralysis and other severe neurological manifestations.

Tick-borne diseases (TBD) are a major health threat in the US. The number of pathogens and the burden of disease have been increasing over the last couple of decades. With improved diagnostics and surveillance, new pathogens are regularly identified, bettering our understanding of TBDs. Unfortunately, diagnosis of these illnesses remains a challenge, with many TBDs presenting with similar nonspecific symptoms and diagnosis requiring a battery of assays to assess patients adequately. New advanced molecular diagnostic methods, including next-generation sequencing and metagenomics analysis, promise improved detection of novel and emerging pathogens with the ability to detect a litany of potential pathogens with a single assay.

Tick removal

Ticks should be removed safely as soon as possible once discovered. They can be removed either by grasping tweezers as close to the mouth as possible and pulling without rotation; some companies market grooved tools that rotate the hypostome to facilitate removal. Chemical methods to make the tick self-detach are not efficient. In Australia and New Zealand, where tick-borne infections are less common than tick reactions, the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy recommends seeking medical assistance or killing ticks in-situ by freezing and then leaving them to fall out to prevent allergic/anaphylactic reactions.

Sign in to keep reading

4 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Health

Food and Drug AdministrationFederal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human ServicesCenters for Disease Control and PreventionUnited States government public health agencyNauseaMedical symptom or conditionSeizurePeriod of symptoms due to excessive or synchronous neuronal brain activityVomitingExpulsion of stomach contents via the mouth or noseIntravenous therapyMedication administered into a vein