Ixodidae (hard ticks)

Introduction

Includes dog ticks & deer ticks.

Pathology

• ticks attach & feed painlessly
• blood is their only food
• secretions produce local reactions, febrile illness or paralysis

Clinical manifestations

• local reactions vary
  • small pruritic papules
  • chronic nodules (tick granulomas) reaching several centimeters in diameter
• tick-induced fever
  • headache
  • nausea
  • malaise
  • generally resolves within 24-36 hours after tick is removed
• tick paralysis
  • ascending flaccid paralysis

More general terms

• tick

More specific terms

• Amblyomma
• Dermacentor
• Haemaphysalis
• Ixodes
• Rhipicephalus

Additional terms

• tick fever
• tick paralysis