What a place looks like after a tick bite. Is it possible to catch a tick if it crawled through the body? After the incubation period

Instruction

Many people are sure that pincers  are found only in the trees, but this is a misconception. In general, their habitat is grass, low shrubs, where they occupy a waiting position. At the slightest contact with the branch, the tick clings to its victim and, having found the softest place on the body, begins to bite its skin. The amount of blood that he can suck is not so great compared to what the damage to health is done. After all pincers  - These are carriers of diseases such as encephalitis and borreliosis. It is not always possible to detect the bite itself, which is very dangerous, a person may not even know that it was bitten by a tick. It is therefore necessary to know the main bite of this insect.

Symptoms may not appear immediately, but after a couple of weeks. It all depends on how much tick spent time in your skin. The longer he stayed there, the greater the number of viruses managed to penetrate the body.
The most common signs of a bite are fever, headaches, muscle aches, sweating.

At the site of the bite will always remain redness, which eventually increases in diameter, and in the center is formed. Sometimes the bite diameter can reach 10 centimeters. Sometimes a person does not attach importance to this on his body, and when after a few weeks the redness at the bite site disappears, he completely forgets about it, but in vain. This does not mean that everything went well: if the tick was infectious, the disease simply passed from the skin to the internal organs.

If you are bitten by a tick infected with encephalitis will not be long in coming. There may be an upset stomach, general weakness, fever. In severe forms of the disease there is a severe headache, high fever, an infected person is lost in space. This could mean that the virus caused inflammation of the spinal cord and brain, affecting the central nervous system. The consequences of the disease can be the most deplorable. Therefore, at the very first suspicion of a bite, seek the help of a doctor.

A necessary measure to protect against bites are annual vaccinations. But you can also try to protect yourself. During nature walks, as often as possible, inspect the most exposed places, try not to wear open things, at the first suspicion of a bite, seek medical help.

In spring and summer, ticks are most active. However, the victim of their attacks can be even in October, especially in the morning or evening, when it is cool outside. To protect themselves from their bites is quite capable of everyone.

Instruction

Remember that a tick can get on your skin not only from a tree. Mostly they live in grass or shrubs, it is more convenient to crawl imperceptibly onto an animal or. You just have to touch the branch so that the tick starts its way to the vulnerable spot and starts biting into the skin. Remember if you touched branches on a walk, or walked on the grass.

Therefore, be careful when going to the forest. Periodically inspect the entire body, the likelihood that you will find a tick that has not caught on the skin will be higher. After all, an insect never bites at once, it selects a bite from half an hour to several hours. This makes it possible to neutralize it.

Mite crawling through the body can be felt instantly, as it touches the hairs on the skin. Therefore, the most effective way to detect an insect is through self-examination and survey. Pay special attention to the neck, skin behind the ears, groin, inner thighs, elbows and knees. The skin in these places is the most, so ticks can crawl to them for a long time. It takes some time for the insect to firmly stick into the skin.

If you have not seen a tick on your body, but have found a black dot, a ring-shaped one and there is a suspicion of a bite, treat this place with iodine and contact the clinic or polyclinic. Generally, if a tick is detected, if possible, visit a medical facility as soon as possible.

The bite of an infected tick can lead to encephalitis. There is no change at the site of the bite. But the virus enters the blood and lymph nodes, begins to multiply actively in the cells lining the blood vessels.

You will need

• - blood test;
• - tick.

Instruction

If you are worried about a severe headache, weakness, weakness, pain in the whole body, sleep disturbance, nausea and vomiting, after you have been bitten by a tick, immediately consult a doctor. These can be signs of tick-borne encephalitis. Many patients have red eyes and face. From the third to the fifth day after the first symptoms manifest, a lesion of the central nervous system develops: motor agitation or, on the contrary, lethargy; delirium, drowsiness, hallucinations. In some cases, seizures may begin.

In some patients, infection is complicated by paralysis of the muscles of the upper limbs and neck. A characteristic feature of tick-borne encephalitis is involuntary twitching of individual muscle groups. This may cause a feeling of numbness of the skin, a violation of the swallowing reflex, speech obscurity.

The most noticeable and frequent symptom of borreliosis is local redness in the area of ​​the bite, which appeared no earlier than a week later. Gradually, erythema increases in size and can reach several tens of centimeters in diameter. However, the redness that occurred immediately at the moment of the bite indicates a simple reaction to the tick bite, rather than an infection. Allergic redness quickly passes, whereas Borreliosis erythema will only increase.

In Lyme disease, a symptom of general intoxication is possible, accompanying the appearance of erythema. It is manifested by low-grade fever, headache, chills, fatigue and body aches. After 3-4 weeks, redness may subside, but it should be borne in mind that an untreated infection disseminates in the body. The organs of the nervous and cardiovascular systems may be affected. In chronic form, borreliosis is also manifested in lesions of the skin and joints. At the late stage, the infection is very difficult, so timely diagnosis is so important.

At the onset of the disease, Borrelia is sensitive to. The sooner you begin therapy, the greater the chances for full recovery, no complications and the prevention of chronicity. It is also important to remove the tick as soon as possible. The preventive vaccine against borreliosis does not exist.

Sources:

• Addresses of virology laboratories and prevention points
• how do i know if i have a tick

Returning from outdoor recreation, you found on the body of a stuck tick, what to do? The main thing is not to panic, but to take measures that will make it possible to prevent undesirable consequences.

If bitten by a tick, call an ambulance and get advice about your further actions. In general, you need as soon as possible to seek qualified assistance at your place of residence, SES or emergency room. If for any reason you cannot go to a health facility, try removing the insect yourself.

In the forest it is necessary to fear not only ticks, but also snakes. What to do first when biting snakes http: // www ..

Ticks are carriers of bacteria and infectious diseases that cause problems with the joints, heart and nerves. Sometimes ticks can cause serious complications, with symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis.

When you find a tick on your body, do not panic. He needs from 48 to 72 hours to enter the blood. But hesitating is not recommended, we remove the insect immediately.

To extract the tick yourself, you need tweezers with concave tips. Try to grab it near the surface of the skin and pull it with soft, confident movements in the opposite direction. After extraction, it is necessary to treat the skin with an antiseptic, alcohol-containing solution or iodine. Not worth the wound with a large number of antiseptic, you can burn the skin.

If you do not have tweezers on hand, you can loop the thread and throw it at the base of the tick, as close as possible to the skin. And with the same soft, swaying movements from side to side, we pull it out. The removed tick can be placed in a glass jar and a doctor to identify it.

In no case can not oil on the insect. It clogs the airways, forcing him to burp the contents into a bite. In this case, the tick dies, but the risk increases.

If, when removing a tick in the wound, its proboscis and head remain, nothing terrible. It can be removed with tweezers or, if left as it is, it will form, which will break through, and all residues will be removed independently.

The effects of a tick bite immediately appear on the skin with clear signs of damage, including bruises, small open wounds and redness. A tick bite may also have more delayed effects, expressed by the manifestation of an allergic reaction and diseases that are transmitted through the bite.

Instruction

A walk in the woods or in a shrub grove can bring not only health benefits, but also trouble in the form of a tick attack. Ticks are blood-sucking insects that can attack a person not only from tall trees, but also from extreme branches of a bush, and in some cases from tall grass. The tick hunting method is quite simple. This insect takes a position on an elevation from the flattering path, where there is the greatest chance of meeting an animal or a person who can live on blood. It may seem to many that such a primitive creature, like a tick, reaches its goal only in rare cases, but as recent studies have shown, these insects have excellent scent, so they use every opportunity to profit with fresh blood.

Bitten tick, symptoms

The insect may go unnoticed for a long time, but after 2-3 hours after the bite, the following signs may appear:

• weakness of the whole body, drowsiness;


• trembling through the body;


• aching joints;


• fear of the light.

The strongest manifestation of symptoms can be observed in people of old age, small children, people with allergies, various chronic diseases.

If you have been bitten by a tick, the symptoms appear after the first signs:

• elevated temperature, along with reduced pressure;


• cardiopalmus;


• itching and skin rashes;


• swollen lymph nodes.

Additionally, you may have a headache, nausea and vomiting. In special cases, difficulty breathing and hallucinations may begin.

Bitten tick, treatment

Everyone should be able to provide first aid. After extraction, it is better to place the insect in a container and take it to the hospital where it will be examined. This will tell you if it has been infected. After a tick bite has occurred, a doctor will need to be monitored for a month. With a sharp rise in temperature or a rash on the body, you should immediately consult a doctor!

Medicines to be taken after an insect bite are prescribed only by a doctor! Tetracycline or cephalosporin antibiotics are usually prescribed, along with anti-allegri drugs.

If you have been bitten by a tick, then it makes sense to take a blood test, but not earlier than in 10 days. In the meantime, tick-borne encephalitis can be prevented. To do this, use immunoglobulin as prescribed by the doctor.

Since the procedure makes sense only for three days after you have been bitten by an encephalitic tick, be very attentive to your body, especially during outdoor recreation!

Related videos

Favorite by many rest in the woods, at the cottage or just in the park often overshadows the tick bite. This tiny insect can cause serious illness, so you need to observe safety measures when going out into nature and know the rules of behavior if the tick has bitten you.

It is impossible to limit the habitat of a tick to a specific territory: an insect can be found as far away from the city (in the forest and on a clearing in the grass), and within the city itself (in the garden or park). The most active tick manifests itself in the spring, in cool weather, in the morning or evening hours, as well as on cloudy days. In the heat, he usually hides, and his "activity" stops with frost.

The insect "looks out" for the victim (human or animal) at a distance of about half a meter. In this case, the tick can be both on the tree and in the grass. Hooking on clothes, he chooses a place for a bite on his body for a long time. Only females stick, males only bite. Therefore, with the symptoms of encephalitis, you need to carefully examine the entire body - perhaps there will be a trace of a tick bite on it.

After drinking blood, the female tick changes noticeably and it is hard to recognize a small insect. Her body increases several times, becomes soft and becomes dark gray, casting a metallic sheen.

You can try to remove the sucked tick yourself, but it is better to contact the medical center. Regardless of whether a person has been vaccinated against encephalitis or not, he needs to consult a specialist for the first three days after being bitten to inject immunoglobulin against a tick bite. This procedure will protect against insect-borne diseases (including encephalitis, Lyme disease). If for any reason it is impossible to resort to the help of doctors, you should take the antiviral drug jodantipirin.

If you decide to remove the tick yourself, you should use tweezers or a strong thread. In the first case, you need to grab the tick with tweezers at the site of the bite and carefully, turning the tick in a circle, try to “unscrew” it. The tweezers should be perpendicular to the human body. When using a thread, it is tied at the tick's proboscis, the ends of the thread are bred in different directions and slowly begin to rotate until they are completely “twisted”. It is necessary to ensure that the insect's head does not come off, otherwise the virus remaining in the salivary glands will enter the human skin.

The peculiarity of the proboscis mite is that there are so-called “spikes” on it. At rest, they are directed to the back of the tick, and when you try to pull out the tick as a splinter, the “spikes” bristle and it becomes difficult to pull out the proboscis.

If, while removing the tick, the head is still torn off (this will be a black dot at the bite site), you need to remove it as follows: treat the place with alcohol, and pull the head out with a steel needle as a splinter. Then disinfect the wound with a solution of alcohol (70%), iodine (5%) or even any high-grade alcohol and in no case comb the bite site.

The tick removed from the body (it does not matter whether it is bitten or simply bitten) must be placed in a jar with a damp cloth, then transferred to a laboratory for testing for the presence of viruses in it. If there is no tick near the infection detection laboratory, it should be burned or lowered into boiling water.

How ticks feed

These predators are waiting for their prey on blades of grass or leaves of trees. Due to the structure of their paws, they easily move to their prey. Paws of ticks have special claws and suckers, therefore, having got on the clothing or body of a person, they confidently cling to them. In the future, they move into a region of the human body, such as the armpits, groin or neck, where they begin to eat, suck blood.

These arachnids are very tenacious, they can survive up to 3 years without food.

The danger of tick bites for humans is that they are carriers of diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis, epilepsy, pneumonia, and others. These diseases are dangerous to humans, and sometimes even deadly.

Tick ​​Bite Symptoms

The first symptom of a bite is an increase in body temperature, which is accompanied by weakness and aching in the joints. Swelling of the eyelids and lips may occur, an increase in lymph nodes occurs.

What are the first actions if you are bitten by a tick?

• The first step is to try to remove the tick from the body without damaging it. For its spontaneous extraction, you need to thoroughly lubricate the bite and the tick itself with vegetable oil. He will start to choke, as a result he will have to get out.
• After extracting the tick, it must be sent to a laboratory for analysis and to determine whether it is a carrier of any disease.
• A bitten person should contact a medical institution for qualified medical assistance.

How to prevent a bite

Ticks do not tolerate some odors, so when going to nature take with you sprigs of geranium, lavender. You can use essential oils such as rosemary, peppermint or eucalyptus to rub open parts of the body.

In addition, always on the eve of summer, you can take care of your health and vaccinate.

Encephalitis mite in nature

For growth and development need constant feeding with blood. If the male, having quickly satisfied himself, leaves the body of the “master,” then the female, in preparation for childbirth, can suck blood for up to one and a half weeks. Its size at the same time gradually increases. But even a short-term bite is enough for a PNK-containing pathogen that is in the bloodsucker's saliva to cause serious illness.

Tick ​​bite (encephalitis): why is it dangerous?

The "biting" organ of the tick is called a hypostat. It looks like a proboscis with teeth, which, like a gimlet, is screwed into the body, holding there for a long time. That is why the tick should not be pulled, but must be twisted. The bite of an encephalitic tick is dangerous when transmitted to a person with saliva, which has an anesthetic effect, of a dangerous virus. It is saliva that makes the piercing of the skin of the proboscis painless. Infection can occur when the animal is crushed. Then the virus penetrates through cuts, cracks, wounds on the skin. Tick-borne encephalitis is considered one of the most dangerous diseases.

Precautionary Notice

Tick-borne encephalitis: symptoms of the disease

There are a number of other diseases with which a tick can “reward” a person:

• encephalitis;
• borreliosis;
• spotty fever;
• hemorrhagic fever , etc.

Important! Encephalitis is characterized by specific foci (area of ​​distribution of ticks) and seasonality (months of the greatest aggressiveness of bloodsuckers and the time of breeding).

The infected tick itself found on the body may not necessarily infect a person. In the case of taurus extraction, it is better to have a blood test to confirm (refute) the disease (borreliosis, encephalitis) one and a half weeks after the tick is removed from the wound. If symptoms of encephalitis immediately appear after a tick bite in a person, then immediately go to a hospital. The moments that should cause anxiety and a reason for going to the infectiologist:

• redness at the site of “introduction” of the tick into the body and the appearance of a bubble on it;
• sudden chills with a sharply rising body temperature up to 39 - 40 ° С,
• body rash;
• headache, weakness;
• aches in the bones;
• photophobia;
• eating disorder accompanied by nausea or vomiting,
• change of internal organs: spleen and liver increase in size;
• skin and sclera become yellowish.

This condition is kept in a patient for about a week. During this time, at the site of the bite, an active reproduction of the virus occurs in the cells forming blood vessels. It enters the blood, lymph nodes. In some cases, the CNS is affected. Meningeal manifestations are observed on the 4-5th day of the disease: paralysis of the muscles of the chest, neck, upper torso. There may be loss of consciousness and seizures of epilepsy. Symptoms of meningitis, manifested in the first week of the disease, completely or partially disappear.

Then follows a recession of the disease, an imaginary improvement in health. Over time, the symptoms recur. There may be several such attacks (more than 10). Since the signs of encephalitis after a tick bite are very similar to a severe catarrhal disease, a blood test will give a 100% diagnosis.

Map "Endemic territories for tick-borne encephalitis"

The more neglected the disease, the more difficult the treatment. It should be carried out in a hospital under the supervision of doctors. The time interval from the time of infection in the human body to the first signs of the disease in case of infection with encephalitis can be from 2 days to three weeks.

Reference. There is asymptomatic infection. It is characterized by the fact that a person feels quite healthy due to the production of antibodies to the virus by the body. Only tests can indicate infection. In the body itself, a strong immunity to encephalitis (tick-borne) is produced.

Do not neglect prevention

Disease is easier to prevent than to cure ailment. This should be done before going to the forest. It is known that May, June, the beginning of July, and then September and up to November is considered the most likely period in order to “catch” the bloodsuckers. Therefore, tick-borne encephalitis is also called "spring-summer". Equipment should maximally conceal open areas of the body. If we consider that the tick likes to dwell where the skin is the most tender (armpits, neck, groin, head, etc.), overalls are preferred from clothing. From shoes - high boots. On the head - a scarf or a dense hat. Hands should also be hidden in gloves. It is better to equip a resting place in a sunny glade, away from the thickets of high grass, shrubs, trees and water. It is necessary to conduct regular inspections of the body, clothes.

Tick ​​removal products will help to carry out the procedure correctly.

Although the risk of infection is much reduced, nevertheless, vaccination against an encephalitic tick is also necessary for prevention. Moreover, it is done three times: in October, March and a year later. Subsequent vaccination is done every three years. Vaccinations are also given to children, but only after consulting with a pediatrician.

Do not neglect the precautionary measures and vaccination. It is extremely dangerous oxide encephalitis tick - the effects of a bite can remain for life. The price of health cannot be compared with the cost of the same cheap vaccine. Sometimes a microscopic tick can cause great trouble. And in some cases, its bite deprives a person of life.

If a person is bitten by an uninfected tick, then no complicated actions are required. It is enough to properly remove it from the skin and disinfect the wound. This is much easier than carrying out prevention of encephalitis, and certainly safer than curing this disease.

On a note

If you put an encephalitic tick and a common tick next to each other, both of which will belong to the same species and are at the same stage of development, no external differences between them will be found. And even a magnifying glass or a microscope will not help to do this, that is, it will not work to distinguish such individuals at home.

In other words, simply finding out whether the tick is encephalitic will not work. This can not be done even by a specialist acarologist, who is well able to determine the types of ticks and to distinguish them from each other.

The concept of "encephalitis tick" indicates precisely the infection of a particular individual with tick-borne encephalitis virus. Many untrained people mistakenly believe that an encephalitic tick is a particular species, all individuals of which are carriers of infection, unlike the other, “simple” tick, whose bite is harmless to humans.

In fact, the established carriers of tick-borne encephalitis are 14 species of ixodic ticks, which are quite similar to each other externally, but also have certain features of appearance and color that allow them to be distinguished from each other and from other species that do not tolerate the pathogen. Of these 14 species, the main carriers of infection that infect humans, in the overwhelming majority of cases, are two:

The first is responsible for cases of infection with encephalitis in Western Europe, in Ukraine, Belarus and in western Russia (for example, in the Kaliningrad region), the second in Siberia and the Far East.

This means that a specific species - encephalitis tick - does not exist. There are several species, various morphologically and ecologically, that can carry the virus.

On the other hand, even the most malicious carriers of the virus are not all polls infected.

According to statistics, only about 6% of individuals of species that carry encephalitis are infected.  That is, for 15 individuals representing these species, which actually belong to the “encephalit” cohort, only one individual will actually represent an epidemiological hazard.

On a note

According to statistics collected in hospitals, the average incidence of tick-borne encephalitis among all the bitten and sought help is about 0.50-0.55% (about 5 people per 1000 bitten). Given the number of people who do not go to the doctor after the bite, this figure is actually even lower - about the same 0.2-0.3% (20-30 infected per 10,000 bites). For tick-borne borreliosis, this indicator is 1.5 times higher - about 1.3% for people officially registered when they go to the hospital.

This, in turn, means that the bite of even the tick that exactly carries the virus does not necessarily lead to infection.

Nevertheless, by the appearance of the bloodsucker, it is possible to determine the probability (not a fact, namely, a chance) that it is encephalitic. For this you need:

The tick, which may well be a carrier of tick-borne encephalitis virus, is shown in the photo below as an example:

Differences of types of tick-carriers of encephalitis from related species

The first task in determining the type of tick in our case is to understand that it belongs specifically to the family of ixodid ticks. They have a fairly distinctive appearance with an oblate body and a very small head. Ticks from other families differ from ixodic body shape.

For example, the photo shows Dermacentor silvarum tick, a typical representative of Ixodide that carries encephalitis:

Here is a shell mite from the family of argas mites:

And in this photo - Androlaelaps schaeferi gamasid mite:

Even more likely to become infected with a bite, if either a taiga or dog tick has been removed from the body. Outwardly, they are very similar to each other. The photo below shows an adult hungry female of the taiga tick:

And here is a female dog tick:

It is practically impossible for an incompetent to distinguish them, since the reliable differences between them are too insignificant - these are the structural features of the trunk and the body scute. But it makes no sense to distinguish between these species: both of them are equally likely to be carriers of infection.

On a note

In the European region, people are mainly attacked by a dog tick, beyond the Urals - a taiga tick. For this reason, the dog tick is also called the European forest, and the taiga tiger is also called the Siberian.

Representatives of these two species can be distinguished from relatives in the family of ixodid ticks by coloration: in tabernacle and dog ticks, in adult status, there is a well-marked black or dark green shield and a brown body. With saturation, their body increases in size several times and becomes light gray.

You also need to be able to distinguish ticks from some blood-sucking insects. In particular, in the forest and taiga zones with ixodides it is easy to confuse bloodsucker flies, the most common and well-known of which are reindeer bloodsucker (it is also called elk mite). These flies attack various large animals and humans, and they tend to climb in the hair and move between them. Bloodsuckers pursue their prey in flight, but clinging to wool or skin, shed their wings and begin to suck blood — such a wingless individual is easily confused with a tick.

The photo below shows a bloodsucker:

And here - not yet fed into the usual forest mite:

The photograph shows the main difference between these arthropods: the lee has six legs, and the tick has eight legs.

The main thing: the bloodsuckers do not tolerate encephalitis and do not infect a person with any infections at all.

With this in mind, in the case of a tick bite, it is only with a certain probability that it can be infected with a virus or not. But in order to find out exactly, it will require completely different research methods ...

The only way to find out whether an encephalitis tick or not

It is certain that a tick that has bitten a human is infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus only from the results of a special laboratory study. The essence of this study is simple:

Such studies are very effective. It is very easy to detect viral RNA in tick tissues using affordable and inexpensive methods, such analyzes are carried out over several hours and give a result with a high degree of accuracy. They also make it possible to determine with a high probability whether a person needs emergency prophylaxis of the disease.

On a note

It should be remembered here that even if the bloodsucker is contagious, the probability of the disease developing in the person he has bitten without taking any measures is approximately 2-6%. That is, even after a positive result of the mite test in the laboratory, it is not at all necessary that the disease develops. Nevertheless, the risk of its development is a sufficient reason for taking emergency measures.

How and where to take a tick for analysis

In regions with a high epidemiological risk of tick-borne encephalitis, the analysis of ticks taken for infection is carried out in most laboratories at clinics and hospitals. The technique of emergency research on ticks was initially tested in Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Yaroslavl, and when it showed good results, it was introduced into regular practice in most cities of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

You can conduct an analysis yourself or find out where you can carry a tick for research, in the following institutions (by phone):

• In any clinic or hospital (and in rural areas - in the first-aid post or at the local general practitioner);
• In any emergency room;
• In the nearest branch of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station;
• In private laboratories and diagnostic rooms;
• In the centers of Rospotrebnadzor.

In the case of a bite, it is enough to call any of these institutions and find out where to turn. On the phone they will say either the address of the laboratory or its phone number.

On a note

The quality and accuracy of analyzes in both public and private laboratories are the same. The advantage of public institutions is the lower cost of analysis, but in private clinics there is less queue, and the whole procedure is more comfortable and faster.

Lime borreliosis is more easily and successfully treated due to the fact that its pathogen is sensitive to antibiotics.

Therefore, if tick-borne encephalitis is easier and safer to prevent before the development of the disease, and for this it is worthwhile to carry out both tick analysis and emergency prophylaxis, then borreliosis with timely diagnosis is easier to cure. Moreover, the probability of infection with a bite is also low. In general, in this matter it is better to follow the instructions of a specialist who knows the epidemiological situation in the area. If he finds that the probability of infection with Lyme disease is high, he will advise you to pass a comprehensive analysis. If such an analysis, in his opinion, would not be appropriate, he would not recommend it.

If the removed tick was infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus, then the victim requires the introduction of immunoglobulin as a measure of emergency prevention of the development of the disease. Consultation on further action will give a doctor in the institution in which the study was conducted.

This may also include a situation where the tick just did not have time to deliver to the study within 2-3 days after the bite.

What to do in such cases?

First, it is no longer necessary to take a tick for analysis. Even the understanding that he was infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus or borrelia will not be a reason for urgent measures: the terms of emergency prophylaxis have already been missed, and it is not advisable to start treatment without the presence of symptoms of the disease.

Thirdly, you need to carefully monitor the condition of the victim. If there are obvious symptoms of either encephalitis or borreliosis, then you should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis after a bite develop at different times - depending on the subtype of the virus, usually from 3 to 14 days. The first symptoms of the disease are fever, pain in the head and muscles, chills, nausea. If they appear, you must immediately take the victim to the hospital.

It is important to know

For the European subtype of the virus, there is a special pause, when after 2-3 days of fever the patient's condition returns to normal, and then the brain damage begins with impaired consciousness and even paralysis. If we take remission for the completion of the disease and do nothing, then you can miss the moment when you can still do without the serious consequences of the disease.

When infected with the Far Eastern virus subtype, both phases merge, the general symptoms are more pronounced, the disease is very violent.

When infected with borreliosis in the acute phase of the disease develops fever, and may appear migrating erythema - ring-shaped redness around the bite. Similarly, when these symptoms appear, consult a doctor as soon as possible. If antibiotics are started on time, the disease is likely to be cured safely.

You can also donate blood for antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis or lime borreliosis. The test for immunoglobulins against the CE virus is given 2-3 weeks after the bite, and borreliosis - after 3-4 weeks. Previously, it is pointless to take them, because even when infected, the antibody titer will not have time to increase to those values ​​that will be a sign of infection.

Even if the first antibody test failed, after a month it is useful to repeat it. The dynamics of changes in antibody titer and their composition will be an important sign of infection. If both tests for each infection are negative, then you can calmly take a breath: the infection did not occur.

When not to worry about tick infestation

Finally, there are situations in which you can not worry about tick infestation at all.

Thus, in most parts of Ukraine and in the southern regions of the Russian Federation, many mothers go crazy with fear when they discover a tick on a child, although in fact the probability of infection with TBE here, although not excluded, is so small that no special measures are required. Almost certainly, the tick here will not be encephalitic and will not infect the victim with a virus.

Be that as it may, in each case, after a tick bite, it is best to find an opportunity to contact a doctor (preferably an infectious diseases specialist) and consult him. He will be able to say exactly how to be in a particular situation, where and when to ask for help. It is much more reasonable and safer to follow its recommendations than to independently determine the infection of a tick and to draw some conclusions.

Interesting video: how to safely protect yourself from tick-borne encephalitis

In addition to ticks, the class of these insects has many other species. The army of spider-like harmful individuals lives with us practically everywhere: in a dwelling, in personal plots, in forest-park zones. Are ticks dangerous to humans? What do they look like, how can they be detected? What to do if bitten encephalitis tick? How to provide first aid to the victim?

Forwards varieties

These individuals do not differ in aggressiveness, but they can bring harm. Among them:

• Argasi mites. They live in burrows, caves, cracks. They can settle in the cracks of village houses, attack people at night, but episodes and daytime attacks are recorded. They are the causative agents of various infections: hemorrhagic fever or relapsing fever. The infection is transmitted quickly, within a minute, the disease progresses rapidly. If you are bitten by a tick of this type, you should immediately consult a medical institution.
• Gamazow tick. Mostly bite birds, but if there are no those nearby, they are able to attack people. They live in chicken coops or bird nests.
• Subcutaneous mite. This tick on the human body can live for a long time, while not giving out anything. It feeds on already obsolete cells. But with a decrease in immunity, they are able to penetrate deep under the skin, causing various suppurations and rashes. Most often they affect the scalp and face. It is possible to be infected with this tick by a household method or from animals.
• Bed mite. Many people believe that this type of tick can attack. Its danger lies only in the fact that it can provoke allergic diseases. It feeds on purely obsolete skin cells, does not consume blood at all.
• Barn mite  From the name it is already clear that he lives in barns and food storage facilities. It feeds on cereals. Getting into the esophagus of a person through dirty hands or products infected with it, can provoke various food poisonings.

However, forest ticks are the greatest harm to human health. On them and dwell in more detail.

Forest Tick Bites

Attack both animals and people, in most cases in forest plantations. Recently, however, ticks in the Moscow region are quite often found in parks and squares. They overwinter in fallen leaves, but as soon as the snow comes, they begin their hunt. The peak of activity is noted in the middle of spring, but they can attack a person and bite in the autumn period. Forest ticks are divided into two groups:

1. Infected - carriers of dangerous viral diseases.
2. Sterile - individuals that do not pose a danger to the human body.

The effects of a tick bite in humans can be extremely dangerous, since these insects are carriers of many different diseases. If it hits the body, this insect may not bite immediately. Sometimes it takes several hours to suck.

What does a forest tick look like?

Small arthropod insect resembling a small beetle. It has 8 legs, the body of the tick is covered with shell. Insect length about 4 mm. It is very hard to see the blood-sucking parts of it (head and trunk) with the naked eye, since they are very tiny.

Males are even smaller. A well-fed female can reach a size of about 2 cm, as she is able to drink blood from her victim 10 times her own weight, being hungry. How does the tick on the body, can be seen in the photo given in the article.

Attention! The tick has no eyes, but it is perfectly orientated in space due to the highly developed sense of touch and smell. Scientists have managed to prove that the tick is able to feel its prey, even being at a distance of about 10 m from it.

How a tick attacks a person

There is an erroneous opinion: if a tick stared at a man’s head or stuck on his neck, he fell from a height, for example, from a tree under which the victim was or simply passed by him. Far from it, because the insect never rises above 50 cm.

General information about bites

The severity of symptoms depends on the number of bites and the bite of the physique. The most difficult are the bites of the elderly, children, people suffering from chronic diseases, allergies.

Main symptoms of a bite:

• The body temperature rises.
• There is a headache.
• In some cases, itching may occur.
• Blood pressure decreases.
• Heartbeat quickens.
• A rash appears on the skin.
• Lymph nodes are enlarged.
• General weakness is felt.

The effects of a tick bite in humans depend on the type of insect: infected (encephalitic) or sterile (uninfected). The bite of an encephalitic tick is much more dangerous. Symptoms are very severe and extremely dangerous:

• Paralysis.
• Stop breathing.
• Cessation of brain activity.
• Death.

If the victim has been bitten by an uninfected tick, the diseases that may appear are of a slightly different nature:

• Suppuration of bite sites.
• Allergies of all kinds.
• Edema up to Quincke’s edema.

It’s impossible to understand what a tick has stuck.

Important! If you are bitten by a tick, early treatment will help protect you from more dangerous diseases.

Tick ​​bites: what they look like

Insect saliva contains a biologically active substance that has an anesthetic effect, so a person may not even suspect in the first hours that it has been bitten by a tick. Only after this time can the first symptoms begin to manifest.

Infected tick bite: redness and swelling. They do not appear immediately, but after a while. If the stain expands in a ring-shaped manner, immediate medical attention is required. This is the first symptom of Lyme disease.

What to do with bites

Revealed tick bite. What if my overall condition gets worse? In this case, the patient should be given an antihistamine drug. It is better if these are drugs "Zirtex", "Suprastin".

How to remove a tick from the body

Insect on the human body is fixed extremely firmly. The fact is that its saliva acts as a cement composition. The proboscis is firmly glued to the skin. Therefore, the removal of the tick should be done carefully and extremely carefully. Recommendations for this procedure:

It is not recommended to smear the affected area with kerosene, gasoline and other liquids. If the insect comes out of the wound, then after that it may simply not be taken to the laboratory.

Tick ​​bite diseases and their signs

The effects of a tick bite on a person are varied - from simple redness to serious and dangerous diseases:

• Encephalitis. The initial stage is very similar to the symptoms of a common cold. The incubation period can last up to 7 days. No examination can provide an accurate analysis of the infection if 10 days have not passed since the bite. For accurate diagnosis, the insect itself must be submitted for examination, but only alive.
• Lyme disease (borreliosis). This disease can form if the tick was a carrier of spirochete virus. Symptoms may not appear immediately, but after a few months, it is usually: an increase in lymph nodes and pain in the joints.

Modern medical products are able to completely cure tick-borne infections with timely detection and proper therapy.

Important! Tightening with the extraction of the tick is not worth it! The longer he drinks blood from the victim, the greater the number of pathogens enters his body.

Signs of encephalitis

According to experts, the symptoms of this severe and extremely dangerous disease begin to appear only after 10-14 days from the moment when the tick bite was found in the patient. What to do? Do not panic and worry in vain. A rise in body temperature and discomfort, especially in the muscles, can be interpreted as a protective psychological reaction to the victim's fright. The formation of the disease takes place in several stages:

• Sudden and short-term manifestation of chills, after which the body temperature rises to 40 degrees. According to the clinical picture at this stage, signs of encephalitis are similar to a flu attack.
• After some time, the victim observed: nausea and vomiting, severe bouts of headache. At this stage, the symptoms resemble food poisoning.
• Within a day, the patient begins to show signs of arthritis or arthrosis. Headaches disappear, and bones and joints ache. Motor activity is strongly limited, breathing is difficult. The skin on the face and body turns red and swollen, purulent masses stand out from the lesion.
• The symptoms further intensify, since at this stage the virus that has entered the patient’s blood begins its destructive activity in the body, and the consequences may become irreversible.

Therefore, if you find that a tick has stuck into the body, you must immediately remove the insect. This can be done independently or contact the sanitary epidemiological station. There, doctors will be able to remove it and explore. Only laboratory analysis is able to establish what type of mite it is. Treatment, if it is prescribed, you need to go in full.

Important! Be very serious about any tick bite, as it can be encephalitic.

Signs of borreliosis

This disease is diagnosed more often than encephalitis. The disease is extremely dangerous, very often occurs in a latent form. In chronic forms it can lead to disability. The incubation period can last from several days to a month. The formation of borreliosis is divided into several stages of development:

• The first stage is localized flow. A typical sign is reddening of the round shape on the skin. A tick bite, as the disease progresses, increases in diameter, especially its peripheral edges, from 2 cm at first to 10 cm or more at the end. The edges of the skin in the epicenter of the focus are slightly elevated in comparison with healthy areas. In the center of the skin becomes a bluish tinge, the immediate place of the bite is taken by the crust, then a scar is formed instead. Keeps about 3 weeks, then slowly disappears.
• The second stage is disseminated, or, as it is also called, widespread. Symptoms begin to appear after a few months after being bitten by disorders of the central nervous system, damage to the heart and joints, pain in the muscle tissue. Arthritis, encephalitis, myocarditis occur.
• The third stage is chronic. Formed in the complete absence of treatment. At this stage, there is a rapid damage to the central nervous system with polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, atrophy of the skin and other symptoms.

Forecasts are favorable with timely and proper treatment. Transition of the disease to the chronic form can lead to disability.

How is the process of infection with borreliosis

Tick ​​bite treatment

The first is to remove the tick and examine it for the presence of a virus. After a confirmed diagnosis, the patient is prescribed a comprehensive treatment. In acute forms, the strictest bed rest is prescribed in combination with intensive therapy, the purpose and purpose of which is to reduce intoxication in the body and suppress the activity of the virus.

The patient is administered intramuscularly "Gammaglobulin". The sooner this drug enters the body, the faster the therapeutic effect will come. The tool acts for 24 hours, after which the patient's temperature drops to normal, the symptoms of encephalitis and meningitis decrease, sometimes disappear altogether.

To reduce the symptoms of poisoning, you need to carry out an infusion detoxification treatment. To this end, fluids are introduced to the patient to help restore the electrolyte balance, and glucocorticoid therapy is prescribed.

Antiviral medications

On the territory of the Russian Federation are more often used:

• For adults and children over 14 years old - “Yodantipirin”.
• For small children (under 14 years old) - “Anaferon” for children.

Tip! If at the right time these drugs are not at hand, then they can be replaced by means of "Cycloferon", "Arbidol" or "Remantadin."

• The drug "Immunoglobulin" is advisable to use only in the first three days.

Emergency prophylaxis - take a pill of the drug "Doxycycline", but not later than 72 hours: for an adult - 200 mg, for a child 8 years old and older - 4 mg per kilogram of weight. Young children and pregnant women are not recommended to use the drug.

Preventive actions

The most effective way to prevent tick-bite diseases is vaccination. Especially people at risk - living in adverse areas or near the forest belt.

On the territory of our country six types of vaccine are officially used, and two of them are intended for children. Vaccinated best late autumn. However, there are urgent vaccination schemes provided for emergency situations.

During the warm season, vaccinations can also be given, but with the proviso that after vaccination a person will not visit places where insects live for a month. The effect of vaccination will come only after a specified period. After this time, re-vaccination is done. Then you can take root every three years. If for some reason the period between vaccinations exceeds 5 years, then it will be necessary to go through double vaccination again.

How to protect against bites

First of all, you need to have a clear idea of ​​those places and areas where ticks can most often live:

• Favorable terrain for them - wet lowlands with trees and thick grass, ditches, forest edges, especially birch, ravines, coastal zones near water bodies. Moreover, it is on the edges and forest paths that there are much more of them than inside the forest.
• Trails and paths keep the human footprint and the footprint of the animal - these are the most attractive places for ticks.

Going to these places to rest, it is best to wear light clothes. In its background, an attached insect is easy to spot. Head must be covered with a cap, kerchief or panama. Every 2-3 hours carefully examine the body, clothes, especially the head. Buy special creams, ointments and sprays, use them before visiting places where there is a likelihood of these dangerous insects.

Mite appearance

This animal (yes, ticks are spider-like animals) is no larger than a match head. Males stick for a short time only to replenish stocks of necessary substances of their body, but females can stick for ten days. When a female tick gets drunk on the blood of its victim, it significantly increases in size and becomes similar to a gray pea, after which it lays up to 2.5 thousand eggs.

Therefore, after walking it is necessary to carefully check not only outerwear, but also underwear.  Especially a lot of ticks in the offseason - in spring and autumn. During this period, you need to be alert and carefully check open areas of the body - neck, shoulders and other places.

It looks like a stuck tick

It is impossible to feel the tick bite, because together with his saliva he gives off a strong painkiller. Signs of a tick bite in a person may not appear immediately, and therefore, after walking in the woods or in the meadow, you must check both the body and the clothes in order to get rid of the problem in time.

Symptoms of a tick bite in a person

Not all ticks are dangerous to human life, but some of them, in particular, forest ones, carry serious infectious diseases that can cause disability and even death. In our latitudes, the most dangerous diseases that forest ticks carry are borreliosis (Lyme disease) and tick-borne encephalitis.

The first symptoms after a tick bite in a person can appear after two - three weeks from the moment of infection. It is necessary to carefully listen to yourself and inspect the skin. Any of the following symptoms should cause a visit to a doctor.

Tick ​​Bite Symptoms

Signs of tick-borne encephalitis:

• temperature rise;
• chills;
• weakness of the muscles of the arms, legs, back and neck, even numbness (a characteristic sign of encephalitis);
• nausea, sometimes vomiting;
• aggravated headache;
• fear of the light;
• hallucinations (sometimes);
• redness of the skin of the face, neck, mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth;
• convulsions;
• epilepsy;
• paralysis.

Symptoms of Lyme disease can manifest at 2–20 days from the time of infection:

• reddening of the tick bite and its gradual increase;
• change the appearance of the bite in the cyanotic spot with a pale center.

As soon as the wound begins to increase in size, it is vital to consult a doctor. If you do not treat the disease immediately, then it will be impossible to restore lost health. Sometimes it happens, even if the virus is defeated, and help is delayed, irreversible consequences occur in the body.

Signs of tick-borne encephalitis

First aid for tick bites

As often happens, people are too careless about their health, not paying attention to the tick bites, and only when the disease begins to manifest itself (and this can happen even after three weeks), they begin to seek medical help. Unfortunately, in some cases it happens too late.

If you find the above symptoms, you should immediately contact an infectious diseases. For example, treatment of borreliosis should be carried out urgently with the help of specific medications, since serum is most effective only in the first days after infection.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

Timely diagnosis is directly proportional to the result of treatment and a timely diagnosis can save the life of the victim. Immunoglobulin with a tick bite, as well as emergency administration of antiviral drugs is shown only in the first three days after the detection of infection, late diagnosis complicates the course of the disease and reduces the chance of recovery of the victim.

What to do if the tick has bitten and is still held in your body? To find out if it is infected and is a danger to your life, you need to get it whole, and send it to a laboratory test.

Tick ​​removal methods

As experience shows, the easiest way to get a tick with a thread:

There are many "popular" methods of tick removal: pouring the wound with ammonia, and putting a cotton swab with a strong soap solution and much more. It is categorically not recommended to use nail scissors or sharp tweezers to extract the tick - with a high degree of probability, the tick will simply be cut into pieces, and its head will remain in the victim's body. All these extraction manipulations must be carried out with gloves so that the poisonous saliva of the arthropod does not get on the skin of the hands.

After extraction, the tick is sent to the study

What to do if bitten by a tick, but part of it still remained inside? You should not pick out the remaining head by yourself, just treat the place with greenery and consult a doctor. Sometimes the human body itself rejects the remains of the tick, but the victim remains in the dark about whether he was infected or not.

Then it remains only to observe the well-being and inspect the skin for several weeks. The appearance of any redness of unknown origin or a change in the shape of the bite site should alert and cause a trip to the doctor.

What to do when a tick bite?

After the bite, anti-encephalitic immunoglobulin is injected.

As a rule, serum is administered only to children, when every hour of life is counted, adults will have to establish the presence of the disease in the laboratory. A bitten tick, regardless of the results of the tests, should monitor the condition of the skin, and at the first appearance of unknown eruptions, immediately consult a doctor. In addition, after three weeks it is necessary to donate blood for analysis again to make sure that there is no threat to life and health.

Tick ​​bite consequence

With timely treatment to specialists and the rapid start of treatment, complications of the disease can be avoided and the course of the disease can be alleviated. Tick-borne encephalitis virus, like Lyme virus, is easily confirmed with a blood test, however, symptoms in a person may manifest too late for the introduction of a special serum, and it is not known how long irreversible effects in the form of paralysis will begin.

The child was bitten by a tick. What to do?

A tick bite is especially dangerous for children whose body may not cope with the infection. The immune system of children is still too weak to meet with such heavy artillery in the form of tick-borne encephalitis virus or borreliosis.

Therefore, if a child’s mite bit, the medical assistance should be prompt. The smaller the child, the faster it is necessary to seek medical help. Doctors will tell you what to do after a bite, and what tests should be taken to make sure that there is no danger to the life and health of the child.

Emergency help for tick bites

How to avoid a tick bite

Rules to help protect against tick bites

As soon as spring days become warm (starting from +20), you should follow clear rules to avoid tick bites:

• for walks, prefer light-colored clothing, which is easier to detect arachnid;
• clothes should be with long sleeves, pants - with elastic bands under, tucked into high socks;
• if possible, wear a thermal underwear that fits tightly on the body;
• avoid high grass and shrubs, do not tear branches;
• before walking, use repellents, but be careful and read the instructions: preparations intended for clothing should not be applied to the skin.
• a hat and a closed neck are the obligatory attributes of your outdoor recreation;
• when you come home, carefully examine yourself and the clothes (sometimes the tick left on the clothes just waits for a good moment to attack);
• on a hike, inspect each other during each halt, shake off outer clothing, hats, look underwear;
• ask someone to inspect your hard-to-reach places (remember that if a tick bit, you simply will not feel this because of the anesthetic secreted by it, which means it will be difficult to detect it);
• in the off-season, constantly inspect your pets, especially those who love to walk outside; in animal fur, especially under collars and in the area of ​​withers, ticks can remain imperceptible for a long time and fall off in your home;
• preventive measures in the form of vaccination and the purchase of an insurance policy will be able to protect you from the disease and give you the opportunity to receive prompt and qualified assistance.

Video

Read the visual instructions for removing the tick with a thread. Timely assistance can save lives!