Ticks are no joke. This is because ticks can transfer various illness to those who are bitten. These illnesses are so severe that they can cause illness and even death.
One Mississippi mom was recently terrified when her daughter became temporarily paralyzed after being bitten by a tick.
You could imagine the horror Jessica Griffin felt when her daughter collapsed when her feet hit the floor upon waking one morning. The 5-year-old kept trying to stand but couldn’t.
She also had a hard time speaking.
“She woke up yesterday morning to get ready to go to daycare and as soon as her feet hit the floor she fell,” Griffin told ABC News. “She would try to stand and walk but would continue to fall so I thought her legs were just asleep.”
But shortly after that Griffin saw a tick in her daughter’s scalp when she went to put her hair up in a ponytail.
She pulled it out, put it in a plastic bag and rushed to the hospital.
“After tons of bloodwork and a CT of the head UMMC has ruled it as tick paralysis! PLEASE for the love of god check your kids for ticks! It’s more common in children than it is adults!” Griffin said in a Facebook post. “Scary is a UNDERSTATEMENT!”
ABC News reports that tick paralysis is caused by a toxin found in the saliva of a tick.
The symptoms usually go away in about 24 hours after removing the tick.
“I honestly have never even heard of that before,” Griffin said. “Her pediatrician said it had sucked so much over the night that it had gotten that big and released a toxin.”
Thankfully, her daughter regained mobility and was feeling better within 12 hours.
Griffin shared the story of her daughter’s ordeal on Facebook.
That story ended up going viral and was shared more than 499,5999 times.
“My fb has been over flooded with fb messages from all around the US. I had no intentions for that post to go as viral as it has but I’m so glad. Now I know I’m not the only one out there that hasn’t ever heard of TICK PARALYSIS!” Griffin said.
“It’s definitely a thing and we experienced it first hand! Make sure you check those babies in EVERY crease of their body! Kailyn has fully recovered and hasn’t slowed down since her feet hit that floor this morning.”
Learn more about ticks and tick-borne disease from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here.
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