SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — It’s that time of year when bugs of all kinds are chirping away, but even the smallest creatures, can be harmful.
The Carr family is still in shock after their 4-year-old daughter Ruby nearly died after being bitten by a tick.
“She laid around for two days before it really started creeping up,” said Ruby’s father, Brian Carr.
“From a clumsy falling down to the inability to turn her head from side-to-side,” said Ruby’s grandmother, Karen Carr.
A trip to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters’ emergency room led them to a scary diagnosis: tick paralysis.
“It’s very rare in our area and it’s something to do with the female tick,” the grandmother said.
“It gives off this neuro-toxin that’s in the saliva of the tick and that’s what causes the paralysis,” said pediatric neurologist and former governor, Dr. Ralph Northam.
Northam said the paralysis begins in the legs and then makes its way up the body.
“Eventually, we’ll get to the point where a child can’t walk or sit up, they are pretty much bedridden,” Northam said.
The tick that causes this is tiny. There are more than 40 different kinds of ticks, and the American dog tick is one that can cause tick paralysis.
“I’ve grown up in the woods,” the father said. “You see them big, and the animals are still getting around like normal, but you turn around and one the size of a pea almost takes my daughter down.”
The tick was latched to Ruby’s scalp.
“As soon as the tick is removed, as was the case for little Ruby, the child starts getting better within hour,” Northam said.
Northam said even across Hampton Roads, they only see a couple of these cases a year, and sometimes it can be misdiagnosed for other neurological illnesses, so it’s always best to see a doctor, something this family is glad they did.
“If one little tick got this little girl, you know there’s more than one out there,” the grandmother said.
Ruby is expected to make a full recovery.
To learn more about tick paralysis and other tickborne diseases, click here.