Bitten by a human tick. Tick ​​bite - why is an encephalitis tick dangerous and how to treat it correctly? Dynamics of seasonal activity

More than half a million victims of tick bites, of which 100 thousand are children, seek medical help in Russia every year.

Up to 10 thousand cases of the disease are registered in Russia every year tick-borne encephalitis.

The maximum peak of tick-borne encephalitis infection occurs in the spring and summer.
People who have recovered from tick-borne encephalitis develop lifelong immunity to this disease.

Often tick-borne encephalitis leaves behind unpleasant consequences... In the case of severe forms of the disease, people die or become disabled.

How does the bite and infection occur?

In most cases, the tick bite becomes invisible and is not detected immediately, since at the time of the tick bite, the tick secretes special anesthetic substances. The tick most often digs into those places where softer and more delicate skin: neck, skin behind the ears, armpits, skin under the shoulder blade, gluteal region, groin, etc.

The tick bites through the skin and inserts a special pharyngeal outgrowth similar to a harpoon (hypostome) into the wound. A kind of harpoon is covered with teeth that hold the tick, so it's not so easy to pull it out.

In the case of tick-borne encephalitis, the virus enters the human blood through the tick's saliva. Directly from the moment of the bite, the virus enters the victim's body. Therefore, even a quick extraction of a tick does not exclude infection with tick-borne encephalitis.

In the case of borreliosis, bacteria accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract of the tick and begin to be secreted into the victim's body at the moment when the tick begins to feed. This usually happens 4-5 hours after the bite. Therefore, timely removal of the tick can prevent infection.

It is worth noting that not all ixodid ticks are infectious. However, a tick infected with the tick-borne encephalitis virus retains it throughout its life.

The most common diseases transmitted through a tick bite

Disease	Causative agent of the disease	Mite carrier	What does it look like?
Tick-borne encephalitis	Virus from the Flavaviridae family	Ixodid ticks: I. ricinus, I. persicatus
Ixodic tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease)	Spirochete -Borrelia burgdoferi	Ixodid ticks: , I. persicatus (Europe, Asia) I. scapularis, I. pacificus (North America)
Crimean hemorrhagic fever	Virus of the genus Nairovirus, family of bunyaviruses	Mites kindHyaloma H. marginatum H. punctata, D. marginatus, R. rossicus

Tick-borne encephalitis- an infectious viral disease transmitted through tick bites, characterized by fever and central nervous system often leading to disability and death.

Where is tick-borne encephalitis more common?

Tick-borne encephalitis is most widespread in the taiga-forest regions from Sakhalin to Karelia, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, northern China, Mongolia, Korea, the Baltic States, and Scandinavia.

Tick-borne encephalitis symptoms

On average, symptoms of the disease appear 7-14 days (5-25 days) after infection. The onset of the disease is acute, more often the patient can indicate not only the day, but also the hour of the onset of the disease.

Common symptoms:

• Chills
• Feeling hot
• Pain in the eyeballs
• Photophobia
• Muscle aches
• Pain in bones, joints
• Headache
• Vomit
• Convulsions are possible, more often in children
• Lethargy
• Drowsiness
• Excitement (rare)
• The patient has red eyes, face, neck, upper body.

Forms of meningitis

The disease can proceed in several forms, which have some peculiarities: febrile form, meningeal form, focal form.

• Febrile form develops in half of cases of the disease (40-50%). It is characterized by a fever lasting 5-6 days (38-40 C and above). After the temperature drops, the condition improves, but general weakness can persist for another 2-3 weeks. In most cases, the disease ends with complete recovery.
• Meningeal form the most common form (50-60%). It is characterized by severe symptoms of general intoxication and symptoms of inflammation of the meninges. Symptoms of general intoxication: high temperature over 38 C, chills, fever, sweating, headache of varying intensity. Symptoms of inflammation of the meninges: nausea, frequent vomiting, headache, decreased elasticity of the neck muscles. Possibly: facial asymmetry, different pupils, impaired movement of the eyeballs, etc. Recovery is slower than in the febrile form. For 3-4 weeks, symptoms such as weakness, irritability are characteristic. tearfulness, etc. Development of a chronic form of the disease is possible.
• Focal form- has the most severe course. It is characterized by high fever, severe intoxication, the appearance of impaired consciousness, delirium, hallucinations, disorientation in time and space, convulsions, impaired respiratory and cardiac activity. Most often it becomes chronic.
• Chronic form the disease develops several months or even years after the acute period of the disease. The chronic form occurs in 1-3% of patients. The disease is characterized by constant muscle twitching in the face, neck, shoulder girdle, frequent seizures with loss of consciousness. The functions of the limbs, mainly the upper ones, decrease, their tone and tendon reflexes decrease. The psyche is disturbed up to dementia.

Forecast

In most cases, the disease ends with complete recovery. With focal forms, a large percentage of a person will remain disabled. The terms of incapacity for work are from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 months, depending on the form of the disease.

Ixodic tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease)

This is an infectious disease transmitted through the bites of ixodid ticks, characterized by damage to the nervous system, skin, joints, heart, the disease is prone to chronic course.

How does the infection take place?

The symptoms of the disease will depend on the stage of the course of the disease. In total, 3 stages can be distinguished: 1) early stage, 2) stage of spread of infection 3) stage of chronic infection

1. Early stage

The first manifestations of the disease occur on average through 10-14 days after being bitten.
Nonspecific symptoms:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Temperature increase
• Chills
• Pain and aches in muscles, joints
• General weakness
• Symptoms of upper respiratory tract inflammation (sore throat, cough, etc.) are possible.

Specific symptoms:

• The appearance of a special redness at the site of the bite, often of an annular shape (erythema migrans), which expands on the sides within a few days.

In some patients, the characteristic redness may be absent.

• Joint pain

Also possible: pinpoint rash, ring-shaped rashes, conjunctivitis. Swollen lymph nodes near the site of the bite.

1. Stage of infection spread(appears 2-3 weeks or 2-3 months after infection)

• Defeat nervous system: Inflammation of the nerve roots of the cranial nerves, the roots emerging from the spinal cord, which is manifested by lumbar pain, pain in the face along the nerves, etc.
• Defeat hearts: rhythm disturbance, development of myocarditis, pericarditis.
• Defeat skin: transient red rash on the skin.
• Less commonly affected: eyes (conjunctivitis, iritis, etc.), respiratory organs (bronchitis, tracheitis, etc.), genitourinary system (orchitis, etc.).

1. Chronic infection stage(manifestations occur 6 months or more after infection)

• Damage to the nervous system: impaired thinking processes, decreased memory, etc.
• Joint damage: joint inflammation (arthritis), chronic polyarthritis.
• Skin lesions: the appearance of nodular, tumor-like elements, etc.

If the tick is removed no later than 5 hours after the bite, the development of borreliosis can be avoided. This is due to the fact that the causative agent of Borrelia disease is located in the intestine of the tick and begins to be released only when the tick actively begins to feed, and this, on average, occurs 5 hours after it is introduced into the human skin.

Forecast

The prognosis for life is favorable. When started late and not correct treatment the disease becomes chronic and can lead to disability. The terms of incapacity for work are from 7 to 30 days, depending on the course and form of the disease.

Crimean hemorrhagic fever

a severe viral infectious disease transmitted through tick bites, characterized by fever, intoxication and bleeding. The disease belongs to a number of dangerous infectious diseases.

Symptoms of the disease

On average, symptoms of the disease appear 3-5 days after the bite (from 2 to 14 days). Symptoms appear according to the period of illness. In total, there are 3 periods of the course of the disease: the initial, the height and the period of recovery.

1. Initial period (duration 3-4 days)

• Sudden rise in temperature
• Strong headache
• Pain and aches throughout the body, especially in the lower back
• Sharp general weakness
• Nausea, vomiting
• Lack of appetite
• Dizziness
• In severe cases, impaired consciousness

1. The height of the disease

• Decrease in temperature by 24-36 hours, then its rise again, and after 6-7 days again decrease
• The appearance of small punctate subcutaneous hemorrhages (petechial rash), on the lateral surfaces of the abdomen, chest
• Bleeding gums
• Bloody discharge from the eyes, ears
• Nasal, gastrointestinal, uterine bleeding
• A sharp deterioration in general condition
• Enlarged liver
• Lower blood pressure
• Heart palpitations
• Lethargy, confusion
• Face, neck, red eyes
• Yellowness

1. Convalescence period (duration from 1-2 months to 1-2 years)

• Weakness
• Increased fatigue
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Heartache
• Redness of the eyes, mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx
• Decreased blood pressure and variability in heart rate (persist for 2 weeks)

Forecast

Late hospitalization, misdiagnosis and treatment is often fatal. The mortality rate is 25%. The terms of incapacity for work are from 7 to 30 days, depending on the form of the disease.

Diagnosis of diseases

The earliest diagnosis of the disease can be carried out only 10 days after infection. During this time, the human body accumulates required amount virus to determine it in the blood. For diagnostics, a highly sensitive PCR method is used. Determination of antibodies (IgM) to the encephalitis virus is possible 2 weeks after the bite. Antibodies to Borrelia are determined only 4 weeks after the bite. Determination of antibodies in the blood is performed using modern methods as an enzyme immunoassay, immunofluorescence analysis, etc.

First aid for a tick bite

Do I need to call an ambulance?
Not really	Why?
By calling at 03 they will tell you for sure, specific recommendations in accordance with your case. The departure of the ambulance team will depend on the severity of the victim. However, in any case, the victim should be consulted at the nearest trauma point or other medical institution. In the absence of the above listed possibilities, start extracting the tick yourself.	The earlier you remove the tick, the less likely it is to develop formidable diseases such as encephalitis, borreliosis, etc. Correct tick removal reduces the likelihood of developing disease and complications.

What can not be done if bitten by a tick?

• Remove tick with bare hands... Through wounds on the skin, the virus secreted by the tick can easily enter the body and cause disease. Gloves, tweezers, a plastic bag or other available means should be used that can protect the skin and mucous membranes.
• Avoid touching the eyes and mucous membranes of the mouth and nose if you have come into contact with the tick.
• Do not drip oil, glue, and other substances that close the tick's airway, which is located in the back of the body. Lack of oxygen makes the tick aggressive, and it begins to pour out everything inside the victim's body with greater force, including viruses and harmful microorganisms.
• It is impossible to press or abruptly pull out the absorbed tick. The pressure on the digestive tract of the tick promotes the injection of its saliva into the skin, thus increasing the risk of infection. Trying to pull out the tick, you can break it, then the parts remaining in the skin can become inflamed and fester. In addition, the glands and ducts remaining in the skin contain a significant concentration of the virus and can continue to infect humans.

How to remove a tick: what to do, how and why?

What to do?	How?	What for?
1.Take precautions	Do not touch the tick with bare hands. Wear gloves, use a plastic bag or other available means.	The saliva secreted by the tick often contains viruses and bacteria, and if it gets on damaged skin, infection is possible.
2. Remove the tick	Methods: 1.Using special device(Tick Twister, The tickkey, Ticked-Off , Trix Tick Lasso , Anti-tick, etc.) 2.Using thread 3.Using tweezers	The right ways tick extractions are based on the fact that the tick should be twisted out of the skin, and not pulled out. Since the part that the tick bites into the skin is covered with thorns. The spines are directed in the opposite direction from the tick advance. Thus, when trying to stretch out a tick, there is a good chance that part of its body will remain in the skin. Rotational movements roll up the spines along the axis of rotation and the risk of tearing off the tick's head is significantly reduced.
Method using specially designed devices
Tick ​​twister
Trix Tick Lasso
The tickkey
Ticked-Off
Anti mite
Method using thread Take a thin thread (sometimes you can use long strong hair), make a loop. Throw a loop over the tick and shade at the very base. Then, grasping the ends of the thread, pulling it slightly, slowly and carefully begin to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. After making a few rotations, the tick is freely removed.
Method using tweezers Use tweezers to gently grasp the tick's head so as not to press on its abdomen. Then you begin to turn the tick, as if you were twisting it, while not pulling or jerking too much.
3. Remove the remnants of the tick from the wound (if it was not possible to remove it entirely)	Disinfect the needle (with an alcohol solution or hydrogen peroxide), and it is better to sterilize it by holding it over a flame. Then carefully remove the remains.	Development of an inflammatory process, suppuration is possible. In addition, the remaining glands and ducts inside the skin can contain viruses and continue to infect the body.
4. Treat the bite site	You can use any antiseptic: alcohol, iodine, brilliant green, hydrogen peroxide, etc.	Prevents inflammation and suppuration of the wound. Hydrogen peroxide can also help in removing tick residues, if any.
5. Administration of the vaccine	Tick-borne encephalitis: The introduction of immunoglobulin for the first time 3 days after the bite. 0.1 ml per 1 kg of body weight is injected intramuscularly. Administration of an antiviral drug (iodantipyrine for adults, anaferon for children). Yodantipirin - 2 tab. within 2 days.	Immunoglobulin against tick-borne encephalitis: high cost, frequent allergic reactions, low efficiency, European countries do not produce. Iodantipyrine - the drug is well tolerated, low toxic, effective against tick-borne encephalitis virus. It is prescribed for both prevention and treatment.
6. Send the tick for analysis	Place the removed tick in an airtight container.	This will help determine the tactics of further treatment. Will save you from unwanted complications.

Prevention of tick bites

Before visiting potentially dangerous places, prepare well and be careful.

• Reduce the number of unprotected exposed areas of the body to a minimum. Clothing should be long-sleeved and close to the wrist. Put on a hat. Tuck your trousers into knee-high boots.
• To scare away ticks, you can use special repelling agents (DEFI-Taiga, Gall-RET, Biban, etc.). For children Od "Ftalar" and "Efkalat" "Off-child", etc. However, their effectiveness is highly controversial.
• When moving through the forest, stay in the middle of the paths, avoiding tall grass and bushes.
• After leaving a potentially dangerous area, be sure to inspect yourself and your loved ones. Once on the body, the tick does not immediately dig into the skin. It may take several hours for the bite to occur. Therefore, in many cases, the bite can be avoided.
• You should not bring into the room recently plucked grass, branches, outerwear on which mites can potentially be.
• For the prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, it is necessary to be vaccinated. Vaccination of 3 vaccinations, followed by a repeat after 4, 6 and 12 months. Or the introduction of immunoglobulin a few hours before entering the danger zone. When in places associated with possible suction of ticks, it is recommended to take 1 table. (200mg) iodantipyrine.
• Going to the area where ticks are found, be as "armed" as possible, grab all the necessary things that you need in case of a tick bite. Necessary equipment: a device for removing a tick, a disinfectant (iodine, alcohol, etc.), an antiviral drug (Yodantipyrine), a container for transporting a tick for analysis. There are special kits on sale: “Anti-mite module”, “mini-anti-mite module”, etc., which include everything that is necessary for “anti-mite activity”.

With the onset of warming, there is a high probability of finding a tick bite on the body. In the summer, this problem becomes especially urgent and occurs more and more often. A bite can cause a lot of harm to health, and can become a serious threat to a person's life, therefore, the problem should be taken seriously.

How to protect yourself from a tick bite? What if bitten by a tick? Let's take a closer look at these issues.

Forest tick: how to recognize a threat

The consequences of such a bite are extremely serious (in case of infection and refusal of treatment):

• Paralyzes the body.
• Breathing problems occur.
• Deterioration of brain activity.
• Death.

If a person has suffered from a sterile tick, then the complications may not be as dangerous:

• The affected area decays.
• An allergic reaction occurs.
• Edema appears, Quincke's edema is possible.

It is impossible to independently determine whether an infectious tick has stuck or not. Their appearance and the color does not depend on whether they are infected or not. If bitten by an infected tick, timely treatment can save the victim's life.

How long does it take for the symptoms of a tick bite to appear in humans?

The first symptoms appear in 2-3 hours in the form. After a week or later, the symptoms described above may appear.

How is a tick bite different from other insect bites?

How to find out which insect has bitten and left characteristic marks on the skin? There will be one speck, there will not be the same in the neighborhood, with every hour the redness will increase, an allergic reaction may be observed. Bedbugs, for example, bite in several places at once, and fleas too. The bite of a mosquito and midge is much smaller than a tick.

Can a tick bite without sucking?

Can a tick bite through clothing and tights?

Why do ticks drink blood and how much do they need?

Ticks drink blood in order to feed themselves and leave offspring. Females will not be able to lay eggs in a hungry state, she definitely needs blood. How long can a tick make up the blood? From several minutes to several hours, and females, as a rule, stay on the victim's body longer. It should be borne in mind that most of the time the tick is on the skin of a person or animal in search of a place for sucking, so if the tick has not yet sucked, it must be brushed off as soon as possible (you do not need to press it on yourself like a mosquito, you can bring an infection under the skin) ... On average, an adult sucks blood for 1-2 hours, after which it disappears.

How much blood can a tick drink at one time?

Hungry individuals of the ixodid tick weigh from 2 to 15 mg, and those who are fed from 200 to 1200 mg, which is many times their own weight. In one bite, a tick can pump out up to 1000 mg of human blood. The size of a hungry tick does not exceed 4 mm, and a full one can reach 3 cm, becoming similar in size to a corn seed.

Does a tick die after being bitten?

Some seriously think that the tick dies after it bites a person, but this is not at all the case. Apparently it is confused with a wasp or a bee, which dies after being stung. The tick, on the contrary, only benefits from the bite, this is its nutrition, which contributes to further development and reproduction. A hungry tick will not be able to leave offspring, therefore, biting people and animals is a vital necessity for him.

Why is a tick bite dangerous for humans?

A tick can serve as a carrier of a rather extensive list of diseases, therefore, having pulled out a tick, it is better to save it for tests to determine infections (encephalitis, borreliosis, called Lyme disease), this is done in a laboratory at an infectious diseases hospital. It is worth noting that the presence of viruses in an insect does not guarantee that the victim of a bite will also get sick. It is necessary to examine the insect for peace of mind if the result is negative, and for timely treatment in case of confirmation of the infection.

Most often, they are transmitted and pose a huge threat to human life - and. Scientists have proven that the chance of infection from a tick is unlikely, since 90% of ticks, according to research, are not infected. Although minimal, there is a chance.

Is it possible to get infected from a tick if it has crawled over the body?

If a tick just crawled along the surface of the skin, it is impossible to get infected from it. The first stage of infection begins precisely from the moment the tick sucks and injects an anesthetic substance under the skin. So if a tick is crawling over you, brush it off as soon as possible and, if possible, with fire.

Bitten by a tick - what to do: first aid

If a tick crawls over you, shake it off immediately, and if it has already sucked, then remove it as soon as possible and save it in a jar with moistened cotton swab or blades of grass to bring it alive to the laboratory to study and diagnose infections.

Treat the wound with an antiseptic. If there are signs of allergy - severe redness and swelling of the bite site, immediately give the victim an antiallergic agent. You can buy drugs "Zirtex", "Suprastin", "Prednisolone": the dosage regimen of drugs is individual. The action of one pill is enough for a whole day. These antihistamines are actively used to eliminate the allergic effects of a bite. Taking a pill is not recommended for individual intolerance to the components. Possible development of hypokalemia, sleep disturbances, flatulence and negative nitrogen balance.

If the encephalitis virus has entered the human body, the drug "Ribonuclease" is prescribed for treatment. The drug is administered intramuscularly 6 times a day, in a hospital setting. The dose is prescribed by the attending physician. Ribonuclease is not recommended for respiratory failure, tuberculosis and bleeding. There is a risk of developing allergic conditions.

How to get a tick out?

1. In a circular motion counterclockwise, as if unscrewing a self-tapping screw, pull it out of the skin with tweezers. Watch carefully so that the tick head does not come off.
2. If you had to remove the bloodsucker in nature, and there were no tweezers nearby, a regular thread will help. With its help, the proboscis is tied around the very surface of the skin and is pulled out with light jerks.
3. After removal, you need to make sure that the tick is intact, put it in an airtight container and deliver it to the sanitary and epidemiological station for analysis as soon as possible.
4. Grease the surface near the bite with any antiseptic.

People are often advised to treat the affected area with oil, kerosene, gasoline and other liquids so that the tick gets out on its own. This action is erroneous - the mite will try to sink even deeper under the skin. But if the insect comes out after that, its body will not be able to be examined in the laboratory.

What if the head of the tick remains under the skin?

The head of a tick can remain under the skin in the event of an inadvertent, overly abrupt extraction. It looks like a small splinter, so some treat its extraction with negligence, saying “the tick is dead, the blood no longer sucks, it will fall off by itself” or simply do not notice. But this is not recommended. Remaining under the skin, the tick proboscis will provoke inflammation and suppuration of the wound. Therefore, do not leave the head or proboscis of the tick under the skin, waiting for them to fall off on their own.

Take a sharp needle disinfected in alcohol and pry out the remaining proboscis and remove it. After a bite, a small wound will remain on the skin, which will quickly heal if the tick was not contagious. Treat the bite with peroxide, then brilliant green or iodine. If, use Fenistil gel or a similar itch reliever. Try not to scratch the inflamed area so that the healing process will take place faster.

To prevent the head of the tick from remaining under the skin, cling it as close as possible to the suction site.

What disease can you get from a tick bite?

Subsequently, a tick bite in a person develops various ailments - from ordinary irritation to a serious or fatal illness:

Modern drugs can completely cure infections that are transmitted by the tick, provided that it is detected early and treatment is started immediately.

Signs of tick-borne encephalitis infection

According to doctors, the symptoms of this encephalitis are detected after 10-14 days from the moment when a tick bite was found in the victim. What should be done? There is no need to panic, often an increased body temperature and muscle pain can be a manifestation of a protective psychological response of the body after fear and anxiety.

The onset of the disease goes through certain stages:

1. Unreasonable and short chills, fever up to 40 degrees. According to the clinical signs of the formation of encephalitis, this period is more like a flu infection.
2. After a while, the patient may develop symptoms: nausea and vomiting, attacks of severe headache. At this stage, all symptoms indicate an upset gastrointestinal tract.
3. After a few days, the patient suddenly shows symptoms of arthritis or arthrosis. The pains in the head disappear, they are replaced by aches of the whole body. Patient's movements are very difficult, breathing problems arise. The skin on the face and body turns red and becomes edematous, purulent abscesses appear at the site of the bite.
4. Further, the symptoms only worsen, because the infection enters the patient's circulatory system and begins its destructive work. Delay can lead to death!

If a tick has been found on the body, it should be removed immediately. This procedure can be carried out on your own or you can go to the hospital. Health workers can easily pull it out and carry out a series of tests. Only in laboratory conditions can it be accurately determined whether this tick is dangerous. If treatment is necessary, you must unconditionally follow the recommendations and prescriptions of the attending physician in order to maximize the effectiveness of the treatment.

Tick-borne encephalitis treatment

Blood-sucking ticks are carriers of numerous infections and belong to the class of especially dangerous ones. Infection occurs directly through the bite of an arthropod. The most serious infections carried by ticks are encephalitis and borreliosis.

The peak of registration of bites occurs in the first half of summer, but the activity of ticks is observed until late autumn. The tick can catch on clothing and then make its way to exposed skin. Often penetration dangerous tick occurs through the sleeves, at the bottom of the trousers, in the collar area.

Tick ​​classification

In size, these representatives of arthropods rarely reach 3 mm, in general, the size of ticks ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. As befits arachnids, ticks lack wings.

Ticks are classified into two main groups:

• Sterile - those individuals that are not carriers of any infections;
• Infected ticks that carry viral, microbial and other diseases (encephalitis).

It should be noted that most often ticks begin to bite in early spring and late autumn. Please note that not all ticks are carriers of infectious diseases. Despite this, even a sterile mite can have serious consequences. That is why it is so important to know what to do in specific situation when attacked by a tick.

Tick ​​bites are the first signs in humans

As a rule, the first sign of a bite is the presence of an insect stuck to the victim's body. Most often, areas of the body hidden under clothing and places with a well-developed capillary system are exposed to this.

The tick bite is usually painless, and this fact goes unnoticed even after the tick has finished drinking blood and falls off the skin.

The first signs after a tick bite may appear after 2-4 hours. These include:

• headache;
• weakness;
• photophobia;
• drowsiness;
• chills;
• joint aches;
• painful sensations in the muscles.

If redness is observed during the bite, this may be a normal allergic reaction. But red spots that have reached a diameter of 10-12 cm can be a symptom. They can appear, both after 2 days and after weeks.

Overly sensitive people may feel signs of a tick bite such as:

• nausea;
• vomiting and stomach upset;
• Strong headache;
• dizziness;
• wheezing breathing;
• hallucinations.

If you are bitten by a tick, measure your body temperature every day for 10 days! Its increase 2-9 days after the bite may indicate that you have contracted an infectious disease!

Tick ​​bite symptoms

Most often, the first symptoms begin to manifest themselves 7-24 days after the bite. There were cases when a sharp deterioration in the condition was observed after 2 months. Therefore, the state of health must be monitored.

If the tick has not been infected, then the redness and itching quickly disappear without a trace, no other symptoms appear. If the insect has been infected, then after the tick has bitten, signs such as general weakness, chills, drowsiness, body aches, joints, photophobia, and numbness of the neck appear.

Please note that the affected area is painless, there is only a slight round redness.

Symptoms vary in severity. How tick bites appear depends on age, individual characteristics, the general condition of a person, on the number of sucked insects.

The main symptoms of an encephalitis tick bite in humans:

• Body aches
• Increased headaches

If there are such symptoms, nothing can be postponed, you should immediately contact the clinic.

	Description of symptoms
Temperature	One of the most common symptoms if bitten by a tick is an increase in body temperature. This occurs within the first hours after the bite and is an allergic reaction to the ingestion of insect saliva. The increased temperature can appear after 7-10 days, when the bitten one forgets about the experience and forgets. If a high temperature is recorded during this period, this is a sign of the development of an infectious process.
Redness after bites	This symptom is characteristic of Lyme disease. The tick suction site is redder and resembles a ring. This can happen 3-10 days after the defeat. In some cases, a skin rash is noted. Over time, the redness after the bite changes in size and becomes much larger. Over the next 3-4 weeks, the rash begins to gradually disappear and the stain may completely disappear.
Rash	A tick bite rash, also known as erythema migrans (pictured), is a symptom of Lyme disease. It looks like a bright red spot with an elevated central part. It can also be dark red or of blue color making it look like a bruise on the skin.

The earlier treatment is started, the better the prognosis. Therefore, it is important to get vaccinated on time, insure against tick-borne encephalitis, so that injections with immunoglobulin and subsequent therapy are free.

What does a tick bite look like on a human body?

The tick is attached to the human body using a hypostome. This unpaired outgrowth performs the functions of a sense organ, attachment and blood sucking. The most likely place for a tick to stick to a person from the bottom up:

• groin area;
• belly and lower back;
• chest, armpits, neck;
• ear area.

Bites can often manifest themselves in different ways. Let's look at a photo of what a tick bite looks like on a human body:

If, after removing the tick, a small black dot remains at the suction site, this means that the head has come off and must be removed. To do this, the affected area is treated with alcohol and the wound is cleaned using a disinfected needle. After removing the head, you need to lubricate the wound with alcohol or iodine.

Be sure to save the tick (put it in a plastic bag) so that you can test it in the laboratory and determine if it was Tick-borne Encephalitis or not. The severity of the consequences for a bitten person or animal and further therapy depends on this.

It must be understood that a small tick bite can lead to serious problems with health. So, encephalitis can cause paralysis of the limbs and lead to death.

If you are close to the city, go to the emergency room urgently, specialists will remove the tick without unnecessary risk. And there is a risk of crushing it during self-extraction, and if the crushed tick turns out to be infected, a large amount of the virus will enter the body.

The further course depends on how quickly the person reacted to the defeat. If he ignored the manifested symptoms and did not go to the doctor, the prognosis is extremely poor. The fact is that tick bites can manifest themselves only after a while.

Consequences for the body

A tick bite can cause a number of diseases in humans. Naturally, if you do not pay attention to this, serious consequences are possible.

Below is a list possible consequences tick-borne infections, in the form of lesions:

• nervous system - encephalomyelitis, various variants of epilepsy, hyperkinesis, headaches, paresis, paralysis;
• joints - arthralgia, arthritis;
• cardiovascular system - arrhythmia, surges in blood pressure;
• lungs - a consequence of pulmonary bleeding;
• kidney - nephritis, glomerulonephritis;
• liver - digestive disorders.

In severe forms of the listed infections, the loss of the ability to self-care, a decrease in working capacity (up to group 1 disability), epileptic seizures and the development of dementia are possible.

Diseases that can occur with bites

• Tick-borne encephalitis
• Typhus
• Hemorrhagic fever

• Borreliosis. The causative agent of this disease is spirochetes, which are distributed in nature, including ticks. The disease is chronic and affects almost all organs and systems. When treating borreliosis (Lyme disease), antibiotics are always used! They are used to suppress pathogens. Lyme borreliosis is caused by a microorganism from the spirochete group.
• Tick-borne encephalitis... An infectious viral disease transmitted through tick bites, characterized by fever and damage to the central nervous system. The consequences of a bite from an encephalitis tick can be very dire. In some cases, after suffering encephalitis, people become disabled.
• Typhus... The typhoid rash is initially often referred to as pink, although this first symptom only appears on fair skin. The next stage is the blanching of the rash, and later it reddens and darkens again. In severe cases of typhus, where hemorrhagic elements are visible, bleeding into the skin (petechiae) often develops.
• Hemorrhagic fever... The danger lies in severe and sometimes irreversible damage to vital organs. All people with suspected hemorrhagic fever should be hospitalized in the boxed department of the infectious diseases hospital.

Prophylaxis

1. It is best to get vaccinated earlier, because after infection the vaccine is prohibited. The vaccine is indicated for those who live in a disadvantaged region, professionally associated with the forest.
2. First of all, when going to the habitat of ticks, you need to dress correctly. Clothes should be with long sleeves, trousers, you also need to put something on your head, preferably a hood. Thermal underwear can be very convenient, as it fits perfectly to the body and does not allow the insect to crawl into secluded places.
3. Going to the area where ticks are found, be as "armed" as possible, grab all the necessary things that you need in case of a tick bite.
4. When moving through the forest, stay in the middle of the paths, avoiding tall grass and bushes.

In addition to ixodid ticks, the class of these insects has many other varieties. An army of harmful arachnids lives with us almost everywhere: in dwellings, in personal plots, in forest park zones. Are ticks dangerous to humans? What do they look like, how to find them? What to do if bitten by an encephalitis tick? How to provide first aid to a victim?

Attacking varieties

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

• Argas mites... They live in holes, caves, cracks. Can settle in crevices village houses, attack people at night, however, episodes and daytime attacks have been recorded. They are 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 seek the advice of a medical institution.
• Gamasid mite... Mostly birds bite, but if there are none 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 long time, while not giving himself away. It feeds on already obsolete cells. But with a decrease in immunity, they are able to penetrate deep under the skin, provoking various suppurations and rashes. Most often, they affect the scalp and face. You can get infected with this tick household way or from animals.
• Bed mite... The opinion of many people that this type of tick is capable of attacking is mistaken. 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 grain crops. Entering the human esophagus through dirty hands or products infected with it, is capable of provoking various food poisoning.

However, the greatest harm to human health is caused by forest ticks. We will dwell on them in more detail.

Forest tick bites

They attack both animals and people, in most cases in forest plantations. Recently, however, ticks in the Moscow region are quite common in parks and squares. They hibernate in fallen leaves, but as soon as the snow cover melts, they begin their hunt. The peak of activity is observed in the middle of spring, but they can attack a person and bite in the fall. 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 consequences of a tick bite in humans can be extremely dangerous, since these insects are carriers of many different diseases... If it gets on the body, this insect may not bite immediately. It sometimes takes several hours until the moment of suction.

What does a forest mite look like?

A small arthropod insect that resembles a small beetle. It has 8 legs, the body of the tick is covered with a shell. The length of the insect is about 4 mm. It is very difficult to see the blood-sucking parts of it (head and trunk) with the naked eye, since they are very miniature.

Males are even smaller in size. A well-fed female can reach a size of about 2 cm, since she is able to drink blood from her victim 10 times more than her own mass, being hungry. What a tick looks like on the body can be seen in the photo given in the article.

Attention! The tick does not have eyes, but it perfectly orientates itself in space due to its highly developed sense of touch and smell. Scientists were able to prove that the tick is able to feel its prey, even being at a distance of about 10 m from it.

How does a forest tick attack a person?

There is an erroneous opinion: if a tick dug into the head of a person or sucked on the neck, then he fell from a height, for example, from a tree under which the victim was or simply passed by him. This is far from the case, because the insect never rises above 50 cm.

General information about bites

The severity of symptoms depends on the number of bites and the physique of the bitten. The most difficult to tolerate are the bites of the elderly, children, people suffering from chronic diseases, allergy sufferers.

The main symptoms of a bite:

• The body temperature rises.
• Headache appears.
• In some cases, itching may appear.
• Blood pressure goes down.
• Palpitations increase.
• A rash appears on the skin.
• Lymph nodes are enlarged.
• General weakness is felt.

The consequences of a tick bite in humans depend on the type of insect: infected (encephalitis) or sterile (uninfected). Much more dangerous bite encephalitis tick. The symptoms are very severe and extremely dangerous:

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

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

• Suppuration of bite sites.
• Allergies of various kinds.
• Swelling up to Quincke's edema.

It is impossible to understand by eye which tick has sucked.

Important! If you have been bitten by a tick, treatment early 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 he was bitten by a tick. Only after this time can the first symptoms begin to appear.

The site of the infected tick bite: redness of the skin and swelling. They do not appear immediately, but after a while. If the stain expands annularly, immediate medical attention is required. This is the first symptom of Lyme disease.

What to do with bites

A tick bite has been identified. What if the general condition worsens? In this case, the patient should be given an antihistamine to drink. Better if it is the drugs "Zirtex", "Suprastin".

How to properly remove a tick from the body

The insect is extremely firmly fixed on the human body. The fact is that his saliva acts like cement composition... The proboscis is firmly adhered to the skin. Therefore, the removal of the tick must be done carefully and very carefully. Recommendations for this procedure:

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

Diseases from tick bites and their signs

The consequences of a tick bite in humans are varied - from simple redness to severe 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 give an accurate analysis of the infection if 10 days have not passed since the bite. For accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to present the insect itself for examination, but only alive.
• Lyme disease (borreliosis). This disease can form if the tick was a carrier of the spirochete virus. Symptoms may not appear immediately, but after several months, as a rule: swollen lymph nodes and aching joints.

Modern medicines are capable of completely curing tick-borne infections with timely detection and proper therapy.

Important! It is not worth tightening with the extraction of the tick! The longer he drinks the victim's blood, the more pathogens enter the body.

Signs of the development 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 a tick bite was found in the patient. What to do? Do not panic and worry unnecessarily. A rise in body temperature and discomfort, especially in the muscles, can be interpreted as a protective psychological reaction to the fear of the victim. The formation of the disease takes place in several stages:

• A sudden and short-term manifestation of chills, after which the body temperature rises to 40 degrees. According to the clinical picture at this stage, the signs of encephalitis formation are similar to a flu attack.
• After some time, the victim is observed: nausea and vomiting, severe headache attacks. At this stage, the symptoms resemble food poisoning.
• Within a day, the patient begins to show signs of arthritis or arthrosis. Headaches disappear, they are replaced by aches in the bones and joints. Motor activity is severely limited, breathing is difficult. The skin on the face and body turns red and swells, purulent masses are released from the lesion.
• Further, the symptoms only intensify, since at this stage the virus that has entered the patient's blood begins its destructive activity in the body, and the consequences can become irreversible.

Therefore, if you find that a tick has stuck into the body, then you need to immediately remove the insect. You can do this yourself or contact the sanitary and epidemiological station. There, doctors will be able to remove and examine it. Only laboratory analysis is able to establish what type of this tick. Treatment, if prescribed, must be completed in full.

Important! Take any tick bite very seriously as it can be encephalitic.

Signs of the development 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 process of formation of borreliosis is divided into several stages of development:

• The first stage is a localized course. A typical symptom is round redness on the skin. The tick bite site, as the disease progresses, increases in diameter, especially its peripheral edges, from 2 cm at the beginning to 10 cm or more at the end. The edges of the skin at the epicenter of the lesion are slightly raised in comparison with healthy areas. In the center, the skin acquires a bluish tint, the immediate site of the bite is taken by a crust, then a scar forms instead. Lasts about 3 weeks, then slowly disappears.
• The second stage is disseminated, or, as it is also called, widespread. Symptoms begin to appear several months after the bite with disorders of the central nervous system, lesions of the heart and joints, pain in muscle tissues. Arthritis, encephalitis, myocarditis occur.
• The third stage is chronic. Formed in the absence of treatment. At this stage, a rapid defeat of the central nervous system occurs with polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, atrophy of the skin and other symptoms.

The forecasts are favorable with timely and correct treatment. The transition of the disease to a 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 test it for the virus. After a confirmed diagnosis, the patient is prescribed complex treatment. In acute forms, the strictest bed rest is prescribed in combination with intensive therapy, the purpose and task of which is to reduce intoxication in the body and suppress the activity of the virus.

The patient is injected intramuscularly with "Gammaglobulin". The sooner this drug enters the body, the faster the therapeutic effect will come. The remedy 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, it is necessary to carry out an infusion detoxification treatment. For this, the patient is injected with fluids that help restore the electrolyte balance, and glucocorticoids are also prescribed.

Antiviral medicines

Within the territory of Russian Federation more commonly used:

• For adults and children over the age of 14 - "Yodantipirin".
• For small children (up to 14 years old) - "Anaferon" for children.

Advice! If in the right moment These drugs will not be at hand, then they can be replaced with Cycloferon, Arbidol or Remantadin.

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

Emergency prophylaxis - take a tablet of the drug "Doxycycline", but no later than 72 hours: an adult - 200 mg, a child aged 8 years and older - 4 mg per kilogram of weight. It is not recommended to use the drug for small children and pregnant women.

Preventive actions

Most effective method prevention of diseases from tick bites - vaccination. Especially to people at risk - living in unfavorable areas or near a forest belt.

Six types of vaccines are officially used on the territory of our country, and two of them are intended for children. It is best to vaccinate late autumn... However, there are also emergency vaccination schedules for emergencies.

In the warm period of the year, vaccinations can also be made, but with such a condition that after vaccination, a person will not visit places where insects live for a month. The effect of vaccination will come only after the specified period. After this time, a re-vaccination is done. Then you can be vaccinated every three years. If, for some reason, the period between vaccinations exceeds 5 years, then the double vaccination will have to be repeated.

How to protect yourself from bites

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

• Favorable terrain for them is 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.

When going to such places on vacation, it is best to dress in light-colored clothes. Against its background, the clung insect is easy to notice. Be sure to cover your head with a cap, kerchief or panama hat. Every 2-3 hours, carefully examine the body, clothing, especially the head. Buy special creams, ointments and sprays, use them before visiting places where these dangerous insects are likely to live.

The head of the tick is covered with a black chitinous shell, and the body Brown color rounded shape.

What should I do if bitten by a tick

If, nevertheless, you tore off the torso from the head of the tick, do not panic, it can be pulled out using an ordinary needle, as is done when a splinter enters the finger.

• Tick-borne borreliosis or Lyme disease;
• Tick-borne encephalitis;
• Tick-borne typhus;
• Hemorrhagic fever;
• Ehrlichiosis.

How to protect yourself from ticks

These drugs are sold in many large supermarkets and specialty stores.

Popular tick repellents:

• Biban;
• Off! Extreme;
• Daffy Taiga;
• Raftamide maximum;
• DETA-VOKKO;
• Medilis from mosquitoes.

For kids:

• Biban-gel;
• Camaranth;
• Evital;
• Off-child.

Popular drugs with acaricidal action:

• Taiga refamide;
• Gardex anti-mite;
• Anti-mite tornado;
• Pretix;

Popular means of this group:

• Mite-kaput;
• Mosquito Spray;
• Gardex extreme.

People who, due to their profession or for other reasons, spend a long time in the habitats of ticks, are vaccinated against common diseases. These professions include foresters, surveyors, geologists and others. Even children over one year of age can be vaccinated, but many vaccines are designed for an older age.

Tick ​​borne diseases

Ticks can cause various diseases by transferring infected blood from one animal to another, some diseases can be transmitted to humans, so let's look at the most common diseases when a tick becomes their cause.

Tick-borne borreliosis or Lyme disease

An infectious disease transmitted by ticks can become chronic, and relapses are often observed. Lyme disease affects the nervous system, heart, and musculoskeletal system.

The causative agents of the disease are spirochetes of the genus Borrelia. This disease occurs throughout the world with the exception of very cold regions where ticks do not live.

When a tick bites its victim, it injects saliva into the skin, through which the infection enters the victim's body, after which it multiplies for several days and begins to affect internal organs (joints, heart, nervous system, etc.). The infection can persist for years in the human body and cause chronic illness with relapses. The incubation period of the virus lasts up to a month; during this period, symptoms may not be observed.

Signs of the disease are redness on the skin at the site of the tick bite, it turns red and increases in diameter, after which cyanosis appears in the middle, and its rim becomes embossed. After 2-3 weeks, the stain disappears even without treatment, and 1.5 months after the disease, symptoms of damage to the nervous system, heart and joints appear.

Treatment takes place in a hospital under the supervision of doctors; various immunostimulating and anti-infectious drugs are used for treatment.

Tick-borne encephalitis

The cause of this disease is often ixodid ticks living in forests and steppes. Also, tick-borne encephalitis can be contracted from goat and cow milk.

2-3 weeks after infection, the virus infects the gray matter in the brain, neurons in the spinal cord. The patient may experience convulsions, decreased sensitivity of the skin, paralysis of certain muscles. When the virus enters the brain, symptoms such as headache, vomiting, loss of consciousness appear. If the disease continues to progress, disorders appear in the cardiovascular system.

In the early stages of the disease, immunoglobulin is used, which contains cells that destroy the infection, in advanced stages, anti-infectious drugs are used.

Tick-borne typhus (typhus)

Tick ​​bite infection is a relatively mild disease that affects the lymph nodes and causes skin rashes. The first symptoms of the disease can appear only after 3-7 days after the bite.

Symptoms of the disease are fever of 39 or more, headaches and muscle pains, skin rash, small papules, swollen lymph nodes, sleep disturbance and other symptoms associated with damage to the nervous system.

For the treatment of the disease, antibiotics of the tetracycline group are used.