As the temperatures start to get warmer and summer inches closer, the kiddos will want nothing more than to run and play outside.
Whether your kid is lounging by the pool, making new friends at summer camp, or simply playing around in the yard, their safety could be at risk. While parents grow concerned about sun exposure and mosquito bites, there’s another warm-weather villain you need to watch out for. This year, all kinds of ticks will be out in full force.
And as one mother learned, not all ticks are created equal. Seed ticks are tiny bugs that can create massive headaches for kids and parents alike.
Beka Setzer and her three-year-old daughter Emmalee were playing in the yard when the concerned mom noticed what she thought to be specks of dirt covering her daughter’s knees.
That’s when she tried brushing the specks off. Oddly, they wouldn’t budge.
Upon closer inspection, Setzer discovered the spots were in fact tiny seed ticks that had attached themselves to the young girl’s knees.
Seed ticks are the larval form of adult ticks and they attach themselves to hosts just like their mature counterparts.
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The worst part is that they tend to show up in massive groups.
When Setzer’s daughter awoke the next day, she was covered in tiny red welts.
Emmalee’s lymph nodes were severely swollen, which sent Mom rushing to the hospital with her little one.
Thankfully Emmalee tested negative for Lyme disease, but as a result of the tick bites, a large cyst on her lymph nodes had to be surgically removed.
(via Mommy Page and Orkin)