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A few days ago 3-year-old Emma was playing in the garden behind the house. Her mother, Beca Setzer, called her inside. When the little girl changed clothes, she noticed small black “dots”.
“I thought they were some kind of seeds or grains of sand. When I tried to wipe them off, I looked closer. They were tiny ticks!” said Setzer.
After several minutes of removing them, she collected around 150 nymphs (a tick stage). The woman bathed the child and gave her antihistamines.
The next day
The next day the little girl woke up and had bites all over her body. She also had swollen lymph nodes and a fever. Her mother immediately drove her to the hospital, where they tested her for Lyme disease and started aggressive antibiotic treatment. Fortunately the Lyme test was negative.
Warning
“I want to warn other parents so they know what to watch for. I myself have never encountered nymphs and had no idea they could be so small. Everywhere they show what an adult tick looks like. If by sharing my experience I save even one child, I will consider that a huge success!” wrote Setzer.
