Ticks are a serious pest in most parts of the wrists and ankles which later spreads to the world. Tick bites, in addition to causing the rest of the body. Symptoms appear two irritation and infection, have been to fourteen days after infection. This implicated in the transmission of diseases disease is far more serious than Colorado such as Colorado Tick Fever, Rocky Tick Fever, but is treatable with antibiotics. Mountain Spotted Fever, Relapsing Fever, It is important for people who become ill Tularemia and Lyme Disease. Ticks are and develop a rash after a tick bite to seek not insects but arachnids, as are spiders, medical treatment immediately. Although scorpions and mites. Hard Tick Soft Tick common in some parts of the nation, and despite the name, Rocky Mountain Spotted There are two main groups of ticks, hard Tick-borne Diseases Fever is rare in Colorado. ticks and soft ticks. In Colorado, hard ticks Colorado Tick Fever is a viral disease are much more abundant than soft ticks, whose symptoms include fever, head and Tularemia, sometimes called “rabbit fever”, cause greater annoyance, and are far more body aches. Other symptoms may include is a plague-like bacterial disease of rabbits important in the transmission of disease. lethargy, nausea, abdominal pain and and rodents, which people can catch occasionally, a skin rash. The illness through the bite of an infected tick. Hard Ticks usually begins within six days after the bite Symptoms include chills, fever, prostration, The Rocky Mountain Wood Tick is a hard of an infected tick and lasts four to five days an ulcer at the site of infection, and tender, tick about 1/8” long, which may grow to followed by apparent recovery. Fever and swollen lymph glands. Tularemia is nearly 1/2” long when engorged with blood. other symptoms reoccur for another two or treatable with antibiotics The female is dark reddish-brown with a three weeks. This disease is rarely life white shield covering the front third of the threatening, and once recovered, people Relapsing Fever is a bacterial disease body. The male has a grayish-white shield are rarely re-infected. There is currently no spread by a soft tick. Symptoms begin area on top of the body. This tick lives in effective treatment or vaccine for tick fever. three to ten days after the bite of an the mountainous areas of Colorado and is infected tick and consist of periods of fever especially abundant on the south facing, lasting two to nine days followed by similar brushy slopes of the foothills of Jefferson periods without fever. The number of County. Wood ticks are known to transmit relapses varies from two to ten or more. Colorado Tick Fever, Rocky Mountain The soft tick feeds for only a brief period Spotted Fever and Tularemia. and usually at night, so victims are often unaware of recent tick bites. Relapsing fever is treatable with antibiotics. Soft Ticks Soft ticks are light gray and leathery in Lyme Disease, so named because it was appearance. The average person seldom Rocky Mountain Wood Tick first identified in the town of Lyme, sees it, as it is a “nest tick” meaning it lives Connecticut in 1975, is a bacterial disease in the nests of the animals it normally feeds Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a transmitted by a tiny tick often no bigger on. It can live for months or even years bacterial disease characterized by the than a poppy seed (pictured on the front of without feeding. This nighttime feeding tick sudden onset of chills, fever, headache and this brochure). Symptoms begin three to occasionally bites humans sleeping in old bloodshot eyes. Anywhere from the thirty-two days after the tick bite, beginning cabins. Soft ticks are known to transmit second to the fifth day after the onset of with a distinctive “bulls-eye” shaped Relapsing Fever. these first symptoms, a rash appears on expanding red rash. This may be accompanied by a flu-like illness with fever, before feeding. Have a companion or headache, extreme fatigue, and stiff neck. parent help examine the back and scalp. When treated with antibiotics immediately, Routine checks could prevent an estimated most patients recover fully. If not treated 75% of all tick-borne diseases. promptly, the disease may progress and cause swelling and pain in the joints Additional protection methods include (especially the knees) that may lead to tucking trousers into the tops of socks and arthritis. Other symptoms may include shirttails into trousers: wearing light-colored heart arrhythmia, facial palsy and loss of clothing to make ticks easier to spot; sensation. These symptoms fluctuate, can treating clothing with insect repellants last for months and may become chronic. containing DEET to reduce the number of ticks climbing onto clothing. Ticks Tick Removal If ticks should become attached the simplest way to remove them is by a slow, Lyme Disease “Bulls Eye” Rash steady pull. Grasp the tick and gently but firmly with tweezers and pull backwards. Fortunately, Lyme Disease is extremely Be careful not to crush the tick or leave the rare in Colorado. Many of the tiny ticks that mouthparts in the flesh. Wash hands carry this disease are not native to this thoroughly afterwards and apply an state and those that are rarely bite humans. antiseptic to the bite. Using heat or substances such as oil or fingernail polish Tick Prevention and Removal to remove ticks is not recommended. Environmental Health The simplest way to prevent tick bites and Persons who become ill after a tick bite Services tick-borne diseases is through the use of should consult a physician. “tick checks”. Persons outdoors in the 645 Parfet Street mountain environment should periodically Printed on Recycled Paper Lakewood, Colorado 80215 check for and remove ticks from their 303-232-6301 clothing and bodies. These checks should be done every two to three hours as ticks often crawl about on their victims for hours jeffco.us/public-health January 2014 .