As People Start Venturing Outside More, Prepare for Tick-Bite Presentations

If not technically a pandemic, cabin fever is definitely running rampant across the U.S. Especially now that the weather is warmer, social distancing restrictions are relaxing a bit, and school years are ending, people are aching to get outside. Ticks await, ready to feast—and you need to be ready to assess for various associated diseases and provide care as needed. One challenge is that patients may complain of symptoms but not mention that they’ve been in an area where they could have been exposed to ticks, or even know that they’ve been bitten. It would be advisable, then, to ask them if they’ve been outdoors lately if they exhibit new onset of certain symptoms (eg, neurologic, arthritic) and consider tick-borne diseases in the differential. JUCM published a comprehensive article on diagnosing and treating Lyme disease and other illnesses transmitted by ticks. You can read Urgent Care Diagnosis and Management of Tick-Borne Diseases in our archive.