Tick paralysis is an acute, symmetrical, ascending flaccid paralysis caused by a neurotoxin in the saliva of certain feeding ticks. It is a poisoning, not an infection: in North America, finding and removing the tick usually brings a dramatic recovery within a day or two, while the Australian paralysis tick causes a far more dangerous disease that can kill despite treatment.
Key facts
Tick paralysis at a glance- Species and system: dog (cats, livestock and people can also be affected); peripheral nervous system, neuromuscular junction.
- Cause: salivary neurotoxins from feeding ticks, mainly females. In North America, Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick) and D. andersoni (Rocky Mountain wood tick); in eastern Australia, Ixodes holocyclus.
- Classic presentation: an alert dog with a change in bark and pelvic limb weakness that ascends to flaccid tetraparesis with weak or absent reflexes, while pain sensation is preserved.
- Diagnosis: compatible signs plus a tick (or tick crater), confirmed by improvement after removal.
- Treatment: remove every tick; in Australia add tick antitoxin serum and intensive care.
- Not zoonotic from dog to person, but people (especially children) get tick paralysis from the same tick species.
What's inside
12 sections in the full guide- Key facts
- How the NAVLE tests this
- Cause and pathophysiology
- Clinical signs
- Diagnosis
- Differential diagnoses
- Treatment and management
- Prevention, control and public health
- Prognosis
- Quick review
- Test yourself
- References
The full guide also has 5 tables, 2 figures, 3 self-test questions and 15 references, available to NAVLE members.
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