An Ohio man had to have five of his toes amputated after suffering a tick bite during a summer fishing trip.
Tim Rosebrook, from Toledo, is now left with a punch to his right foot after the bite caused an infection that restricted blood flow to the area.
Mr. Rosebrook thought nothing of it when he noticed a tick on his third right toe after the trip last July.
He removed it, but three weeks later the toe changed color – with doctors saying the bite had caused an infection and they had no choice but to amputate.
He looked fine, but four months later he was back in the hospital after another toe changed color.
Tim Rosebrook, of Toledo, had five toes amputated on his right foot after a tick bite became infected. The infection eventually cut off circulation to his toes
Mr. Rosebrook (right) is pictured above with his physician, Dr. Ahmad Younes, a cardiologist at ProMedica in Ohio
Doctors said the bite had caused an infection that damaged and caused his blood vessels to die critical limb ischemia, or when blood flow to extremities such as the toes is restricted.
This leads to a lack of oxygen and nutrients in these areas, with the risk of cell death and problems healing wounds, such as from a tick bite.
Doctors warned that in many cases of this condition they would have to amputate a person’s leg below the knee.
But with Mr. Rosebrook it worked avoid amputating his lower leg after surgery to reconstruct some of his veins, restoring blood flow to most of the affected area.
Mr. Rosebrook described the loss of his third right toe 13ABC: ‘They sent me to Flower (hospital), checked me over there, and before I knew it they took off the third toe.’
When he returned in November with another diseased toe, he said, “That toe they removed right there in my room was so inflamed!”
“In that whole week we went with removing a toe, and then we started working on the veins in the right leg, and the next day they took all the toes.”
During a tick bite, the beast burrows its head under the skin before injecting an anesthetic saliva so that the host does not feel any pain. It then begins to suck blood.
At this point, however, there is also a risk that the tick could transmit dangerous bacteria to a host that could cause an infection.
Dr. Ahmad Younes, a cardiologist at ProMedica in Ohio who treated Mr Rosebrook, said the hospital had declared war on the infection to save their patient.
“We know that patients with critical limb ischemia — which he had — are at high risk for amputations,” he said.
“This is an advanced condition of peripheral arterial disease, where there’s cholesterol plaque in the arteries supplying his foot, and that prevents wound healing if there’s not adequate blood flow.”
The doctor was able to save Mr. Rosebrook’s leg after undergoing surgery to reconstruct some of his veins
He added, “The word we use, I think — we’re going to war to keep this leg on.”
In a warning to others, he said: ‘Not every tick bite causes patients to lose their legs, but we are more careful with patients who have risk factors.
“If they have diabetes, if they have high cholesterol, if they smoke, if they have heart disease, these patients have a higher risk of peripheral arterial disease and we take all of their wounds seriously.”
About 50,000 Americans are bitten by ticks each year, estimates suggest, though it only rarely results in amputations.
However, tick bites are becoming more common as the higher temperatures mean that the bugs remain active longer and spread further north.
Doctors recommend getting treatment for a bite if anyone is concerned, especially if a red bullseye appears around it – indicating Lyme disease.