Got my first deer tick.

[Boar]

I was doing some trail maintence in our river bottom yesterday an woke up this morning to what at first thought was a discomforting scratch from buck brush, later after breakfast it was bother me again so I took a close look an an here a tick had attached itself. It pulled off hard an hurt. upon closer inspection, holy [PoorWordUsage] it's a deer tick. My wife is a public health nurse an made some calls an in I go Mon. morning. Upon reasearch on the web confermed that it's a large female deer tick. I did'nt know these suckers burrow their head under the skin, no wonder it hurt pulling it off, I kept the specimen, I guesse thats about as early as a person can hope to detect a deer tick. They are known to carry lymes desiese, as in, not all deer ticks carry it, but it's not a gamble I want, we'll see what happens on Mon. Boar

[bogwalker]

Good luck boar. Good thing you caught it right away. Keep us posted.

[Boar]

will do, Boar

[frogtosser]

I found a deer tick in me earlier this year, it freaked me out. I called the nurses office and did some research on the net. It says to watch the bite area for the bullseye rash, but that takes anywhere from 7 to 30 days to show up from what I read. thank god I never got one, the wife was shocked I even found it cause it was so small. I saved my tick too for a month.

good luck

[WaitForIt]

Guys, guys.

We have an overwhelming, needless paranoia to a relatively insignificant event such as getting bitten by a deer tick.

First thing.. deer ticks are lyme carriers as everyone knows. That does not mean every deer tick will carry the disease. Further, of the ticks that are carriers, it is not a given that the bacteria that cause lyme's would be transmitted every time. Finally, even if you were bitten by a tick and it carried the disease AND it transmitted it to you only a small portion of those folks would ultimately develop the disease.

Best bet - check yourself well after each outing, if you find one don't panic, don't go to the ER in a huff, simply remove the tick, head and all, and watch the area for up to 30 days for signs of the bullseye ring. Take 'er easy.

[JConrad]

Deer tick carry 3 diseases.... Not a bad idea to check out the attached link at the Minnesota Dept. of Health web site...

http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/ticks050707.html

My vet up here in the Brainerd area told me the other day that 60% of the dogs coming in for check ups have a Deer tick disease and not always Lyme... Pretty scary...

I hope the tick that was on you was not a carrier...

[Boar]

Well I guesse I really dont see where I came off paranoid nor did I panic I simply stated I found a deer tick attached, my wife made some calls an I did some research on the web. I did'nt fly helter skelter in to the ER an said save me I have Lymes. I'm married to RN, PHN with more years experience in almost every facet of nursing than I have room to wright about, so I'm bonded to "Take er' easy". but thanks for the concern.