Tick Bite Fever

  • Thread starter Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
  • Start date
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
The news in Angling Times this week was that Martin Bowler had been bitten by a tick that had transmitted a dangerous sickness.

Talk to me about Tick Bite Fever.

It is common in Africa and although I never contracted this horrid malaise, my late wife's cousin was on his back in hospital for nearly 12 months after being bitten by a tick.

I have been bitten by them of course and there is nothing so horrifying than to see them swell up to 1 inch across and 2 inches long, full of your own blood!

My recommendation to anglers this summer is to avoid walking about in the undergrowth, especially amongst ferns or bracken wearing shorts. And that goes for the ladies too. Wear sensible bush clothes such as moleskin trousers and high boots. Tuck your trousers into your socks and if you are sleeping at night in a bivvy, make sure your skin is not exposed.

Ticks can jump!

I know people will laugh at me but seriously chaps, tick bite fever is not funny. It has claimed many lives before today!
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
No!

Insect rellent has no effect on them.

Dress properly and forget the silly Pom fashions!
 
D

Deanos

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
872
Reaction score
1
Location
Castleford
I have for a long time been advocating that all males should wear black slip on shoes and white socks (Michel Jackson style) with black ?half mast? trousers tucked into the socks, and perhaps a tank top with a string vest underneath, not so stupid now am I eh!

If all anglers were to put an old pair of shoes on the bottom of some stilts, you could also keep out of the long grass, it would also be good for spotting chub, but only if you wear sunglasses!
 
E

ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)

Guest
I think it's Lymes disease you are talking about Ron ....... Near where I go in Massachusetts it is a big problem --the tics are carried by deer --in fact Bev's nephew has Lymes disease and she has a couple of friends who have it

LYMES DISEASE
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
Lymes disease is another form of tick bite fever. Common to this disease are antelope, eg in the UK and USA - deer.

It doesn't affect all humans. Some have excellent resistance to the bacteria, injected when the tick bites. It seems that I am fairly immune to tick bite fever as I've been bitten on many occasions.

It's quite simple to avoid bites and that is by wearing moleskin trousers inside socks and high bush boots. That will also help you against snake bite. The old British Army had the right idea when the men were made to wear "puttees" in the African bush.

Now that climate change and global warming is a fact, expect many manifestations of the bite of ticks in the near future.

And after this wet summer, conditions for the prevelance of ticks will increase.
 
Y

yoggy

Guest
I`ve had 2 problems with ticks. One when I was in the forces and the second time was when my poor old black Lab Sam managed to get one right on top of his head. It was bloody huge. I finally got rid of it by burning it with the tip of my fag!!!!.

Ps, Sam didn`t get hurt!!.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
I've never tried them Ray.

Ticks have a proboscis which they plunge into your flesh; it is barbed and difficult to pull out. I used to try and pull out ticks from my poor old pussy cat - called "Fat Cat" who loved to prowl in the wet long grass. He would often come into the house covered in the bloody things; that's right, they were full of his blood.

I am sure he died due to tick bites.

Before becoming engorged, a tick is quite small, say about a 1/4 of an inch long. But by golly they can grow 20 times that big when they start sucking your blood.

You can't feel them bite because they inject a pain deadening protein, but you get the shock of your life when you see this huge appendage hanging from your leg.

It takes a lot of messing about to remove that horrid little barbed needle they have. It's easy to leave it in which can cause major problems.

Ticks are horrid I can assure you.
 
P

Paul (Brummie) Williams

Guest
Yoggy....sheep ticks?....dig em out with a sterilised needle? :)


Ron....a five inch Tick??? best not get one in my todger!...it would be all Tick and no Richard!
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
20 times by volume Brummie, not 20 times longer!

The biggest tick I ever saw would have been about 3 inches long, and it was hanging from the neck of a buffalo in the Kruger National Park.
 
Mithrandir

Mithrandir

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 28, 2006
Messages
123
Reaction score
0
Location
Poole
smear a tick in vaseline. this blocks their breathing spirricules and they drop away from you, takes about 20 minutes and does not leave the jaws in you that can go septic.

Lymes disease is far more common than you think, but if treated in the first few days can easily be dealt with, my brother contracted it from a tick bite and ignored it, he has been ill for 7 years since and will never fully recover.

if you get a bite that swells and gets a purplish ring around so it looks a bit like a bullseye, GO TO YOUR DOCTOR AND GET SOME TREATMENT, it is only a course of pills and could save you a lifetime of suffering
 
E

ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)

Guest
I wouldn't mind a tock 3 inches long .....
 
E

Evan

Guest
I had a client who contracted Lymes disease and I did a lot of research on it at the time; couple of years ago now, so perhaps out of date, but for what it is worth:

Vaseline trick a top tip from Mithrandir, you HAVE to get them to let go and no rip them off or ciccy burn (good for leeches, but not these buggers) as otherwise the jaws get left in your skin and fester.

Distribution was mainly in the new forest / Ringwood area, so if fishing the Avon the old tucked in trousers trick is important. Plus some in the Norfolk / Peterborough sort of area if I remember correctly. Specially high risk anywhere with a high wild deer population. And they WILL spread all over the country, no stopping them now, even if it takes a number of years.

Look on the bright side, all those be-shorted backpackers who got the right to roam..... :) Nature and Darwin's way to cull the least fit of the species.....

PS. Very one sided reporting in my humble opinion.... they entirely failed to say what it was that the tick got from Bowler..... !



(Not serious, get well soon x)
 
G

Graham Davies

New member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
I had tick bite fever when I lived in South Africa,I have never felt so ill in all my life!!!!!
I hated the little swines more than the snakes that thought they lived in my house!!!
G
 
Grumpy Git @

Grumpy Git @

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,099
Reaction score
1
Location
Sunny Swindon
Question?? Could you be unaware that you have been bitten by a tick?

Read the article about Martin Bowler in AT and showed the missus who has been suffering from the same symptoms for the last four weeks, walks the dog in local woods and fields.

Quacks have been saying it's all in her head. She maintains that's true, she has a permanent headache, dizziness, photo sensitivity the lot, but is not aware of being bitten by a tick.

Edit: We have plenty of deer in the woods around here.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

Guest
Never had a problem with snakes Graham, although I saw plenty. Thankfully, the vast majority of African snakes are timid and avoid humans. It was the tiny biting things like ticks that worried me, and although I have been bitten by ticks on several occasions, I never contracted fever.

The worst for me was malaria and bilharzia. Bilharzia put me on my back for 3 weeks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top