Pain after a tick bite

Introduction

You can catch a tick bite especially when staying outside. The ticks live primarily in tall grass and from there they like to settle down on people passing by. It is particularly easy for them to get bitten by ticks when they appear with bare skin (e.g. with short trousers).

The tick bites the skin with its mouthpiece and starts sucking blood. This process can last several hours. The tick bite itself is usually painless at first and therefore often goes unnoticed. However, it can develop painfully if pathogens are transmitted to humans during the tick bite. The most important diseases transmitted by ticks in Germany are early summer meningoencephalitis (FSME, meningitis) and borreliosis.

Possible causes for pain after a tick bite

Pain after a tick bite can be due to various causes. The tick bite itself is usually painless and is therefore often not noticed. The bite only becomes painful when local inflammation occurs or pathogens are transmitted from the tick to humans.

Local inflammatory reactions can also follow a tick bite, in which there is no transmission of germs. In this case, the typical signs of an inflammation at the bite site become apparent: redness, swelling, overheating and pain. These symptoms usually disappear again within a few days.

The longer the tick is attached, the more pronounced these signs of inflammation become. If, on the other hand, pathogens such as borrelia (bacteria) or TBE viruses are transmitted, the pain after the tick bite can be more pronounced. A Borrelia infection can also be accompanied by a so-called wandering blush.

It is not uncommon for the infection with the bacteria to be completely asymptomatic. In rare cases, borreliosis occurs in the course of the disease, which is accompanied by skin changes, nerve pain, joint problems and brain damage. In 90% of the cases of infection with the TBE virus, no symptoms appear, and flu-like symptoms with headaches, muscle and limb pain rarely occur. The TBE virus can also cause brain damage.