What Tick Saliva Does to the Human Body

[BlackHatGuy]

Fascinating.

 

[Rex Sanders]

That’s why people who are bitten repeatedly will sometimes find the bites starting to itch.

That’s me. Tick bites actually hurt now, which I view as a blessing and warning to remove the critter ASAP.

In contrast, I spent many summer weekends in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills. Each spring, mosquito bites would welt up and itch like crazy. Within a few weeks, I barely noticed them, and couldn’t find a fresh bite after a few hours. I’ve read that human subjects of mosquito-biting experiments go through a similar temporary desensitization.

YMMV. I do not recommend purposely getting bit by either ticks or mosquitoes.

— Rex

[Jerry Adams]

interesting

yeah, I first notice because it itches

I think they said you can become immune to it after a number of bites.  I wonder what would happen in that case if a tick tried to bite you?  It would immediately hurt so you would notice it and remove it before further damage?  They can get deeply imbedded and hard to remove by the time it starts itching.

I’ve noticed tick bites take forever to heal, now I see why.

[obx hiker]

This was an interesting part of the article:

“If people are inoculated against IrSPI, their bodies might immediately recognize a tick bite and mount an immune response, preventing the tick from working its saliva tricks. (That’s why people who are bitten repeatedly will sometimes find the bites starting to itch.)”

The last 20 years or so this approximates my experience. I get bitten, sometimes more than once by a tick evidently looking for the sweet spot and start to react before the tick attaches. Or maybe the reaction forces the tick to try another location?  Anyway I don’t think I’ve had to remove an embedded tick in quite a while; Thank Goodness!  But boy the bites itch like crazy for @ a week. Sometimes longer.

One of my older brothers got Alpha-gal syndrome back in the nineties or very early 0’s. A real pioneer!. My nieces and nephews tell a funny story about a road trip visit to a Chik Filet that provoked a melt-down expression of loathing for being restricted to chickin. The beef industry could have make a commercial of that. Fortunately for him that allergic reaction has faded over time. He can now eat a burger!

Alpha-gal syndrome

Another one had a bad case of Lyme’s disease. Be grateful for your health and keep your guard up. It’s all no joke! Another friend, a retired commercial forestry consultant now @ 80; wore snake-proof knee high gaiters freshly treated with permethrin every day he was in the field and still got Lyme’s when he was @ 70. He was also seriously ill and suffers some lingering effects.  Seems like they get me when I’ve got my guard down like around the fringes of the yard during the first early warm weather or some situation like that. Maybe a walk in the woods during a warm spell in January. Odd situations.

Speaking of odd it seems that with the arrival of Coyotes in force on the Outer Banks that the populations of various field type mice and the deer populations have been noticeably trimmed and as a result (maybe?) there seem to be quite a few less ticks. A restoration of balance?  I’m about half way through this book right now and can recommend it.

Coyote America

[Author]

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