Tick, tick, tick. These tiny insects can bite and burrow under our skin. The sound of the \u201cticking\u201d clock serves as a good reminder to always make sure to seek medical care within 24 hours following a tick bite, which has the potential to lead to serious illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a tick is removed quickly from the skin, a person\u2019s risk of contracting a tick-borne illness is substantially lowered,\u201d said Dr. David Banach <\/a>of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UConn Health<\/a>. \u201cEven if you think you removed the insect on your own, seek professional medical care. Parts of the bug could remain in your skin raising your risk of tick-borne infection.\u00a0 In some cases, preventive antibiotics may be appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Now half way through the high season for ticks, Banach and other doctors of the Division of Infection Diseases at UConn Health are still on elevated alert for patients contracting tick-linked diseases. High season runs from May through October and several patients have been hospitalized this season at UConn John Dempsey for tick-borne diseases.<\/p>\n A tick can carry a variety of diseases, and as a result of a bite, its victims are at risk of contracting one or more infections. The most common tick infection in Connecticut is Lyme disease. It\u2019s most common symptoms are a bullseye rash often accompanied by fever, body aches, fatigue or flu-like symptoms. Most patients can be treated with antibiotics to clear up the infection. But for some patients Lyme disease symptoms can linger causing chronic joint aches, even after successful treatment.<\/p>\n In recent years, it\u2019s been discovered that ticks can also carry varied malaria-like parasitic and bacterial diseases that can infect a person\u2019s circulating blood cells with illness ranging from mild to severe.<\/p>\n These two more common infections from tick bites in Connecticut are babesia and anaplasma. Babesia infects the red blood cells and symptoms can appear within a week to a few weeks, most commonly fever, heavy sweats, and body aches. Anaplasma, the most common type of the bacterial diseases known as ehrlichia found in the U.S., infects white blood cells and within one to a few weeks presents similarly with symptoms of fever, chills, body aches and headache.<\/p>\n According to Banach, these parasite and bacterial infections can really get people sick and lead to hospitalization, particularly among those with compromised immune systems, the elderly or pregnant women.<\/p>\n