2018 Volume 80 Issue 4 Pages 362-367
We examined 30 cases (15 males and 15 females aged between 1-88 years) affected by tick bites who were treated at Okayama Medical Center in the fiscal year 2014. We removed ticks in 17 cases, and in the other 13 cases the ticks were removed by the patients themselves. We tried to remove ticks using a tick removal tool (Tick Twister®) as much as possible. However, we removed ticks along with the affected skin by excision in cases where a tick could not be removed using the tick remover. We attempted to remove ticks using the tick remover in 14 patients and we successfully removed the ticks in 12 patients. All the ticks removed using the tick remover preserved their mouth-parts without any damage. One of the two cases in which we could not remove the tick using the tick remover was affected by Ixodes ovatus. In the other case, more than 3 days had passed since the tick bite occurred. The species could be identified for each of the 21 ticks that we submitted for species identification and comprised Amblyomma testudinarium (13 ticks), Haemaphysalis longicornis (7 ticks), and Ixodes ovatus (1 tick). Some cases developed indurations on the affected site. One case developed erythema migrans and was diagnosed as having tick-associated rash illness. No systemic complications or tick-borne infectious diseases were experienced. We thought that the tick remover was useful for treating tick bites because it could remove the ticks easily and safely without major complications.