Excellent addition! I'd recommend keeping the tick for 1-2 months just to be safe. Most diseases will manifest within a month, but saving it certainly can't hurt. Having the tick always helps in case they need to send it to an entomologist to ID. If the tick isn't blood fed the doctors may be able to ID it, but I'd be a bit nervous letting them try to ID if it's full.
Having studied Lyme disease and the role that ticks play in infecting humans, I can confidently add that as long as you do full body checks after being around areas that are known to have I. scapularis and other carriers of the disease, you will be fine in terms of not contracting the disease. The tick must be attached for at least 48 hours before B. burgdorferi can pass onto the host.Keep in mind that these ticks are small and the larval and nymphal stages are even smaller. Be sure to check skin/clothing when you finish hiking (or collecting), wear long pants, and use bug spray containing DEET.
Definitely! Doing a quick tick check once you get back is one of the best ways to make sure you don't have any on you. I always check first thing in the morning too because it gives them time to embed and makes them easier to pick out once they get a little blood in them. Probably not how most people want to find them, but like you grimmjowls, I studied Lyme and I. scapularis too, so I guess I just got used to them lol.
This is not entirely correct or a safe rule to follow.
Quoting the CDC's own material:
This explains why the tick is a very ineffective vector compared to a mosquito packing readily available parasites or virus in it's saliva, at least in humans that can easily remove them.Quoting the CDC's own material:
... In general, ticks need to be attached for 36 to 48 hours before they can transmit Lyme disease bacteria. ...
Going off of that, I nowhere stated that it's a good idea to leave the tick embedded for anywhere close to 48 hours.
Another source states:
Nymph ticks are the most likely transmitter because they are small and not easily detectable by humans, as the tick must remain attached for 36-48 hours to transmit B. burgdorferi to the host.
Yet another breaks it down as to why it requires so long:
On the basis of experimental studies with animals, to transmit B burgdorferi an infected nymphal tick generally must feed for at least 36 to 48 hours and an infected adult tick must feed for at least 72 hours before the risk of transmission becomes substantial. These experimental findings were confirmed in a study in humans in which the risk of transmission from ticks (for which the duration of feeding could be assessed) to humans was 25% for nymphal ticks that had fed for at least 72 hours and 0% for nymphal ticks that had fed for less than 72 hours, as well as for all adult and all larval ticks. The bacteria live in the midgut of the tick, which needs to become engorged with blood before the bacteria migrate to the salivary glands and the saliva, through which the organism is injected into the host. Studies indicate that in most instances in which a tick bite is recognized, the tick has fed for less than 48 hours, which in part explains the low risk of Lyme disease (1%–3%) after a recognized tick bite in endemic areas. Risk of Lyme disease may be higher from bites that are unrecognized because the tick may feed to repletion and would be more likely to transmit the infection.
So how about we do full-body checks after coming inside from a tick-inhabited area within 48 hours?
Predicted to be a higher than average season too if I read correctly. Thanks for the reminder! Definitely have them in my area.
Agreed, I would definitely expect a heavy tick year with the mild winter.
