What does a tick do when it bites a person? - briefly
A tick inserts its barbed mouthparts into the skin, releases saliva that prevents clotting and may contain disease‑causing agents, then feeds on the host’s blood.
What does a tick do when it bites a person? - in detail
When a tick attaches to human skin, it first inserts its hypostome—a barbed feeding organ—into the epidermis and dermis. The mouthparts anchor securely, preventing detachment while the insect expands its body with each blood meal.
Saliva released at the bite site contains several bioactive compounds:
- Anticoagulants (e.g., apyrase, factor Xa inhibitors) keep blood flowing.
- Immunomodulators suppress local immune responses, reducing inflammation and itching.
- Analgesic peptides diminish pain, allowing the tick to feed unnoticed for hours to days.
These substances create a microenvironment that facilitates prolonged ingestion of blood. During the feeding period, the tick can acquire or transmit pathogens such as Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (anaplasmosis), and Rickettsia spp. Transmission typically requires several hours of attachment, as pathogens migrate from the tick’s salivary glands into the host’s bloodstream.
The feeding cycle proceeds through distinct phases:
- Attachment – mouthparts penetrate skin; cement-like secretions harden to secure the tick.
- Engorgement – blood intake increases the tick’s weight up to 100‑fold; the abdomen expands visibly.
- Detachment – after completion, the tick releases its cement and drops off.
Removal should be performed with fine‑point tweezers, grasping the tick as close to the skin as possible and pulling upward with steady pressure. Avoid crushing the body to prevent saliva spillage, which could increase infection risk.
Symptoms following a bite may include a small, painless erythema at the attachment site, sometimes developing into a characteristic expanding rash (erythema migrans) in Lyme disease. Systemic signs—fever, fatigue, muscle aches—can appear days to weeks later, indicating possible pathogen transmission.
Prompt extraction and monitoring for clinical signs are essential for reducing complications associated with tick bites.