Western Banders Association

TICKS MAKE ME CROSS! - Wes Bancroft

It seems to me that one of the unspoken rights of passage into bird banding is a little epidermal irritation as handed out by sneaky little eight-legged parasites. Nobody formally sits you down and informs you of this practice, for I'm sure that it might sway the odd bander to choose a lifestyle free of itchiness.

Yes. Ticks make me cross. I think, most of all, that's because they're sneaky.

They don't set out to wreck your day's banding then and there, rather they climb into your socks and wait for the drive home before they launch their all-out on any bit of skin they can find. Then they can wreck your night's sleep and the subsequent days, weeks or months of your life.

I guess, however, that ticks are somewhat of a social lubricant; in as far as it doesn't matter who you are talking to, you can always share a whinging session about how many tick bites you have. Ticks are not sexist, racist, ageist or classist. They just bite everyone.

But with the problems also come bragging rights - I've heard some pretty impressive stories about ticks. The most number of bites on a single person at a single time is 94. I can't begin to imagine how itchy that'd be. As for the best 'location' of a bite…well, lets just say that ticks can get where only your most intimate associates may dare to venture. I won't go there.

So, fuelled by agitation towards these Acari, I did a little research. If we understand the enemy, then maybe we can beat them (or at least persuade them to bite someone or something else).

Ticks - know your enemy!

Ticks belong to the order Acari (mites and ticks) within the class Arachnida (spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks) of the phylum Arthropoda (includes insects, millipedes, centipedes, crabs and shrimp). They are blood-sucking ectoparasites and pretty much any old blood-filled vertebrate host will do. Ticks have four life stages: egg, larva, nymph, and adult. A larva only has six legs, but gains an extra pair when it moults to the nymph stage. Nymphs have no sex differentiation, this is only present in adult ticks, and it is the adult female that requires a blood meal in order to lay eggs.

Ticks 'lurk' at, or just above, ground level (often in the vegetation), where they wait for their next meal to walk by. They use their forelimbs to feel for the host which can also be detected using carbon dioxide, scent and body heat.

Ticks in Australia

There are some 59 species of tick in Australia in two families, the Ixodidae (hard ticks) and Argasidae (soft ticks). I tried to find the latin and/or common name (and some general biological information) of the ticks that we encounter here in Western Australia. Six library books and a search of the internet later I still had no clue. If anyone can give me a lead as to where else to look then I would appreciate it. The only tick that regularly popped up was the Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) - an Eastern States species that secretes a neurotoxin in its saliva that causes a progressive, and occasionally fatal, paralysis.

Prevention is better than cure

It's simply easier to not to get bitten, than to remove a tick and deal with the bite. I first met ticks in Whiteman Park when I was working with Mike Bamford. Prior to throwing ourselves into the Woollybush, Mike advised me to tuck my shirt into my pants, and my pants into my socks. Which, being the image-conscious (and naïve!) young biologist that I was, I promptly ignored. Six ticks later that day I chose to heed the advice of my experienced elders, regardless of how it makes you look.

The Lyme Disease Foundation (http://www.lyme.org/ticks/personal.html), and The University of Sydney (http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/venom/spiders.html) recommend the follow steps be taken to avoid tick encounters:

I've heard that smothering yourself in diesoline keeps the ticks at bay, but I certainly don't recommend trying it.

Cure is better than lyme disease!

OK, so you've done your best, but you've still found a tick attached to you. What do you do? It seems that there's a wide range of methods for extracting ticks.

Tick's mouthparts have reverse harpoon-like barbs, designed to penetrate and attach to skin and they secrete a cement-like substance that helps them adhere firmly to the host (http://www.lyme.org/ticks/removal.html). How do we combat this? I found the following at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention website under 'Lyme disease' (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/Prevention.htm):

"Folklore Remedies Don't Work! Folklore remedies, such as the use of petroleum jelly or hot matches, do little to encourage a tick to detach from skin. In fact, they may make matters worse by irritating the tick and stimulating it to release additional saliva or regurgitate gut contents, increasing the chances of transmitting the pathogen. These methods of tick removal should be avoided. A number of tick removal devices have been marketed, but none are better than a plain set of fine tipped tweezers."

The University of Sydney agrees: "Many people have sought means to induce them [ticks] to 'let go' by themselves, or at least to cause them to 'relax their grip'. These have included putting metho, turps, kero or similar on the tick, or spraying with insecticide, or even touching the tick with a lighted match. Any of these are potentially hazardous to the patient because they can induce spasm in the tick and may cause it to inject more venom (as well as the possibility of skin reactions or burns)…

These days most people recommend gripping the tick as near to the head as possible with a very pointy pair of tweezers or forceps… Never grip the sac and pull! This may squeeze more venom in, or break it off and leave the head and 'torso' firmly stuck, which is likely to get infected… Remember, DO NOT try to pull the tick out by gripping the end part of the body! This almost always breaks off and fails to remove the head and legs."

Lyme Disease

The following is paraphrased from the Lyme Disease Foundation website, http://www.lyme.org/ (who SHOULD know all about it).

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdoferi (named after its discoverer Willy Burgdorfer, PhD, MD). These spirochetes are maintained in nature in the bodies of wild animals and can be transmitted from one animal to another through the bite of an infective tick.

Signs and symptoms of early Local Lyme Disease often starts with flu-like feelings of headache, stiff neck, fever, muscle aches, and fatigue. A rash usually appears as a small, reddish bump and soon expands outward, often leaving a clearing (normal flesh colour) in the centre. It can enlarge to the size of a thumb-print or cover a person's back.

Some people do not notice these early indicators of infection. Early manifestations usually disappear, and disseminated (other organ system involvement) infection may occur. Symptoms include (I picked out the most graphic!): nerve conduction defects (weakness/paralysis of limbs, loss of reflexes, tingling sensations of the extremities - peripheral neuropathy), meningitis, stroke, abnormal brain waves or seizures, sleep disorders, cognitive changes (memory problems, behavioral changes (depression, personality changes), panic attacks, disorientation, hallucinations, extreme agitation, impulsive violence, dementia, double vision, blindness, irregular heartbeat, myocarditis, chest pain, mild liver function abnormalities, difficulty breathing, pneumonia, nausea, vomiting, miscarriage and premature birth. Whew!

References

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/Prevention.htm
http://www.lambiek.net/wang_s.htm
http://www.lyme.org/
http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/anaes/spiders.html - TICKS
Lee, D. C. and Southcott, R. V. 1980. Spiders and Other Arachnids of South Australia. South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA.
Roberts, F. H. S. 1970. Australian Ticks. CSIRO, Yeerongpilly, Queensland.
Ruppert, E. E. and Barnes, R. D. 1994. Invertebrate Zoology. Saunders College Publishing, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Taylor, F. H. and Murray, R. E. 1946. Spiders, Ticks and Mites, Including the Species Harmful to Man in Australia and New Guinea. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sydney.