Alessandra Paiusco’s selfie with her baby led to ‘another’ being spotted in the photo, which prompted a trip to the emergency room for the mum-of-two and a ‘traumatising’ experience
A mum who took a selfie with her child has gone viral after spotting “another” detail in their image. Those who saw the snap, which was shared via TikTok, were horrified by the intruder.
Alessandra Paiusco, from Uppsala, Sweden, shared a sweet photo of herself and her child to the social media site. The pair had taken a selfie while on holiday at a farm with Alessandra’s parents, Marco, 63, and Lea, 57. They were joined by Leonidas, two, and Olympia, one. But a picture with her one-year-old caught people’s attention for a horrifying reason that resulted in a trip to hospital.
The pair had been posing in the forest when a tick landed in Olympia’s eyelashes. It can be seen in their selfie – and was thankfully removed by nurses before causing any serious harm.
Following the incident, mum-of-two Alessandra wrote: “Your daily reminder to always check for ticks literally everywhere. Shoutout to the nurses at the Akuten in Tierp for helping my baby. Took just two hours, three people, and many tears.”
She further explained to Newsweek: “We went to the woods to pick blueberries – actually we were hoping for chanterelles. I was melting looking at the children bonding while eating berries.
“I was honestly shocked and, to be completely honest with you, grossed out too.”
Ticks are common in grassy areas and can latch onto humans, hiding in skin folds and hairlines. Or, as was the case for Alessandra’s baby, they can appear on the eyelids and lashes.
The woodland insects can pass serious illnesses like Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis, the latter affecting the brain and nervous system.
Alessandra has since shared the horror hospital trip, with Olympia left “kicking” as doctors tried to remove the tick.
She added: “First, I was holding her, but she was kicking, [so] two nurses tried to use a kind of ‘lasso’ but it didn’t work. We tried this way three times, with many tears and breastfeeding breaks in between.
“In the end I had to literally wrestle her on the soft patient bed, and a very determined nurse named Irena managed to remove it in one piece with old school doctors’ tweezers.”
Alessandra has since shared where she thinks the tick came from in a comment on her TikTok page. She wrote: “I checked the kids when we came back but she had it the morning after…
“I am afraid it crawled overnight from somewhere after taking a ride. Maybe my hair?”
The stressful experience left Alessandro’s father wanting to go home. She confirmed: “My dad wanted to go back home (we’re on holidays and have three more days to go).”
But thankfully, despite being shaken up, the family is otherwise unharmed.
What to do if you get a tick bite
If you get a tick bite, it’s important to act promptly and carefully to reduce the risk of infection or disease transmission.
According to the NHS, to remove a tick, you should:
- Use a tick removal device or fine-toothed tweezers to gently grip the tick as close to the skin as possible.
- Pull steadily away from the skin without crushing the tick.
- Wash your skin with water and soap afterwards.
- Apply an antiseptic cream to the skin around the bite.
For more information, visit NHS Inform.