The association of ticks as vectors of infection with the illnesses they may cause. Ticks are not technically insects, but are in the arachnid group, which also includes mites, spiders, and scorpions. Each tick has a single segment body and harpoon-like barbs on its mouth that enable it to attach to a person for feeding on that person’s blood. Other features of the tick, including a sticky substance it secretes and clinging, crablike legs, enhance the tick’s ability to latch onto a person or animal. In addition to humans, potential hosts for ticks include all wild birds and mammals, as well as domestic pets.
Ticks are tiny creatures with eight legs that consume blood and can potentially spread diseases to humans through their bites. Before feeding, they are approximately 3 mm in length but expand when engorged with blood. You may encounter ticks in environments like tall grass, underbrush, forests, or caves.
In the United Kingdom, Lyme disease is the sole illness known to spread to humans through tick bites. Globally, ticks can transmit a range of other diseases, such as relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, tularaemia, tick typhus, and specific kinds of viral encephalitis. Additionally, the extended bite from certain female ticks can lead to tick paralysis. This condition occurs when a toxin in the tick’s saliva impairs the nerves responsible for motion. In severe instances, this reaction to a tick bite can be life-threatening.