Tick bite – what to do if a tick bites

Tick bite prevention

Tick bites are best prevented by wearing protective clothes and performing tick bite inspections regularly. When walking in a natural environment, it is a good idea to wear high boots, long-sleeved trousers and a long-sleeved shirt and to wear your socks over the trouser legs. Wearing light-coloured clothing makes it easier to detect ticks.

Regular tick checks

Tick checks should be made at least once a day. If you move outdoors a lot, you should perform the check a couple of times a day. The risk of a tick infection is significantly smaller if the tick is detected at an early stage. In a tick inspection, it is advisable to carefully examine the bends of your arms and feet and behind your ears. It is also a good idea to run your fingers through your scalp.

Tick bites may occur in warm autumns up to even November, so it is good to continue the checks after the summer season. Ticks may be transported indoors in the fur of pets and transferred to a person, so it is also worth performing a tick check after your pet has been outdoors.

However, tick-borne encephalitis may transmit immediately after the tick has burrowed itself into your skin within a couple of minutes and, in order to prevent it, a daily check is not enough. Anyone who moves in an area that involves the risk of tick-borne encephalitis is advised to get TBE vaccinated.

Ticks on the skin – what to do

Once a tick becomes attached to your skin, it must be removed as quickly as possible. The easiest way to remove a tick is to use a lasso-like instrument or a pair of thin tweezers in order to get a good grip of the tick as close to the skin as possible.

Tick removal:

In some cases, the tick’s proboscis may remain in the skin. However, this usually does not cause any harm and the part of the tick left in the skin will be removed spontaneously over time.

Tick bite marks

Tick bite marks can vary, but they often look like a ring-shaped pattern with red borders and a light centre. Sometimes the bite mark may also be a uniform, reddish patch. Such expanding redness may indicate a Lyme disease infection and it is important to seek medical attention.

A tick bite mark may be difficult to detect or distinguish from other insect bites or stings if the tick has been removed from the skin. Anaesthetic substances are secreted with the tick’s saliva, which is why you cannot feel the "hooks" of the tick’s proboscis when the tick sucks blood.

Tick bite symptoms

Once the tick has been removed or a bite mark has been detected, the area of the skin should be monitored every few days to see if there are any symptoms. The easiest way to do so is to write down the date and location of the bite or to take a photo of the bite.

Once a tick burrows into the skin, a small red area is likely to appear, just like in the case of other insect bites. This reaction can be alleviated with an antihistamine like cetirizine, for example.

When should I see a doctor if I have been bitten?

You do not automatically need to see a doctor immediately due to a tick bite. Only a few percent of ticks spread the disease, so a bite does not automatically mean that you have been infected. A tick bite can also be initially assessed remotely at Digital Clinic.

You should see a doctor if you experience the following after a tick bite:

• Spreading rash: A rash accompanied by a circular or an even flush with a diameter of at least 5 cm from the bite area begins to develop on the skin. In this case, Lyme disease is suspected.
• Lymphocytoma: A red or blue soft lymphocytoma, a benign tumour, appears on the skin.
• Cold-like symptoms: Approximately 7–28 days after a tick bite, you will experience cold-like and vague symptoms. These may be symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE).
• Nervous system symptoms: You suffer from a severe headache, neck stiffness or neurological symptoms such as balance disorders, convulsions or symptoms of paralysis.

Information about ticks and diseases caused by ticks

A tick is a small arthropod which belongs to the arachnids. Approximately 1,500 species of ticks have been found in Finland. Among the tick species, Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus spread diseases, the most common of which are:

• Lyme disease. A disease caused by Borrelia bacteria. The onset of the “wandering flush” (erythema migrans) associated with Lyme disease only occurs several days, weeks or even months after the tick bite.
• Tick-borne encephalitis, or TBE virus. A virus-induced disease that typically has two phases. The vague and cold-like symptoms of the first phase begin approximately 7 and 28 days after the tick bite, after which the symptoms pass. One third of patients then develop nervous system symptoms, such as a headache, neck stiffness or balance problems.

Life stages of ticks

A tick lives for about 2–4 years and has three stages of development: larva, nymph and adult. The tick eats blood so that it can progress to the next stage. The tick is 1–5 mm in size at different stages of development, but if it ingests blood, it can swell up to 10 mm.

Habitat of ticks

Ticks occur particularly in the southern archipelago and coastal areas. However, you can get a tick bite on a lakeside and along the coast of the North Gulf of Bothnia, all the way to Lapland.

Ticks start to move in the spring when the temperature rises above 5°C. Depending on the temperature, they can be on the move from April–May to October–November. Ticks usually thrive in humid environments with lots of vegetation. Such terrain includes, for example, bogs, field edges, tall grass and bushes.