惊悚！小女孩半瘫哭喊站不起来 送医梳头揪出神秘小虫
▲小女孩突然出现半身瘫痪的症状，送医检查后才发现是壁虱搞的鬼。（图／翻摄自「Amanda Lewis」脸书）
每年到了初夏，就是各种蚊虫纷纷作怪的时节，家里有小孩、毛小孩的爸妈务必要注意自家宝贝的身体状况。美国一名小女孩突然出现半瘫症状，送医后才得知是一只藏在头发里的小虫在搞鬼。
美国的春夏之交正值壁虱（tick，又称蜱虫、扁虱）活跃时期，路易斯（Lewis）一家住在奥勒冈州，这一区并不是典型的壁虱分布区，以至于当3岁小女儿伊芙琳出现症状时，路易斯夫妻一时之间完全不知所措。
妈妈亚曼达PO出一段影片，他们先是发现伊芙琳洗完澡后，呈现奇怪的姿态，看起来不太想站起来，她原本不以为意，安抚她睡觉之后，隔天一早状况仍然没有好转，她完全无法靠自己的力量站起来，画面中的爸爸扶着她，但她不断哭喊着跌到在地，模样令人心疼。
伊芙琳的爸爸患有不明原因的癌症 ，他们担心伊芙琳可能也出现症状，紧急将她送医，医生仔细检查后告诉他们，他曾经在几个小孩身上看到类似症状，应该是壁虱造成的暂时性麻痹，之后医生在伊芙琳的头发里梳下一只壁虱，瘫痪麻痹的症状随即解除。
▼遭壁虱叮咬可能引起暂时性的半身麻痹。（图／达志影像／美联社）
这段影片已超过2千万次点阅，亚曼达PO文说：「我们还处在震惊当中，幸运的是我们很快就将她送医，没有让事情变得更糟，现在伊芙琳除了抱怨头皮很痒之外，其他一切都好。」
被壁虱叮咬会造成搔痒和疼痛，若无立即处理，2～7天内会出现四肢无力的症状，还可能因呼吸衰竭而休克死亡。维持宠物和环境的清洁是防治壁虱的最佳方法，只要出外踏青，经过草地活动后都要检查有无壁虱叮咬，宠物最好每月使用壁虱预防药一次。
▼影片取自「Amanda Lewis」脸书。
We had a little bit of a scary morning today...luckily everything is ok but I wanted to share this so the rest of you are aware. Evelyn started acting a little weird last night around bed time. She didn't want to stand up after her bath to get into her pajamas. I helped her and got her in bed. She was a little fussy last night and I ended up sleeping in bed with her all night. This morning she was having a hard time standing. She could barely walk, or crawl, and could hardly use her arms. We took some video this morninh to send to family to see if they had any idea what could be going on. We decided to take her into the ER right after we took this video because her symptoms were getting worse, and given Lantz's history with cancer we were quite concerned. We got into a room quickly, thank God, and were seen almost right away. The doctor talked to us for a minute and said over the past 15 years he had seen about 7 or 8 children her age with identical symptoms and more than likely she had a tick. They looked her over, combed through her hair really well and sure enough found a tick hiding in her hair. This condition is called tick paralysis. It can affect dogs also and can be fatal. I'm glad we took her in when we did and that it wasn't something worse and that we found it before it got worse. The ticks are out like crazy right now in this area so if your children or dogs start acting a little off, check them thoroughly for ticks! I feel awful for not having seen the little bugger sooner but I never would have even thought to look for a tick. It's crazy that a little bug can do this! We're still in the ER. Now that the tick has been removed, Evelyn should start feeling like herself in a couple of hours. She's enjoying popsicles and watching cartoons ☺ They want to monitor her for a little longer then we can go home Crazy morning UPDATE: I didn't realize how widespread this video would end up! So for those of you who don't know us personally, Evelyn is doing much better. It took her until the next morning to start acting like herself again. She is now pretty much completely back to her feisty little self. She complains a lot about her head itching but otherwise she's just fine. 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. 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! The doctor told us that the type of tick that was found on her does not typically carry lyme disease (dog tick) but we are keeping a close eye on her anyway. "Tick paralysis results from injection of a toxin from tick salivary glands during a blood meal. The toxin causes symptoms within 2–7 days, beginning with weakness in both legs that progresses to paralysis. The paralysis ascends to the trunk, arms, and head within hours and may lead to respiratory failure and death. The disease can present as acute ataxia without muscle weakness" For more information on Tick paralysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick_paralysis http://www.cvbd.org/en/tick-borne-diseases/tick-paralysis/human-tick-paralysis/ I'm so thankful that we got her to the doctor quickly before her symptoms got worse and that the doctor in the ER that day had experience with this otherwise who knows how many tests they would have been doing on her trying to figure out what was wrong! Thank you all for your kind words and support through this crazy time! ♥ UPDATE AGAIN: We're located in Eastern Oregon USA. Ticks though can be found all over. They're causing all kinds of problems on the east coast of America right now as well