Tick Bite Symptoms

Tick bite symptoms can vary but should never be ignored, especially a tick bite rash. Tickborne diseases are spreading and can be mild or life-threatening.

Ticks hang out in grassy or bushy areas, holding on to plants with their back legs. When an unsuspecting animal or human brushes by, the tiny blood-sucking creatures latch on with a piercing, hook-shaped appendage called a hypostome.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) points out ticks typically don’t bite immediately. Instead, they search for warm areas of your body with thin skin (often your groin, scalp, or armpit) before they clamp down to suck blood. Once that happens, tick bite symptoms can vary.

(If you find a tick on your body, try to remove it with tweezers; grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible. When it’s removed, wash your hands and the bite site with warm soap and water or rubbing alcohol.)

You might barely notice a tick bite at first. In fact, if you wonder what a tick bite looks like, think of mosquito bites. A small red bump, much like a mosquito bite, appears at the site of a tick bite or tick removal.

Other signs and symptoms, including a tick bite rash, can occur within a month if you’ve been infected with a tickborne disease.

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Don’t ignore tick bite symptoms

Ticks not only feed off blood but also release illness-causing bacteria and viruses into your bloodstream. Ticks are known to spread more than a dozen diseases in the U.S., and some of those infections can have serious and potentially fatal consequences.

The incidence of tickborne infections has risen significantly, with ticks transmitting at least 20 different infectious diseases, the NIH points out. Lyme disease represents most of the documented tickborne infections in the U.S., with about 30,000 cases reported each year.

Although statistics about tickborne diseases can be frightening, don’t panic and assume you’ll catch a serious illness from a tick bite. Instead, take steps to avoid tick bites in the first place. For example, avoid grassy areas and forests unless you wear protective clothing and DEET-containing insect repellent. Check your body for ticks after you’ve been in locations where you could have been exposed.

There’s no way to guarantee you’ll never have a tick bite. So, it’s crucial to know tick bite symptoms, including understanding what a tick bite rash looks like and when to get medical help.

Don’t ignore tick bite symptoms

Tickborne diseases can result in mild symptoms you can treat at home, but they can also cause severe infections requiring antibiotics and, sometimes, hospitalization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Contact your doctor immediately if you experience any of these symptoms within a few weeks after a tick bite:

• Fever or chills. With all tickborne diseases, you can experience varying amounts of fever.
• Muscle aches and pains. Tick bite symptoms associated with infections include headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. The severity of these symptoms and when they occur after a tick bite varies according to the tickborne disease.
• Tick bite rash. Distinctive rashes are a hallmark of most tickborne diseases, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), tularemia, ehrlichiosis, and southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI).

A tick bite rash indicates infection

A rash association with Lyme disease is the first sign of an infection. It usually appears within three to 30 days of a tick bite, before a fever starts. A circular, “bulls-eye” rash, called erythema migrans (EM), develops in 70 to 80 percent of infected persons. EM lesions may also develop in other parts of your body several days later.

Although not usually painful, a Lyme disease rash can feel warm. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, the infection can also affect your nervous system and damage your heart, the CDC warns.

The tick bite rash associated with STARI is almost identical to a Lyme disease rash. A bulls-eye lesion develops around the site of a lone star tick bite and expands. Within a week or two after the tick bite, fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches may accompany the STARI rash.

About 90 percent of people infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a tick bite develop a rash two to five days after a fever starts. It will usually appear as small, flat, pink, non-itchy spots on your wrists, forearms, and ankles. The rash usually spreads to the trunk of your body and, sometimes, your palms and soles.

Thirty-five to 60 percent of people with RMSF have a red to purple, spotted rash, caused by bleeding under your skin. The rash doesn’t develop until the sixth day, or later, after other symptoms (including headache, abdominal pain, vomiting, and muscle pain) occur.

In about 30 percent of adults and up to 60 percent of children who contract ehrlichiosis from a tick bite, a rash develops after the onset of fever. It can be petechial (caused by bleeding under the skin) or maculopapular (red, flat bumps) and appears after the onset of fever. Other symptoms include severe headaches, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, body aches, and confusion.

The tickborne infection tularemia doesn’t produce a typical rash. Instead, a skin ulcer appears at the site of a tick bite. Then swollen lymph glands, usually in your groin or armpit, develop. Tularemia infections can be mild or fatal, with temperatures reaching 104 degrees.

If you have tick bite symptoms, contact your doctor. Antibiotics and usually treat tickborne diseases. The sooner a tickborne disease is diagnosed and treated, the more likely you can avoid complications.

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