[ SHOWGSD-L ] <showgsd> TICK BITES
- From: WyMarGSD2@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:09:42 EDT
Has anyone seen this before, is this pretty accurate?
This is for humans as well as animals.....
Dealing with Tick Bites
Applying a flaming match or a smoldering cigarette to the butt-end of
a tick is a time-honored way of removing one of the little buggers
after it has locked its jaws into your hide. However, medical studies
have determined that this is one of the worst ways to proceed.
The New York Times reports that in 1996 a team of Spanish researchers
studied 52 patients who sought treatment at a hospital after
extracting a tick. The researchers found that those who accomplished
this by squeezing, crushing or burning the insects were far more
likely to develop disease symptoms than those who used the proper
removal method.
Traumatizing the insect with heat or squeezing it excessively can
make it regurgitate blood it has ingested, along with any disease
organisms it might be harboring in its gut - the spirochetes that
cause Lyme disease in the case of the Deer Tick {Ixodes
scapularis) or, more rarely in Pennsylvania, the rickettsial bacteria
that cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the case of the Brown Dog
Tick (Rhipecephalus sanguineus).
Here's the procedure for tick removal recommended by the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
1. Use fine-tipped tweezers or a notched tick extractor, and protect
your fingers with a tissue, paper towel, or latex gloves. Avoid
removing ticks with your bare hands.
2. Grasp the tick as close to the skin surface as possible and pull
upward with steady, even pressure. Do not twist or jerk the tick;
this may cause the mouthparts to break off and remain in the skin.
(If this happens, remove the mouthparts with tweezers.)
3. After removing the tick, thoroughly disinfect the bite site and
wash your hands with soap and water.
4. Do not squeeze, crush, or puncture the body of the tick because
its fluids may contain infectious organisms. Skin accidentally
exposed to tick fluids can be disinfected with iodine scrub, rubbing
alcohol, or water containing detergents.
The CDC also recommends saving any tick that has bitten you for
identification in case you become ill. This can help your doctor make
an accurate diagnosis of your illness. Put the tick into a scalable
plastic bag and pop it into your freezer. Write the date of the bite
in pencil on a scrap of paper and put that into the bag as well.
By the way, covering ticks with petroleum jelly or nail polish is
also a poor procedure, because it can be hours before the creatures
begin to suffocate and let go of your skin. The goal is to get the
things off your body as quickly as possible.
For more information about Lyme disease, you can check out the CDC
website at:
http://ww. cdc. gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/Index. htm.
For Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the URL is:
http://vwv. cdc. gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/index. htm
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