Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI)- Symptoms, Causes, Complications, And Treatment

Identical to the Lyme disease, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness or STARI. The root cause of the illness is still unknown, although most of the cases of STARI are associated with the bite of a hard tick named Amblyomma americanum or in layman terms lone star tick.

The tick is commonly found in central Texas and Oklahoma eastward which are known as the southern states and also, along the Atlantic coast states.

The population of the tick has increased over 20-30% from the past few years and in all life stages the tick is known for its aggressive nature towards its prey.

Amblyomma americanum or lone star tick comes from a community of ixodid ticks which is also known as the hard tick. The tick usually has four life cycles, named eggs, larva, nymph and adult. The sexualty of the tick usually occurs when the tick finally grows up as an adult.

Like all ixodid ticks, lone star ticks also have only one nymph stage. The ticks usually feed on the rodents, animals and the human blood for survival.

During the first two active stages of life that is larva and nymph, infested their prey for the survival purpose. They usually feed, and leave the prayer when they get full and look for the next host to feed on. But in adults ticks it is little different, especially the female ones.

After mating the female tick infests on the host until repletion, and shelters herself to lay eggs.

The process of reproduction continues in some shelters which are suitable for the tick or known as a microenvironment place. It can be near rotting vegetation, under leaf litter, or some crack or crevice in a natural or man-made shelter.

Most of the hard ticks follow a three host life stage, that is, during each stage of life they infest different types of host. During the larva stage they ingest the blood of small animals like rodents, which sometimes makes them infected with various viruses and bacterial infections that rodents have.

Although that does not affect the life cycle of the tick, it may infect the next host they hunt. During the nymph stage the tick usually lives off small mammals like rabbits or hamsters. It has seen that most of the bacterial diseases have been transferred into the animals.

The third stage of the cycle, that is the adult stage, makes big animals like deer, dogs, cats and even humans their host. They can stay upto three days depending on the gender and ovulation stage in the female ticks.

Not only that, depending upon the type of illness these ticks carry, It can be transferred through contaminated consumables like water or food items made of infected animal skin.

Other forms of transfer include breathing into infected areas or coming in direct or indirect contact with infected bodily fluids like urine, blood, saliva etc.

The most common symptom of STARI is red rash that develops around the site of the bite. The rash may look like a “bull’s-eye” and keep on expanding its radius by the time. Within seven days, the tick can expand to a diameter of upto 8 centimeters (3 inches). The rash mostly come along with other symptoms like:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Muscle ache
• Joint or muscle pains
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Bull’s eye shaped rash on the infected site

The rash can be confused with other types of tick infections that are commonly found in the same location. Also in some cases the rash shows discomforting irritation and redness which does not necessarily mean injection of any bacterial or viral infection.

It is advisable to involve a medical professional to examine the case and conclude the exact results through medical diagnosis.

Patients should be closely monitored for any of the symptoms after the detection of the tick bite. And seek medical attention if any of the signs starts to show up.

Some of the earlier studies have come up with an hypothesis that the root cause of the Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness could be a bacteria named Borrelia lonestari. It is a spiral shaped bacteria which is known for the development of other illnesses like Lyme disease or relapse fever.

However, further research conducted to confirm the hypothesis does not match its original idea. So, the actual reason behind the STARI disease is still unknown to the world.

And since the root cause of the disease is still unidentified, there is no specific medical diagnosis designed to detect its presence into the human body.

STARI is usually diagnosed by the patient's travel history. If the patent is found to be travelled in an geographic location in which the inheritance of lone star tick, your medical advisor may consider the STARI as a possible outcome.

As the location can be infested with other types of ticks and other bacterias may also create the same type of symptoms, Medical professionals often confuse the illness with another tick related disease called the Lyme disease.

Although, studies have shown that the rash caused in STARI is not caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which is known as the root cause for lyme disease. So even though the bacteria does not have an individual diagnosis, the doctors can narrow down the possible outcomes through other examinations.

In fewer cases where the removed tick has been preserved by the patient or the doctor, the diagnosis of the current symptoms become a little more clear.

The root cause of the illness is still unknown. So any outgoing treatment which is used to cure STARI is not medically approved or necessarily beneficial for the patient.

Nevertheless,the symptoms of most of the tick disease have identical symptoms. So the physicians will often try to cure the patients with the help of oral antibiotics like doxycycline which is a common antibiotic.

Luckily the disease does nor show any association with major disease like arthritis or any other neurologic disease neither the symptoms of the disease show any chronic illness.

Depending upon the stage of life and gender of the tick, the lone star tick can sustain itself for up to 7-10 days on your skin. Medical professionals do not allow the patient to go through the Local’s often use bizarre tricks like alcohol, petroleum jelly, or lit match to suffocate the tick.

It is dangerous to the patient as the tick might come under a fight response which may release toxic pathogens into the bloodstream.

The safest way to remove the tiny creature is to use fine-tipped tweezers. Cover your hands with latex or rubber gloves, if not use a paper towel or tissue to cover your fingers. Grab the tick from the closest part of the skin and pull the tick with steady and light-handed motion.

Too much of a hard grip or jerking motion can kill the tick leaving its head parts into the underlayer of the skin, which will be very difficult for an individual to remove without medical help.

After removing the tick, it is instantly in a vacuum bag of ice mentioning the date records and keeping it in a freezer for medical diagnosis, if the infection starts to spread in the bloodstream the tick will help the doctor to identify the root cause speedily which results in early treatment and cure. Use warm water and antibacterial soap to wash your hands and infected area.

Most of the ticks are harmless and bacteria-free, so even if the head or part of the head is still stuck in the skin it will shead off eventually by the skin cells only.

If the part is big, use tweezers or a needle to remove the head parts out of your skin, apply rubbing alcohol to disinfect the skin and the apparatus you used to remove the tick.

Seek medical attention immediately in case of:

• You fail to remove the tick or parts of the tick completely.
• The infected area shows signs of readiness, pain, and swelling after 48 hours of removal.
• Fatigue, nausea, joint or muscle pains, and mild fever started to develop.
• Red and bumpy Rash started to spread on the skin around the wound.

These signs can be an alarming symptom of any viral or bacterial infection that may have been caused due to the infected tick’s bite.

If possible, avoid the areas reported high manifestation of Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness. Wear clothes that cover your whole body, including closed-toe shoes, tucked socks, and long pants along with a fully covered shirt with darker tints and shades. It is hard for ticks to identify darker tones.

For being extra precautionary, wear insect repellent that is effective to keep ticks away. If you are spending time in the forest or near wildlife, do check yourself and your traveling mates or pets for any tick infection before getting indoors. If a tick has embedded in your body, immediately remove it and consult a medical professional for safety purposes.

Since there is no medication available to cure STARI. It is crucial to prevent oneself from bacterial infection. If your work profile requires working in an area with a high-risk presence of lone star tick. these precautions and prevention measures will help you to lessen your chance of getting infected:

1. Protection from bugs and insects:

   The root cause of STARI is still unknown, but most of the common way through which it spread is known as lone star tick. So it is advisable to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants with socks, and a broad-brimmed hat before going in an insect-prone area. This will help you to protect your face, neck, and ankles where these insects bite the most.

2. Check yourself and your pets for ticks bites:

   Remove any tick immediately from you or your pet’s body if you find any.

   Note:follow the manufacturer's directions carefully for any allergic or non suitable compound before using.

3. Take gardening precautions seriously:

   Mostly Home gardeners and professional landscapers are susceptible to get exposed to the bacteria. Preventions like wearing a face mask, gloves, and checking oneself for any bite will help an individual to be protected.

4. Handle animals carefully:

   Animals like wild rabbits or hares can be a potential carrier of the disease, wear protective gloves and goggles before and wash your hands thoroughly after touching the animal.

5. Cook all types of wild meat

   Thoroughly, undercooked meat of an infected animal may cause bacterial illness. Studies have shown that high temperature can kill F. tularensis, so cooking meat at a minimum temperature of 160 F (71.1 C) for ground meat and game meat and Poultry products 165 F (73.8 C) is recommended to sterilize.