chronic

Tick bite

Treatment options, dosing, cautions and Egyptian brands from the shipped Dawaa Reference card.

Evidence status

Checked against the sources named below

Sources3 sources

ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class SD39.00 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care · Tick Removal - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441855/

Verified against2 documents

No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
Tick bite - disease-level clinical article (tick-bite-clinical.txt)

Verified date2026-08

Presentation reference

Is it this?

Reference only, to read alongside your own examination.

Red flags (1)

Do a full-body inspection after visiting an area of possible tick infestation, paying particular attention to body crevices, hair-bearing areas and children

Signs — what you find (3)

Redness and discomfort at the bite site do not by themselves mean infection - lone star tick saliva alone is irritating [redness]
Signs that the site is infected are redness, warmth, swelling, local tenderness and purulent discharge [local tenderness · pus · redness]
Expanding redness, wheal formation, urticarial reactions or breathlessness point to an allergic reaction to tick saliva rather than infection [breathlessness · redness · urticaria]

Tests (5)

Identify the tick before removing it if possible, because it may not come out intact, and estimate how long it has been attached
Grasp the tick at the mouthparts where it meets the skin, using tweezers or a hemostat - not by the body
Pull directly away from the skin without twisting or jerking; a small patch of skin may come away with it
Removing only the body leaves the mouthparts in the skin, where they are a nidus for infection and harder to remove afterwards
Afterwards, clean the skin, apply a topical antibiotic and a sterile dressing; tetanus prophylaxis is generally not indicated

If not this — what else fits (4)

The brown dog tick is the most widespread tick globally and transmits Rickettsia conorii, the cause of Mediterranean spotted fever in the Mediterranean basin
It is also a vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, which causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever; dogs are its primary host at every life stage
Where the tick has taken a blood meal, which is time-dependent, prophylaxis against tick-borne disease may be indicated in areas of high prevalence
Tick removal has no contraindications, and tick-borne infection is not a complication of the removal itself

SourceStatPearls "Tick Removal" (NBK441855) - the procedure chapter; it covers removal technique and its complications, and the tick species it names are mostly North American

Presentation findings are traced to the source above.

NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (RECOGNITION & REFERRAL)

1st line

Adult dose and duration

Tick bites occur in rural/agricultural areas of Egypt; management is safe tick removal and wound care, watching for signs of tick-borne illness (spotted fever rickettsiosis occurs regionally) rather than routine drug treatment. Lyme disease itself is not established in Egypt. - Refer

Paediatric dose

Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is implied.

Dose source

No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care

Why

Cautions

Fever, rash, or systemic illness after a tick bite suggesting rickettsial infection, which needs antibiotic treatment and further evaluation.
No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to.
RED FLAG - Expanding erythema, wheal formation, urticarial reactions, or dyspnea indicate a systemic allergic reaction to tick saliva.
RED FLAG - Purulent discharge, increasing warmth, and tenderness indicate secondary infection from residual retained mouthparts.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.