With the onset of spring, closer to its middle, a man rushes to nature. Here danger lies in wait for him. You can easily become a victim of a forest tick. The greatest activity of parasites is observed from April to July. On the territory of Russia, the highest concentration of arachnids is noted in taiga regions and Karelia. Outbreaks of diseases caused by the bites of these insects are noted in the central regions and in the south of the country.
What does a tick look like
The tick is a small and completely nondescript insect belonging to the class of arthropods.
The dirty brown color serves as an excellent camouflage. They are almost invisible in the natural environment. The size of the males is only about four millimeters. Females are somewhat larger - their length can reach two centimeters. He looks like a small bug with eight legs. Here they clings to his victim. What a tick bite looks like - photo below. By the way, contrary to popular belief, this insect hunts from a height of no more than 50 centimeters.
What tick bites look like on a person can be seen in the photos presented in the article.
Climbing a blade of grass or a bush, the tick awaits its victim for hours. These arthropods have very well developed organs of touch and smell. They allow them to smell blood at a distance of up to 10 meters. As soon as a person or animal is in range, the tick will cling to it with its front paws.
A tick bite (photo on the example of a dog) may look like this:
The tenacious forelimbs will help him calmly choose the most vulnerable spot and, cutting the skin with his proboscis, begin to suck blood. Males will be satisfied quickly, while females, on the contrary, are extremely voracious. The amount of blood they drink can be four times their own weight. When saturated, insects fall off from the victim. History knows of cases where a female tick’s dinner reached four days. And all this time she will be in the body of the victim. The most delicious places for the insect are the stomach, chest, and neck.
What is this insect dangerous
The parasite itself is not toxic. However, his seemingly harmless bite can become fatal for a person! The thing is that the insect is a carrier of the most dangerous infectious diseases. The worst of them is tick-borne encephalitis. With untimely treatment, the consequences of a tick bite are disability and death.
Other infections cause disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, diseases of the lungs, kidneys and liver, depression of the central nervous system, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, damage to joint tissue and other serious disorders in the body. Often this leads to irreversible consequences.
Panic is not worth it. According to statistics, about 90% of ticks in Russia do not carry the causative agent of infections. But there is still a risk. However, the bite of the so-called sterile tick (which is not a vector of infection) can also cause a lot of trouble. It causes severe allergic reactions, the patient may develop Quincke's edema. In this case, you must urgently call an ambulance.
Tick Attack Features
Forest tick habitat is tall grass, shrub. Often infected individuals are found in the forest. In places with dense vegetation, the infection spreads and is supported by small rodents. Microorganisms penetrate the body of the insect and accumulate in it. Then, when bitten, they enter the blood of a person.
The fact that these arthropods do not attack their prey instantly, with due care, makes it possible to prevent a bite by simply detecting a tick in time. Note that a tick bite is almost impossible to feel. The point here is special biological enzymes that neutralize pain. Infection does not occur immediately. The infection will enter the bloodstream only 5-6 hours after suction, when the tick begins to eat.
Vaccines
The best way to prepare your body for a meeting with a bloodsucker is to get a vaccine. Vaccinations are given to both adults and children. In this case, a special vaccine is used, which requires special storage conditions. Therefore, to buy it for the future will not work.
Vaccination is carried out every three years. For children, it is recommended to use only imported vaccine.
If you intend to be in areas with a high concentration of parasites in the near future, urgent vaccination is recommended.
Import vaccine is produced mainly by Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Vaccinations are given only in specialized medical institutions under the supervision of experienced specialists and after passing all the necessary tests. This minimizes side effects.
Bite Prevention
Contact with insects can be easily avoided. When you are in a danger zone, follow a few simple rules.
- Clothing should fit the body as much as possible. Open areas should not be. Especially protect your neck, stomach, ears, chest.
- Inspect yourself and those around you as often as possible. It may be possible to detect a tick before a bite.
- Tuck your pants in boots, make the parasite more difficult to access the body.
- It is recommended to use special protective suits and insect repellents.
- Walk along the middle of the trail, avoid tall grass and ravines. Ticks do not like bright sunlight, therefore they often hide in the shade and dampness.
- Take along a container for transporting the parasite, and devices for its extraction. These items will not take up much space, but may be indispensable.
Tick bite: symptoms
Since the bite does not cause pain, it is difficult to detect a tick attack. Only after 2-3 hours can a person feel malaise, fatigue, drowsiness, apathy. If the temperature rises, this is the first sign of an allergic reaction. At the very site of the bite, round or oval redness may appear. When anesthesia is finished, itching appears. These are the first symptoms of a tick bite in humans. The most difficult to tolerate the attack of the parasite is children, the elderly, allergies. In addition, people at risk for chronic diseases are also at risk.
Different types of ticks carry various diseases, each of which requires special treatment. Only the specialists in the laboratory can establish the exact type of insect, whether this individual was infected. It is worth paying attention: even if the tick is infected, the symptoms of the disease will appear only after a certain time (usually 2-3 days).
First aid
Suppose that it was not possible to detect the insect in time. The most important thing after a tick bite is to see a doctor as soon as possible. What can be done to minimize damage?
- It is necessary to remove the insect as soon as possible, but it is important to do this correctly. If the tick does not completely crawl under the skin with its head, it should never be crushed. Otherwise, there is a risk of infection. There is an opinion that the tick should be treated with gasoline, vegetable oil, so that it gets out. It is inefficient.
- Take a strong, better kapron thread, constructing and carefully tightening the loop around the body of the tick. Gently swing the insect by rotating the loop counterclockwise. With these movements, gradually remove the insect. Use tweezers as an alternative. The procedure is similar. Recently, special tools for tick extraction have appeared on sale. Treat the wound with an antiseptic.
- Treat the wound with an antiseptic.
- After the parasite is removed, place it in a glass container, tightly close the lid and take it to the laboratory for analysis.
- When the first signs of an allergic reaction appear (redness, fever), you need to give the victim an antihistamine and call an ambulance.
Where to go after a bite
If you can’t extract the parasite yourself, you need to contact the specialists at your nearest medical facility. Doctors will professionally assist with a tick bite, safely remove the insect, send it for analysis to the laboratory, treat the wound, and take the necessary tests. If it turns out that the tick is infected, it will take about a month to stay under the supervision of doctors, since many infections have a long incubation period.
If you removed the insect yourself, take it to a specialized laboratory, the address of which can be found in the local clinic or sanitary epidemiological station.
Further actions depend entirely on the results of the analysis. If symptoms of any of the following diseases appear (fever, muscle pain, vomiting, allergic reactions), call a doctor immediately.
Diseases that a tick can cause
Below are four of the most common diseases that a tick bite can cause.
Tick-borne encephalitis - the disease occurs in various forms.
- Most often occurs in the form of fever (in about half the cases). It lasts about a week. Accompanied by high temperature. Usually the patient recovers safely.
- Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges. It occurs more often than others (50-60% of cases). It’s hard. Recovery is possible within four weeks. May go into chronic form. Complications often develop and the patient remains disabled.
- Focal - the most dangerous form. More often than others, it becomes chronic. The disease has a severe course. Characteristic symptoms:
- heat;
- rave;
- impaired consciousness;
- loss of orientation in space and time.
Chronic form - signs of the disease appear a few months after the exacerbation. Occurs in 3% of patients. It is characterized by impaired motor skills, mental disorders and dementia are possible.
Symptoms of the disease:
- incubation period from 5 to 25 days;
- the disease usually begins in an acute form;
- sudden fever;
- chills;
- fear of bright light.
Accurate diagnosis and treatment take place in a hospital setting.
Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of a specific group of ticks. Most common in the northern hemisphere, including in Russia. It affects the heart, nervous system, organs of vision. The incubation period lasts about two weeks, but this is very conditional. The first signs may appear earlier and later, up to several months.
Symptoms
- headache;
- temperature;
- muscle pain;
- the appearance of a characteristic skin rash (ring erythema).
The early stage is easily stopped by antibiotics. With untimely diagnosis or improper treatment, the disease can go to the extreme stage, which is very difficult to treat and most often goes into a chronic form, leading to disability or death. Therefore, it is important to contact doctors as soon as possible.
Tick-borne typhus - at risk are residents of southern Russia and the republics of the former USSR. Symptoms
- the formation of a "bubble" at the site of the bite;
- aches in the body and joints;
- temperature;
- vomiting is possible;
- dizziness;
- the appearance of a rash;
- yellowness of the skin;
- liver problems.
Exacerbation lasts about three days. Then comes relief, and then everything repeats. Each "wave" is expressed less and less.
KU fever is one of the most common infections in the world. Transmitted by wild and domestic animals, including the so-called ixodid ticks. The incubation period is from 5 to 30 days. Symptoms
- excessive sweating;
- cough;
- the patient refuses food;
- weakness, headache.
Bite insurance
It is no secret that getting quality medical services is an expensive pleasure. In this regard, it seems reasonable to mitigate risks in advance using insurance risk of infection with infectious diseases with a tick bite. Of course, this does not protect you from illness. Compensation of treatment costs will help to receive the highest quality and timely medical care, which contributes to a speedy recovery.
Currently, most insurance companies offer this service. Note that for some companies, vaccination is included in the program of voluntary health insurance.
Dust (bed mites)
Another type of tick is bed. Unlike their forest counterparts, these individuals are not carriers of dangerous infections. But they are quite capable of causing a person major troubles. You can see such a parasite only through a microscope.
The largest individuals rarely exceed 0.2 millimeters. It feeds on arachnids with dead organic compounds. She loves living in old blankets and pillows. It reproduces very quickly. In a few weeks, entire colonies will appear from a small pile.
How do dust mites get into our housing? There are four main sources:
- feathers and fluff, including on live birds;
- hairdressing salons - if towels do not pass quality processing;
- the coat of your favorite pets;
- products from natural wool that has not been processed.
These creatures are dangerous in that their chitinous shells and excrement, entering the human body through the respiratory tract and on the skin, cause severe allergies. Bed mites (bite in the photo below) cause a lot of problems.
Strictly speaking, the tick does not bite. Skin lesion is an allergic reaction to products of its vital activity. Dust mites are often confused with bed bugs. In contrast, the latter are blood-sucking and really bite.
To permanently get rid of bed mites, it is necessary to periodically process pillows, blankets and mattresses. Fatal for ticks freezing below -5 ° C and steaming. Sheets should also be periodically washed and ironed.