Madison Area Lyme Support Group

WELLESLEY, Mass. — For 2-year-old Piper Rosen, it started with an itchy head on Thursday night. It wasn’t until that next morning that her mother, Lori Rosen, said she found the culprit.

“This morning when I was putting her hair up in a ponytail, I found a tick on the back of her head.”

Rosen said over a video interview on Friday that she believes the tick must have latched onto her daughter’s head after she went outside for fresh air and played in the driveway. (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Great reminder that despite the frenzy over COVID-19, ticks are out.

The doctor in the article states she’s receiving several calls per day – months earlier than in the past.

There’s  a few points in the article I’d like to address:

• The doctor states calling a doctor IF attachment lasted longer than 36 hours. Please know that a minimum attachment time for disease transmission has NEVER been established:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/03/10/grace-period-for-ticks-nope/ and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/14/transmission-time-for-lymemsids-infection/  I’ve heard of stories of 4-6 hours for Lyme transmission & of course Powassan virus can be spread in mere minutes.
• The doctor states that attachment is less than 36 hours to just keep an eye on it and look for the bulls-eye rash or sudden fever. This waiting around has caused untold pain and suffering. For suggestions on what to do after getting bitten by a tick:  https://www.lymedisease.org/tick-bite/  In a nutshell, prophylactic treatment of 20 days of doxycycline for a black-legged tick bite is recommended by ILADS. I’m sure that all chronically infected patients wish they would have done this.
• Again – transmission has occurred in under 36 hours and many never get the rash. In fact, depending upon who’s counting, anywhere from 25%-80% get the rash: 1976circularletterpdf

More on tick prevention: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/12/tick-prevention-2019/