Tick Bites: Symptoms, Treatments, and Pictures

The disease comes and goes and is well camouflaged: Lyme disease. Even a short walk can catch a tick that transmits the bacteria. This is how you react correctly.

The dowel-like stinger pierces the skin , and the tick begins to suck. A little blood would be tolerable. However, according to calculations by Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), around 800,000 people were infected with Lyme disease in 2009 alone. Far more than the 40,000 to 80,000 cases that the Robert Koch Institute, the central federal institution in the field of disease surveillance and prevention, regularly reports. The patient organization criticizes their data

Every fifth tick transmits Lyme disease. There is no vaccine. The best protection: clothing and insect repellent. And: The faster the animals are removed from the skin, the lower the risk.

Lyme disease and FSME Bund Deutschland (BFBD) in Reinheim are completely outdated. In fact, such numbers are unreliable as long as there is no obligation to report Lyme disease in Germany, many cases remain undetected and there is a lack of factual knowledge on the part of doctors and patients. That’s why Tolfioow explains – in four phases – what everyone should remember about Lyme disease.

PHASE 1: A tick bite! What now?

Small and harmless – no way. Although such an arachnid is only a few millimeters in size and its sting is painless, it can cause a lot of trouble: Depending on the region, around 5 to 40 percent of all ticks are infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which they transmit to their victims when sucking blood. It triggers the dreaded Lyme disease, a disease that affects the entire body and against which – unlike in the case of the much rarer tick-borne TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) – there is still no vaccine. However, we are working hard on it. The principle of action: when sucking the vaccinated blood, the pathogens in the tick are killed. Brilliant, but still a dream of the future for the time being. “In two or three years, however, a Lyme disease vaccine can be expected,” says the Bonn neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Dietrich Rosin, Member of the German Borreliosis Society in Berlin. Until then, the most important protective measures are: use tick repellents (so-called repellents), wear long trousers as soon as you go through meadows and forests, and theCheck your skin for ticks after every walk in the country. They prefer to stay on warm parts of the body with thin skin: in the hollows of the knees and armpits, in the genital area and on the neck. Children are often stabbed in the head and neck. The sooner you remove the uninvited guest, the lower the risk of infection.

If you discover one, it is better to use splinter tweezers or a tick card from the pharmacy instead of tick tweezers, with which the bloodsucker is pushed out of the skin. Twisting movements when removing are unnecessary. Under no circumstances should the animal be squeezed, otherwise it will “vomit” and pass the pathogens on to its victim. Even household remedies such as oil or glue, which are intended to make it easier to remove the tick, only do harm. If the animal has hardly sucked any blood, there is only a small risk. Nevertheless, you should watch out for possible signs of illness in the next few days and weeks (see phase 2).

symptoms? Immediately to the doctor!

PHASE 2: Symptoms? Immediately to the doctor!

Lyme disease does not make it easy for us to track it down. Because the typical erythema migrans (migratory blush) only occurs in 40 percent of sufferers. This reddish spot around the puncture site later becomes ring-shaped and can migrate over the body. The other symptoms are not very clear: exhaustion, joint and muscle pain, forgetfulness, lack of concentration. Anyone who notices such symptoms and can remember a tick bite should always go to the family doctor. The same applies if children show a change in character or subliminal aggressiveness after a tick bite. Stomach pain and headaches can also occur. The symptoms are often misjudged as summer flu.

Tip: Photograph redness after a tick bite. This makes it easier to diagnose if they go away before you see a doctor. If no tick bite was noticed, the signs of illness can be interpreted even worse. Not every Lyme disease is bad. However, ten to twelve percent of those infected develop more or less serious symptoms that can become chronic (see phase 4). So take every suspicion seriously.

Phase 3: Diagnosis of Lyme disease

Time is running out. The problem: If it is Lyme disease, antibiotic therapy should begin within the first four weeks – but reliable laboratory values ​​are only available after four to eight weeks. A previous test cannot detect a recent infection. If he uncovers something, then only a pre-existing condition. In addition, the statutory health insurance companies specify a step-by-step diagnosis: Only if the relatively insensitive “ELISA test” is positive should the more precise “Western blot”, also an antibody test, be used. This step-by-step approach rarely produces meaningful results, especially since the following also applies to the Western blot: if the test is carried out too early, no infection can be detected because the body has not yet formed enough antibodies against the pathogen. If the blood test is too late

Tip: “Ask specifically about the lymphocyte transformation test, or LTT for short, which measures the current activity of Lyme disease,” advises Dr. rosin It is not yet generally recognized in this country, but is recommended by the Borreliosis Society. It costs patients around 160 euros (IGeL service). It’s the same thing with therapy. If the Borrelia test is positive, the standard treatment is antibiotics for two weeks, usually 200 mg doxycycline a day. This corresponds to the guidelines of the IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America), which also serve as a model for Europe. “Too short and too little,” say experts from the German Borreliosis Society, citing studies by the ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society). Success can only be achieved with 400 mg of doxycycline for six to eight weeks. “If this is started within the first four weeks after the sting, we can expect a cure,” says Dr. rosin “In all other cases, Lyme disease becomes chronic.” This means: longer periods of suffering, frequent changes of doctor and the risk of being classified as a simulant or psychiatric case.

Problem case late complaints

Phase 4: late complaints

Statistically, undetected Lyme disease shows symptoms after around eight years. Since it is a multi-organ disease, they occur in a wide variety of places and do not seem to belong together. Who thinks of chronic Lyme disease when it comes to knee pain, shoulder pain, anxiety and tachycardia? If the symptoms are unclear, it helps to be able to refer to an earlier tick bite. Then a Lyme disease test is used. “The LTT and the CD-57 test can detect chronic Borrelia activity,” says Dr. rosin However, no meaningful studies are available. Therefore, these tests are not standard, patients have to insist on them and usually pay for them themselves (about 60 euros for the CD-57). The guidelines of the German Borreliosis Society then recommend antibiotic therapy lasting two to six months, depending on the severity of the disease. “Demand the tests and the best possible treatment,” advises Dr. rosin Again and again, cases of fibromyalgia, MS, depression or rheumatism turn out to be unrecognized Lyme disease. If treated with antibiotics, the symptoms subside, although not always completely.

Crystal Waston MD

Crystal Waston has a degree in Cross Media Production and Publishing. At vital.de she gives everyday tips and deals with topics related to women's health, sport, and nutrition.

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