Tick Time

Myrna Ann Tubby, 3, a Choctaw papoose from the reservation at Philadelphia, Miss., was as slack as a rag doll when she was admitted to the Mississippi Medical Center at Jackson. She was completely paralyzed, she did not cry and probably could not have done so even if in pain.

At first doctors thought of poison or polio. But a bright young resident physician, hearing Myrna's parents describe how the paralysis had crept up to her head, remarked: "It sounds like tick paralysis, so be sure to look for a tick." Attendants found an engorged tick embedded in Myrna's hair,, its head deep in her scalp. A doctor sprayed the area with ethyl chloride, which froze the tick so that it could not burrow deeper (as ticks do when disturbed), worked it out with a pair of tweezers, taking care not to break off the head. Within little more than an hour, Myrna was twitching her legs and whimpering. Next day she went home, fully recovered.

Tick paralysis is caused by a venom that the female tick is believed to secrete only when producing eggs. It affects children more severely than adults. Myrna Tubby's tick proved to be Dermacentor variabilis, common in the southeastern U.S. (other areas have closely related species), and superabundant at this season. For parents removing ticks, doctors prescribe: gloves, tweezers, and extreme care to get the tick's head out.

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