Hi kipper49,
Wood ticks can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick
fever, tularemia, and tick paralysis. How is your bite? If there is
any redness or swelling at all, it would be prudent to visit your
doctor for treatment.
Some health departments will accept a tick or bird for analysis. I
don?t know where you live, but below is an example site, from
Stratford, Connecticut. Whether or not you live in an area endemic for
the above mentioned diseases may determine if your county or city does
vector testing.
http://www.townofstratford.com/health/fiightbite.shtm
Whether or not your local health department will accept a frozen
specimen depends also on what kind of assay is used to determine the
presence of organisms. Some labs use a culture, which may require a
live specimen, and others may use an antibody or ELISA test. If you
had no untoward health problems from the tick, the health department
may consider it unneccesary to test.
Your best bet would be to call your local health department and ask if
they will accept a frozen tick for testing. Try using www.google.com
and enter
Health department + "your county"
This should return your local information. Give them a call and see if
they will accept your tick. (You may be required to ship the tick on
dry ice!) Please take care of your bite site!
Regards,
crabcakes |