The incubation period after a tick bite_How long is the incubation period after a tick bite

How long is the incubation period after a tick bite?

The most common ticks are the ones with a hard shell on their backs, called hard ticks. There are also soft ticks without shells. There are many different types of ticks. If you are bitten by a tick, you may experience some discomfort in your body, such as fever, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and other adverse symptoms. There is an incubation period after a tick bite before adverse symptoms appear. How long is the incubation period after a tick bite? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. How long is the incubation period after a tick bite?

The incubation period is generally 7-14 days (9 days on average). The disease starts acutely, with the main symptoms being fever (mostly persistent high fever, up to 40°C or above), general discomfort, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, as well as nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, etc. Some patients also have cough and sore throat. Physical examination shows apathy and relatively slow pulse, and a few patients may have superficial lymphadenopathy and rash. It may be accompanied by damage to the functions of multiple organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys, and corresponding clinical manifestations.

2. Introduction to ticks

Ticks (pronounced pí) belong to the order Parasitic Acarina and the superfamily Ixodidae. Adults have a strongly chitinous shield on the back of their bodies, commonly known as hard ticks, belonging to the Ixodidae family; those without a shield are commonly known as soft ticks, belonging to the Ixodidae family. There are about 800 species discovered in the world, including more than 700 species of hard ticks, about 150 species of soft ticks, and 1 species of Nasciuridae. There are about 100 species of hard ticks and 10 species of soft ticks recorded in my country. Ticks are temporary parasites on the surface of many species of vertebrates and are the vectors and reservoir hosts of some zoonotic diseases. In the summer of 2010, many people in Shangcheng County, Henan Province, were bitten by ticks and died, causing panic among villagers. Deaths occurred in the area as early as 2009, but the number was particularly high in 2010, making it a "severely affected area" by ticks.

3. Searching for a host

How ticks search for hosts: Ticks have a keen sense of smell and are very sensitive to animal sweat odor and carbon dioxide. They can sense when they are 15m away from the host, and they change from passive waiting to active waiting. Once they come into contact with the host, they will climb up. For example, the adult Ixodes persulcatus ticks that live in forest areas often gather at the tips of grass on both sides of the path and the tops of shrub branches and leaves to wait when looking for a host. When the host passes by and comes into contact with it, it will crawl onto the host. The Asian Hyalomma ticks that live in desert areas mostly move on the ground and actively look for hosts. The tick species that live in livestock pens mostly look for hosts on the ground or climb up walls and wooden pillars.