Tick tock goes the clock
The moral of the story:
If you have a rash, get it checked out by a doctor!
I developed an itchy circular (~5 cm dimater) rash on my left side below my armpit early last week. I didn’t think much of it until I noticed two things: 1) it was shaped like a bullseye (nature typically doesn’t play around with that sort of sign!), and 2) it was growing…fast! It had approximatly doubled in diameter in about 4 days.
This picture was taken today, about 9 hours after I began my antibiotic treatment:
Bullseye rash on my left thorax.
Unfortunately this picture doesn’t do justice to the red centre, pale inner ring, and red outer ring appearance. According to the nurse and the doctor I saw this morning, my rash was “Wow! Impressive! I’m glad you came in to see us!” and “Textbook!”, respectively.
Backing up 24 hours, after remembering an entry I read on a friend’s blog posting about ticks in Canada, I had my suspicions. A few minutes of web searching and I was pretty sure I had my culprit — Borrelia Burgdorferi. It goes like this:
- You enjoy the great outdoors.
- You brush up against a plant, some grass, a tree, etc…
- A blacklegged tick inhabiting said plant mistakes your manoeuvre for foreplay and climbs aboard you or your clothing.
- The tick roams around until it finds a suitible place and then:
Boo-Ya! Tick biting human skin (source: Medicinenet.com).
5. In the process, the tick can infect you with our new friend, Borrelia Burgdorferi.
Most (70-80%) infected individuals get a rash like mine above in the early stages of the disease. Getting on antibiotics SOON is essential. If left untreated, symptoms can progress and increase in severity, including:
- neurological disorders,
- chronic fatigue,
- joint and muscle pain,
- heart problems.
Needless to say: go see your doctor!
In addition to the CBC article that Eva posted on her blog, here are some interesting and reliable resources:
- Health Canada’s take on Lyme Disease,
- CanLyme – the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation’s website,
- U.S. Center for Disease Control information.
There has also been a recent, award-winning documentary, called Under Our Skin, which appears to promote awareness of Lyme Disease and the controversy that surrounds it. I haven’t see it but the trailer looks good. If you like that sort of thing.
Lastly, I think I was probably bitten while tromping about in one of the Philadelphia parks (either mountain biking, running, or playing disc golf). I’m not surprised considering this map of reported cases in the U.S. in 2007 (I have added the red dot showing the approximate location of Philly):
Blue dots = reported cases. Philly = red dot. (source: cdc.gov)
I don’t remember getting bitten but apparently it’s pretty common to miss it, and although I try to check for ticks whenever I’ve been out, the young ones at this time of year are especially hard to spot. Moral #2 of the story: make a friend and check each other thoroughly!
Hey Drew,
Glad that you were able to identify your rash as coming from a tick bite and got the proper treatment with antibiotics. What I find more frightening is that sometimes people can get Lyme disease from ticks without a bull’s-eye rash developing. Caveat: sometimes no rash is ever present or sometimes people don’t recall having a rash. Regardless, a lot of doctors/people don’t know that one can have Lyme disease without the expression of a bull’s-eye rash. So, in a way, it’s a good thing when a rash does present.
Eva