It depends on the disease. Lyme disease generally requires 36–48 hours of attachment. But other tick-borne illnesses, including Powassan virus, can transmit in as little as 15 minutes. The safest course is to remove any tick as soon as you find it.
You’ve probably seen headlines about tick-borne illness, which unfortunately, makes every encounter with a tick at least a little frightening. It’s reasonable to worry about tick-borne illness, but the good news is that you have more power than you think to prevent it.
You’ll most often hear something like “a tick needs to be attached for 36–48 hours to make you sick.” For Lyme disease, that’s mostly true. It takes a while for ticks to transmit Lyme disease and if you remove the tick in the first 24 hours, your odds of falling ill are very low.
But there are some tick-borne diseases that spread faster than 36–48 hours. The fastest is Powassan virus, which has been detected in blacklegged ticks across Minnesota. It can transmit within 15 minutes of attachment. It’s rare, but it’s serious and can cause inflammation of the brain with no specific treatment.
Anaplasmosis, another disease carried by blacklegged ticks in Northeast Minnesota, can be transmitted faster than Lyme as well. Research suggests transmission may begin within 12–24 hours of attachment. Symptoms include fever, headache, and muscle pain, and it can become severe without antibiotic treatment.
Similarly fast are Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. You can catch these from American dog ticks, which are very common in Northeast Minnesota. These also do not take 36–48 hours to transmit.
In day-to-day living, though, you don’t need a deep understanding of these illnesses. If you find a tick, remove it as quickly as you can with fine-tipped tweezers. Grasp the tick close to the skin and pull up with steady pressure. Don’t twist, crush, or burn it. Then wash with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. If you develop a rash, fever, or flu-like symptoms in the days or weeks following a tick bite, see a doctor and mention the bite.
If you'd like to reduce tick populations on your Northeast Minnesota property, Mosquito Squad of NE Minnesota can help. Mosquito Squad treats the wooded edges, ground cover, and shaded areas where ticks wait for hosts, reducing populations by up to 90% with technician visits every 21 days through the active season.
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