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How To Protect Yourself From Ticks In The Country And In The Forest
How To Protect Yourself From Ticks In The Country And In The Forest

Video: How To Protect Yourself From Ticks In The Country And In The Forest

Video: How To Protect Yourself From Ticks In The Country And In The Forest
Video: 5 Tips to Prevent Tick Bites and Getting Lyme Disease | Johns Hopkins Medicine 2024, March
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FORGED-FORGED, Dreadful-Dreadful … MITE

The sun is shining, the grass is turning green, the leaves are blooming. Joyful and light in my soul, and I don't want to think about bad things at all. Today we will talk about small, but very unpleasant creatures that we can meet on a forest walk. They are ticks.

rmite
rmite

First of all, ticks are not even insects from the point of view of modern taxonomy, they are called ticks. The danger for us is the so-called ixodid ticks (Ixodeae). Two species are widely represented on the territory of Russia, these are the taiga Ixodes persulcatus and the European forest tick Ixodes ricinus. The Leningrad Region was doubly lucky - we have both species. Why is this small creature several millimeters long dangerous?

And the fact that when bitten, and ticks feed on the blood of animals and humans, the viruses contained in the body of the parasite are transmitted, among which there is a virus of a deadly disease - tick-borne encephalitis. In addition to it, ticks carry a whole "bouquet" of all kinds of infection: various forms of borreliosis, Lyme disease and others, one listing of which causes an impressionable person to tremble.

An adult female attacked and moves along the surface of the trousers

What is this vile creature, which is a whole reservoir of infections? In the process of development, the tick goes through three stages, at each of them it feeds on blood. The larvae hatched from the eggs attack lizards, mice and other small forest inhabitants. Then the larva turns into a nymph - an intermediate form, which, by the way, does not exist in insects. Nymphs feed on larger animals - birds, hares, wolves. But the time has come to receive a "certificate of maturity" - the newly appeared ticks climb higher on the grass blades and sit in ambush, waiting all day for the larger animal to pass. The tick lives for five or more years, eating only three times in its entire life.

Clinging to clothing, the tick begins to explore its new prey, slowly but surely moving up. He rarely bites right away, giving us a head start of up to an hour or more. The ixodid tick is a rare gourmet - it does not bite anyhow, but in the warmest and most delicate places - the torso, armpits, genitals. Likes to climb on the head, behind the ear. All this usually takes more than an hour. During this time, it is necessary to find and destroy the tick that did not have time to dig in.

And what happens if we didn't notice the parasite in time? Having settled down comfortably, the tick makes us an "injection" of coagulants and anesthetics, due to which the blood does not clot and we do not feel pain. Attaching itself to the body with the help of special organs of the jaw apparatus - chelicera, the tick penetrates deeper and begins to drink blood. Here, a small creature demonstrates the wonders of greed - swelling before our eyes, it turns into a one and a half centimeter bag filled with blood! Having done its dirty work, the tick falls off and falls to the ground. Now he thirsts for love - crawling towards the same eaten female. The "sweet couple" lays hundreds of eggs in the forest floor. The tick's life cycle is over, but our problems are just beginning …

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The right equipment for hiking in the forest

Are all ticks contagious, and what to do if the tick does dig in? To order wreaths, and on Zhvanetsky's advice, crawl towards the cemetery? Probably not worth it. According to statistics, not all ticks are infected with the tick-borne encephalitis virus, but only a certain percentage, and this percentage changes from year to year according to complex laws. There are also epidemiologically safe areas where there is no tick-borne encephalitis. We were not lucky here either - the Leningrad region is considered one of the centers of this disease. Doctors believe that Boksitogorsky, Kirishsky, Luga, Tosnensky, Volkhovsky, Tikhvinsky, Gatchinsky, Kirovsky districts are the most unfavorable in this respect …

So are there any effective ways to avoid a tick bite? Yes. But first we have to part with our illusions about the achievements of modern chemistry. I can argue that all (!) Repellents we sell are ineffective against ticks and do not protect against attack. In the photo you can see a female tick, which not only attacked me, but also busily moves along the double-treated surface of my trousers. So do not rely on all these cans and bottles - they are quite effective against mosquitoes for ticks, as they say, "on the drum."

During a forest walk, every half hour is recommended to carefully examine the body for the presence of intruders. In America, doctors recommend stripping as much as possible so that the attacking ticks are immediately visible. This number won't work for us, it's cold. Therefore, we will do the opposite - we will dress so as not to give the parasite the slightest chance. On sale there are so-called anti-encephalitis suits, which have long been known to taiga. The peculiarity of the suit is that it does not allow the tick to get to the body - it has double cuffs on the legs and arms, thick elastic bands, and a hood. Shoes when hiking in the forest should also be appropriate, not allowing the tick to get inside.

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The most effective remedy for encephalitis is vaccination. But now it is too late to do it - it will not work. An emergency measure for a tick bite is the introduction of a specific immunoglobulin, which is effective only in the first two days. A new drug is also widely advertised - tablets of iodantipyrine, an antiviral drug that is considered very effective. Details about the new tool can be found on the Internet at the manufacturer's website www.jodantipyrin.ru

It is not recommended to get a biting tick yourself - it is attached rigidly, and most likely, when you try to get the parasite, you will simply tear it in half. But in no case should this be done! It is recommended to lubricate the tick with oil or petroleum jelly, blocking the oxygen supply. The choking parasite should loosen its grip, making it easy to remove. You can also not lubricate the bite with alcohol or cologne - the tick will simply vomit, and infected saliva will enter the wound.

The removed bastard can be taken to the clinic - no, no one will treat him, but they will say whether it is necessary to treat you. Modern diagnostic tools allow you to determine whether a tick is infected or not.

And finally. In the forests of the Leningrad region, there are no three-meter poisonous snakes jumping from above, there are no Komodo monitor lizards, there is no tsetse fly, there are no tarantulas, karakurt and other centipedes. Let's be careful about the only deadly parasite we have - the tick.

Be healthy!

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