Thursday, July 17, 2025

American Dog Tick

One of the absolute banes of nature is the tick. Spending time outdoors engaged in your favorite activities often puts us in close proximity to these tiny 8-legged vampires. Often these encounters result in a hitchhiker making its way home via some obscure hiding place on our body. There is good reason to do a tick check after each outing, finding one of these menaces attached to your person, is at the very least annoying, and at its worst concerning. We are all aware of the various diseases these creatures can vector and spread to humans. The quicker they are located and removed, the safer we are. Unfortunately,there is no tried and true time limit to free yourself of the attached tick before disease transmission occurs. For Lyme disease typically 24-48 hours, other diseases can be spread in as few as 6 hours. All of these times vary. Faster is better in the case of tick removal. The best way to remove a tick is by using pointed tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible and pull straight out. Even if you nip your skin, that's okay, you want to ensure the head of the tick is not left behind. DO NOT try to burn the tick! 

One of the most common tick species in Missouri is the American Dog Tick, or Wood Tick (Dermacenter variabilis).  They range throughout eastern North America, with populations also confirmed in California. 

Image from CDC
Dog ticks are referred to as 3-host ticks; after hatching from their eggs they will feed on a small mammal hosts such as mice or voles. Once satiated, they will drop to the ground and wait for their next stage of development and find a larger host such as a skunk, or opossum. During the final feeding stage they will look for even larger hosts like dogs, deer, raccoons and humans (as many of us can attest to). Finding a host is number one on their mind as soon as they hatch, but should a host not present itself, no worries, they can live up to 15 months without a single feeding. Older nymphs that have experienced a meal, may live up to 20 months without an additional meal, and adults as long as 30 months!!! These relatives to the arachnids are hardy survivalist during lean times!  

There are four life stages; egg, newly hatched larva, nymph, and adult. The newly hatched larva are the size of a poppy seed, older nymphs are approximately the size of the head of a pen, and adults approximately 1/8 of an inch (unfed). The chart below illustrates the size differences for an adult female in regards to whether or not it has fed. 

https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/species/dog-tick/

 Males also feed on blood, but not with gluttony like the female. He will partake of this sanguine deliciousness for a day or two before dropping to the ground. The female on the other hand has baby making on her mind, which drives her desire to gorge on our bodily fluid. She will feed for a week or more before becoming fully engorged, before falling into the leaf litter and begin dropping between 4,000-6,000 eggs . This process may take as much as a month to complete. Her sole purpose in life is to leave offspring behind to carry on the next generation, once this is accomplished she dies. 

They are found in a variety of grassy habitats, including forests edges, meadows, prairies, grasslands, scrub ground, and often along walking trails. Many sources say that the larvae do not feed on large hosts. All I can ask is..."have you never stepped into a newly hatched batch of seed ticks?" They will most assuredly attach to your feet, and or ankles. These ravenous little bloodsuckers will happily embed themselves into a buffet of blood if it happens by. I can recall on a hiking excursion several years ago, on one of the glade trails, at Truman Lake State Park, my husband complained of itchy ankles. Upon closer inspection we discovered his ankles were covered in pepper flake sized feasting seed ticks....100's of them!!! It took nearly an hour and a ton of duct tape to remove these minute sized hungry ticks. He itched for weeks afterward. On another occasion, while in Arkansas, hiking a trail near our rental cabin, we discovered our dog covered in tiny ticks much the same way my husband had experienced. We purchased Frontline and treated him immediately. I kid you not, in three days, our dog gave a hearty shake and hundreds of ticks fell in a pile of deceased carcasses at his feet! 

The two most common diseases vectored by the American Dog Tick are Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Tularemia. They may also vector tick paralysis, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis, as well as other diseases. 

Nearly 15 years ago I was bitten on my lower stomach by a dog tick. I discovered it when I experienced an intense itching. I pulled it out and hoped for the best. Within a few days I began feeling ill, I had a low grade fever, dizziness, and memory issues ( I couldn't remember driving to work, or how I got back home again, etc.) As the days passed symptoms changed to muscle weakness, hip and other joint pain, fatigue and profuse sweating! The slightest activity would have me looking like someone dumped a five gallon bucket of water over my head!  I could barely keep my eyes open the fatigue was so severe! I finally decided a visit to the doctor was in order. I explained to the doctor about discovering the tick and the resulting symptoms. She said that my sweating was menopause and had nothing to do with the tick bite. She prescribed me Amoxicillin. I told her I needed Doxycycline. She refused to prescribe it. I filled the script for Amoxicillin, and within two days I felt worse! I went into work and a Dr. from the CDC followed me in the door at the Nature Center where I worked. He was in the region to capture ticks for research on the newly discovered Heartlands Virus. I had been in the field with him previously to capture ticks. I pulled him aside, explained my situation and showed him the bite. He gave me his business card, and told me to return to my doctor and ask her for Doxy. If she refused, he told me to give her his card and she could contact him directly. I returned to my doctors office to be greeted with "oh...you're back." I told her the medicine wasn't working and that I needed Doxycycline. She started to argue with me, so I handed her the business card from my new CDC doctor friend and explained that if she had issues with the recommended medication, to call him. Her whole attitude changed. She brought a book off the shelf and opened it to tick diseases, and as I watched her move her fingers down the pages of tick diseases, ALL of them said to treat with DOXYCYCLINE! She gave me the proper prescription, and within a few days I felt better. I guess threatening a doctor with the CDC will get you the results you should have received in the first place! I continued to relapse with symptoms every few months for years. I ended up getting a referral to an infectious disease expert when my hip pain was no better. They did blood work and I tested positive for antibodies from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever! The hip pain ended up being Progressive Osteoarthritis (another story). Because there are no tests to diagnose tick diseases, doctors must rely on testing for the antibodies your body produces to fight of a tick borne disease. My symptoms continued to return periodically for 10 years. Had I listened to my doctor (I quickly located a new one), I could have died. RMSF, left untreated, results in hospitalization in up to 70% of cases and causes death in up to 25% of cases! As far as the profuse sweating I experienced, it was not menopause related, it IS a symptom, although rare, of RMSF.

Ticks, unfortunately, are a fact of nature. I am frequently asked what purpose they serve, and the answer is elusive and can be somewhat controversial. Are they here for population control? Who knows. Do they feed hungry birds and other animals? Maybe. Or do they just exist to reproduce? For whatever reason they are here, they are not going anywhere soon. 

No need to fear being outside. My journey with RMSF has not kept me inside. I am more mindful of checking for ticks and making sure they are removed quickly. I tuck my socks in my hiking boots, and wear light colored clothes, to make spotting them easier. I use DEET on my skin and I spray my boots, and hiking clothes with Permethrin. Do not use this chemical on your skin! Gear and clothing only. It will last for months and kills ticks on contact! 

With a little precaution on your part being outdoors can be safe, enjoyable, and full of adventure, don't let the lowly bloodsucking tick steal your fun.  

 

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