Little girl temporarily paralyzed from tick bite
GRENADA, MISSISSIPPI — A 5-year old Mississippi girl was temporarily paralyzed after getting tick bite during one of her T-ball games.
Kailyn Kirk was fine after her game, but when she woke up the next morning she couldn't walk.
When her mother Jessica Griffin — who posted about the incident over Facebook — started combing through Kailyn's hair, she noticed a tick in her scalp.
After consulting with her husband, who is currently deployed in Iraq, she put the tick in a ziplock bag and rushed Kailyn to the hospital.
At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Kailyn had some blood work and a CT scan. Doctors later diagnosed her with tick paralysis.
Tick paralysis is caused when female ticks bite someone on the scalp or at the nape of the neck, and release a toxin from their saliva. Tick paralysis is normally very sudden — within 24 hours.
To treat tick paralysis, the tick only needs to be removed. People usually recover within a day.
According to her mom, Kailyn was a champ through the whole ordeal. She even walked out of the hospital by herself later that evening.
Kailyn Kirk was fine after her game, but when she woke up the next morning she couldn't walk.
When her mother Jessica Griffin — who posted about the incident over Facebook — started combing through Kailyn's hair, she noticed a tick in her scalp.
After consulting with her husband, who is currently deployed in Iraq, she put the tick in a ziplock bag and rushed Kailyn to the hospital.
At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Kailyn had some blood work and a CT scan. Doctors later diagnosed her with tick paralysis.
Tick paralysis is caused when female ticks bite someone on the scalp or at the nape of the neck, and release a toxin from their saliva. Tick paralysis is normally very sudden — within 24 hours.
To treat tick paralysis, the tick only needs to be removed. People usually recover within a day.
According to her mom, Kailyn was a champ through the whole ordeal. She even walked out of the hospital by herself later that evening.
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