Introduction
This post waring of skin burrowing ticks was posted during the earlier years of the 2010’s on May 4th. This post spreads the fear of a tick that quickly burrows inside human skin and moves along the body remaining undetectable. In the post below the viewer is presented with a small tick burrowing into the skin of a human. This post specifically spreads “awareness” to certain American states, claiming that the tick can be found in “Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York” according to Mychael Gallagher the creator of this Facebook post. Although social media can not be seen as the most credible source of breaking news updates. The information shared on these platforms are often left unchecked creating a wildfire of misinformation. In opposition to this information multiple scientific sources discredit the news of ticks burrowing completely into the skin.
Research Results
Amongst researching the credibility of the post displayed above, The first result I found cited from OSF Healthcare Organization which claimed that ticks burrowing under the skin is a myth, directly underneath this statement was the fact that “A tick will feed until it becomes full and then fall off… but the tick does not burrow below the skin.” Upon further research I found more sources disproving the credibility of this statement. Although this post is false, I had done enough burrowing to find where the mix up may have occurred. There is a slight accuracy to ticks burrowing underneath human skin. “Do ticks burrow? Yes. Do they completely move underneath the layers of your skin, crawl around, and spread illness? NO!” As stated by Lyme Disease Central and numerous medical articles it is true that ticks burrow underneath the skin, but not completely. Especially not in the same manner as described in the viral Facebook post.
The accuracy behind this post is that ticks merely penetrate the skin with their head just enough to suck enough blood until they fall off which takes around 10 days to do so. Dave Macchia the editor behind the Lyme Disease Central post believes that this misinformation started on account of CBC news. Seed Ticks were reported. Jennifer Earl of CBC News reported on May 19th, 2017 about a mother sharing her concern with seed ticks that infested her 3-year-old daughters skin. In summary the article stated that Setzer the mother of the three year old assumed that the ticks were at first grass seeds due to the amount and due to the small size of these ticks. She soon found that these “seeds” did not brush off easily and realized they were ticks. After removing the ticks from her daughter the next day her daughter was swollen from the bites and had a raging fever. Hence why the post above may have mentioned unidentifiable ticks that remain throughout the body.
According to Snopes the post was a social experiment to demonstrate how false information can be spread. Mychael Gallagher claimed “This is 100% false. It’s an experiment I did with my daughters. We wanted to see how fake news travels without anyone questioning it…but people still shared away without asking me any questions.” Which gives more evidence as to why certain statements should be fact checked.
Although one might seem to think that widely spread information may be reliable, sharing information without fact checking can lead to ignorance and fear, at times the information may be purposefully false such as the post about burrowing ticks. Proper research prevents confusion and allows those around you to be properly educated.
597 Words.
Works Cited
Palma, B. (2017, May 24). Fact check: Is there a new, rare tick that Burrows under your skin undetected? Snopes.com. Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-tick-burrows/
Pruitt, David, et al. “Ticks: Sorting Myth from Fact to Help Prevent Disease [Infographic].” OSF HealthCare Blog, 27 Nov. 2020, www.osfhealthcare.org/blog/ticks-myth-vs-fact/.
Macchia, Author Dave. “Ticks Cannot Burrow under Your Skin and Move around Undetedted.” Tick Control in Central Mass | Lyme Disease Central Mass, 24 July 2020, lymediseasecentralmass.com/ticks-cannot-burrow-and-move-under-your-skin-undetected/.
Jennifer, Jennifer. “Mom’s Shares Terrifying Photos of 3-Year-Old Covered in ‘Seed Ticks.’” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 19 May 2017, www.cbsnews.com/news/moms-shares-terrifying-photos-of-3-year-old-daughter-covered-in-seed-ticks/.