PPE Series
Living with Lyme The Aftermath of a Tick Bite According to ETW Certified Arborist Felixia Banck By Mara Watts
As a Forest & Nature Technician and European Tree Worker (ETW) certi- fied climbing arborist, Danish arborist Felixia Banck spends most of her time working among the trees and heavy brush — the very place where crawling critters, like ticks, love to hide. And while the risk of a bite was always present, Banck never truly expected to contract the disease, herself. In a hard labor job like tree care, it’s easy to mistake more serious musculoskeletal symptoms for just overusing your muscles. Carrying brush, operating chainsaws, and even prolonged hours on your feet can leave you with aches and strains at the end of the workday. But when Banck began noticing persistent and severe shoulder and neck pain, she decided to request a referral to a physiotherapist. “It wasn’t until my doctor started ask- ing me all kinds of questions like, if I had experienced fevers, headaches, tiredness, visual and sensory distur- bances, and so on — [I realized] I had all of it,” Banck recalled.
An initial blood test was performed and indicated elevated infection numbers. “Then they did another blood test that showed Lyme disease. I was re- ferred to the infectious disease de- partment at the hospital where they did a spinal tap.”
That’s how doctors discovered that Banck had contracted both Lyme disease — caused by the Borrelia bacteria — and tick-borne encepha- litis (TBE), a viral infection caused by flavivrius.
Double infections occur quite fre-
About 80% of Lyme disease cases start with some type of rash at the site of the tick bite, typically appear- ing in areas where the skin folds — such as the armpit, groin, or behind the knee.
ArborTIMES™ Fall 2026 | 25
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