Viral Infections—Tick Bites

If you spend time outdoors or have pets that go outdoors, you need to beware of ticks. Ticks are small bloodsucking parasites. Many species transmit diseases to animals and people. Some of the diseases you can get from a tick bite are Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.

Some ticks are so small that they can be difficult to see. Ticks may get on you if you walk through areas where they live, such as tall grass, leaf litter or shrubs.

Tick-borne diseases occur worldwide, including in your own backyard. To help protect yourself and your family, you should

• Use a chemical repellent with DEET, permethrin or picaridin
• Wear light-colored protective clothing
• Tuck pant legs into socks
• Avoid tick-infested areas
• Check yourself, your children and your pets daily for ticks and carefully remove any ticks you find

• Colorado tick fever (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ehrlichiosis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tick bite (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tick paralysis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tick removal (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tularemia (Medical Encyclopedia)

Viruses are very tiny germs. They are made of genetic material inside of a protein coating. Viruses cause familiar infectious diseases such as the common cold, flu and warts. They also cause severe illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, smallpox, and Ebola.

Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells and use those cells to multiply and produce other viruses like themselves. This can kill, damage, or change the cells and make you sick. Different viruses attack certain cells in your body such as your liver, respiratory system, or blood.

When you get a virus, you may not always get sick from it. Your immune system may be able to fight it off.

For most viral infections, treatments can only help with symptoms while you wait for your immune system to fight off the virus. Antibiotics do not work for viral infections. There are antiviral medicines to treat some viral infections. Vaccines can help prevent you from getting many viral diseases.

• ECHO virus (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Enterovirus D68 (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hand-foot-mouth disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Herpangina (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Molluscum contagiosum (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Parainfluenza (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Roseola (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Zika virus disease (Medical Encyclopedia)