CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) — A Tennessee Valley mother has a warning for parents after she said her toddler became paralyzed by a tick bite.
A similar case was reported in Mississippi over the summer.
Cayla Bailey said her daughter Natalie Bailey, 2, woke up Sunday and couldn't stand.
"When I bribed her with food and she wouldn't stand up or walk I knew then that something was absolutely wrong. That's when we went straight to the emergency room," Bailey said.
Doctors didn't know what was wrong until Natalie's grandmother found a tick in the toddler's hair.
"She took her hair down to start rubbing her head to try and calm her down and she found the tick and it was about that big around. It was a pretty big tick, so the fact that we all missed it," Bailey added.
Bailey said doctors identified it as an American Dog Tick. The Centers for Disease Control reports it's one of the most common in our area, with the adult females known for biting humans.
"They kept saying that there was this new strain of tick toxin and it was causing paralysis in children in the lower extremities," Bailey said, "It would have caused paralysis all the way up her body and it would have stopped her heart."
Hamilton County Health Department's Director of Environmental Health Bonnie Deakins said tick bites often cause flu-like symptoms like headache, fever and a rash that resembles a bulls-eye anywhere from a couple of hours to a month after being bitten.
She said if you start showing symptoms to see a doctor immediately.
"Ticks can be anywhere but what happens sometimes is they'll get in a place on your body that you're not used to looking for," Deakins added.
Several hours after removing the tick, Natalie was able to walk again.
Bailey isn't sure where exactly the tick came from but said she now keeps a closer eye on her children and pets after this scare.
"She started walking around the ward and it was heartbreaking but it was also a relief," Bailey said.
Click HERE for more information about how to protect yourself from ticks.