An Oregon couple experienced a terrifying moment earlier this month when their 3-year-old temporarily lost the ability to stand, reportedly due to tick paralysis.

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Amanda Lewis posted a chilling video on May 13 of her husband Lantz helping their partially-paralyzed daughter. According to the post, Evelyn started acting strangely the night before, and needed help getting into bed. The next morning, she couldn't even crawl.

Increasingly worried, the Lewises recorded her unusual symptoms before heading to the ER. Luckily the attending doctor had seen similar cases before — less than 10 in over 15 years, according to Amanda. He started combing through through Evelyn's hair and sure enough found a feeding tick hidden on her head.

"I feel awful for not having seen the little bugger sooner but I never would have even thought to look for a tick," Amanda wrote afterward. "It's crazy that a little bug can do this!"

Tick paralysis, while rare, mostly affects children under the age of 10, according to the American Lyme Disease Foundation. The condition occurs when when an egg-laden female bites a human host and transmits a neurotoxin in its saliva.

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American dog ticks carry bacteria responsible for several diseases in humans.

Symptoms like fatigue, numbness and muscle pain can take up to a week to appear, and paralysis usually starts in the extremities before affecting the face and tongue. If untreated, tick paralysis can be fatal, but luckily the cure is as simple as removing the tick. Most people, including Evelyn, begin to recover right away.

"Evelyn is doing much better," Amanda wrote on Facebook. "She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self." The mom posted the video as a warning to other parents, and it soon off, racking up over 500,000 shares in less than two weeks.

"My husband and I are still in shock that this happened to our baby girl and I'm glad we were able to spread some awareness about this," she added as an update. "It's not terribly common for this to happen but it's good to be aware that if your children or pets start having weakness in their limbs to look for a tick!"

While the doctor found a dog tick on Evelyn, deer ticks, Rocky Mountain wood ticks and Lone Star ticks also spread the disease, according to the ALDF. These species live across the U.S., but most cases of tick paralysis occur in the West and South. Like Amanda noted, it can also affect dogs and other animals.

If you ever find a tick on yourself, remove it right away with a pair of tweezers (not heat, petroleum jelly or any other substance). After killing the pest, disinfect the bite wound and watching for symptoms. The parasites spread many types of diseases, so it's important to always check for ticks after spending time outdoors.

[h/t Fox59

From: Good Housekeeping US
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Caroline Picard
Contributing Writer

Caroline is a writer and editor with almost a decade of experience. From 2015 to 2019, she held various editorial positions at Good Housekeeping, including as health editor, covering nutrition, fitness, wellness, and other lifestyle news. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism and dreams of the day Northwestern will go back to the Rose Bowl.