A few days ago I went hiking. The following three days after at home, I woke with a new bite on me each time. I was wondering if a tick latched onto me or if there was a mosquito around. There were two bites on my arm and one on my leg. I'm not getting the bull's eye rash but I'm starting to feel like I have a cold (but I think it might be an actual cold because I'm sneezing). Advice?
Yes, get tested. There are several dangerous insect-borne illnesses, and there are tests and treatments for them. The severity is always better with early detection.
If you are thinking of Lyme disease, I doubt the tick would bite and let go. They usually feed more than 24 hours. Hopefully you don't have bed bugs biting at night but more than likely those are mosquito bites that are showing up after you've scratched them, or you are getting new mosquito bites, they do occur at home you know. Unless you get sicker and your symptoms warrant it, you don't need to rush off to the doctor because you have a couple bug bites.
Bug bites to worry about: A tick that's been embedded more than a few hours. Spreading bites that could be MRSA. A growing deepening lesion that could be a brown recluse bite. Immediate swelling and anything suggesting an allergic reaction. An infected bite. Anything terribly painful. But honestly, people don't need to panic over every bug bite.
Sure, if she was describing a tick bite. By the way, ticks rarely bite on the arm, they tend to wander around and find the torso or neck.
You do need to keep regional factors in mind. Regional outbreaks of mosquito-borne triple-E (Eastern Equine Encephalitis) and West Nile Virus are a yearly concern in New England. Ticks in areas with a high deer population are much more likely to transmit Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is not limited to the W2stern states. A friend's daughter came down with both in South Carolina a couple summers ago and was seriously ill for several weeks. Edamame spoke of feeling ill. That, along withe the bites she saw, is reason enough to get blood tests, and to check for bites in harder to find places.
Are you familiar with phone triage? Fear mongering on a forum is as bad as bad advice. Go to the doctor for every little thing, never trust a person on the net, yadda yadda. Yes, you need to be choosy about who you trust. But the idea one must run to the doctor because they were concerned enough to tell someone on a forum? Utter bullocks! If she's not feeling well, this also happens to be respiratory illness season. Why should one think a bug bite is connected? As for West Nile, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and so on, good grief! That isn't how they present, and did you bother looking up the incubation periods? And she didn't have a tick bite, she asked if it might be one. No, that's not what they appear as, and, ticks have to feed for hours before they transmit disease. You are being quite ridiculous, @Cogito.
Here, read this: http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/time_to_transmission It takes many hours of a tick sucking on you before diseases are transmitted.
Several insurance companies now do questions over the phone or the computer so that you don't have to go to the doctor for every little sniffle and they can even call in some meds to your pharmacy.
Telephone triage takes the most skilled providers or a good algorithm resource, but one need not see a doctor for every little symptom or concern. Unless you are in a foreign country, the biggest worry of someone you can't physically examine telling you they have a number of "bites" around the same area is MRSA, and it's the kind of MRSA that is easily treated. I might also ask about bed bugs and flea infestations. That will become apparent on it's own and except for extremely rare cases of plague which is endemic in the fleas of jack rabbits and ground squirrels, neither of those insect classes spread much disease.
Bed bug bites are the worst. The itch like hell and they look more like lesions than bites. I was staying at a homeless shelter for awhile and they had an infestation. It actually took awhile for the doctor to figure out what they were. I'll be happy if I never have to deal with those things again.
Thanks for the advice everyone. There have been no further bites and so far two of the bites have mostly healed with the third one on my elbow being stubborn but not getting worse. I'm getting fluids and lots of sleep and so far have had no more extreme symptoms than fatigue and blowing my nose. I was in contact with someone who was recovering with a cold the day after the hike, so that might be it. I was doubting it was a tick bite since I never saw the tick, but I'll watch out and see if my symptoms worsen.
Well said @Cogito! I am glad your rash is getting better @edamame, it's always best to wait and see if possible, but in general, I always advise patients to see a doctor if they are feeling unwell and not getting better with simple treatments like pain relief, over the counter antihistamines or creams, fluids, rest and similar. Also, if a patient is unsure, the best way to reassure them is to examine them and occasionally, do tests to exclude conditions that might be suspected. I hope your cold gets better soon too
