What to do when a tick bite

With the arrival of spring nature revives. With the advent of fresh greenery is associated with the appearance of various dangerous pests and parasites. Among them, a special place is occupied by ticks. These bloodsucking creatures are carriers of dangerous infections that can be fatal.Therefore, most people living in regions inhabited by parasites need to know what to do if a tick has bitten.

Tick ​​bite

The tick is representative of the animal kingdom, despite its similarity to insects. It belongs to the order of arthropods and is included in the class of arachnids. A small parasite has a flat oval body 2-3 mm long and 4 pairs of limbs, one of which belongs to the oral apparatus. The body is covered with a chitinous shell.

Ticks are saprophages or predators. The most dangerous carriers of diseases among them are ixodic ticks. With their paws, they cling to the victim and move through the body in search of a suitable skin area. This is usually tender skin, close to which the blood vessels pass.

On a note!

On the human body, favorite places for ticks are skin in the groin, in the armpit, in the neck, behind the ears. It is there that the skin is more thin, and it is easier for the parasite to bite through it.

The bloodsucker imperceptibly bites through the skin, injecting a special substance that has an analgesic effect. Then he sticks to the wound and drinks blood for several hours or even days.His body may increase several times, swelling from drinking blood. The tick is dangerous because with saliva, bacteria enter the wound and immediately infect the whole body through blood.

In addition to the ixodic tick, there is another type of parasite - itch or subcutaneous tick. It has a body size of about 0.35 mm in length and extends exclusively under the skin of its victim. In humans, signs of the presence of a subcutaneous tick can be seen in the form of a pustular rash on the face, in the groin area, between the toes of the feet, on the inner thighs.

Tick ​​removal methods

What to do with a tick bite, few know. When it is detected, you must immediately remove the parasite. But this must be done in certain ways. Sometimes the tick itself can fall off when enough blood is drunk. You can not try to crush him, sharply tear off the wound. If the tick has stuck, then with a sudden movement you can tear off its body, and the head and jaws will remain under the skin.

Important!

When crushing a tick or tearing off its torso, the probability of infection with a dangerous infection increases. This is due to the fact that the gastric juice of an arthropod is in the wound.

Tick ​​extraction methods

To minimize the risk of infection and remove the parasite completely with your head, you should contact the nearest medical facility where qualified specialists will cope with this task without difficulty. But sometimes there are no such institutions nearby, and it is impossible to delay the removal of the bloodsucker. The longer the tick sucked on the human body, the higher the risk of infection. When removing the parasite at home, you need to follow certain instructions:

1. Pull the tick with the help of the thread. You need to take the usual thread and gently wrap it several times around the parasite at the skin itself. Then with smooth movements in a spiral, take it out of the wound. The process may take several minutes.
2. Using tweezers. You will need ordinary tweezers with thin clips. They need to clasp the tick at the base of the head and also slowly make scrolling movements and gradually pull it in the opposite direction from the damaged area of ​​skin.
3. With the help of a special device. In the pharmacy, you can buy a kind of hook, which is rather easy to remove the bloodsucker.Hooking the tick with a hook, you need to swing it out from under the skin with swaying movements.
4. Remove the tick by hand. If there were no nearby auxiliary items, you can remove the tick by hand. To do this, it is advisable to pick up a handkerchief or gauze in order to better fix the bloodsucker. Clasping it with two fingers, you need to gently pull up twisting movements.

On a note!

The old-fashioned way to remove ticks with vegetable oil is not only ineffective, but also dangerous. Oil, getting into the wound, blocks the access of oxygen to the tick. The parasite can relax its proboscis and burp the contents of the stomach into the blood of the victim, including the causative agents of the virus.

The tick itself, which it was possible to get whole and intact, should be placed in a test tube or in a glass container and taken to the nearest laboratory at a medical institution. They will conduct the necessary tests and find out if the parasite was a carrier of any dangerous virus. In the case of a positive result, doctors will be able to draw up a treatment plan and prescribe the necessary drugs.

If the tick was damaged or crushed while pulling it out, it must still be placed in a container and stored in a refrigerator before being transferred to the laboratory.The dead tick will also take material for the presence of infections in its body.

First aid for tick bites

If a person was bitten away from a large settlement and there is no possibility to go to a medical institution, you need to know what to do after a tick bite. Pull it to immediately after detection.

On a note!

After you managed to pull the tick from a person, it is necessary to cauterize the tick bite with alcohol, lotion. To wet a tick bite is undesirable for the first couple of days. It is also recommended to refrain from being in direct sunlight.

People who are prone to allergic reactions are advised to take antihistamine tablets for tick bites: Suprastin, Tavegil, Cetrin, Loratadin, Claritin. You can smear the bite Fenistil gel. This ointment after a tick bite relieves swelling and irritation on the skin.

Among the folk remedies for removing the swelling and disinfecting the place of the parasite's bite use brilliant green, iodine, chamomile decoction. As a sedative, you can give the victim an infusion of motherwort, willow-tea, and a mother-and-stepmother.

If the victim’s allergic reaction has already begun, and he has difficulty breathing and swelling, measures should be taken with a tick bite:

• to ensure the rest of the victim, putting him in a horizontal position;
• unbutton shirt shirt;
• provide access to the affected fresh air;
• give drinking water;
• call the doctor or deliver the patient to a medical facility.

Important!

Diseases, which are carriers of a small bloodsucker, do not manifest themselves immediately. Within 2-3 days a person feels good. Sometimes the incubation period can last up to 2 weeks. Then the victim has a sharp rise in temperature and weakness in the whole body.

Drugs prescribed after a tick bite

Medical care for a tick bite should be provided by experts, but if you can’t get the victim to the hospital right away, they recommend that you take one of the antiviral drugs for tick bite:

1. Cycloferon is a modern immunomodulatory and antiviral drug, the active ingredient of which is Meglumina acridone acetate. Once in the body, it activates bone marrow stem cells, lymphocytes, promotes the production of interferon in the spleen, lungs, liver, and has an anesthetic effect. Reception of Tsikloferon is contraindicated to children up to 4 years, pregnant and feeding women.The drug is produced in ampoules of 2 ml and in tablets. The cost of packing 5 ampoules 340 rubles, 10 tablets will cost 190 rubles.
2. Arbidol stimulates cellular and humoral immunity to viruses of various kinds. The drug inhibits the fusion of the shell of the virus with the membrane of a healthy cell. The active substance Umifenovir reduces the duration of the disease. Arbidol is available in the form of capsules and tablets with different dosages. A pack of 10 capsules costs about 270 rubles.
3. Remantadin is a cheap antiviral and chemotherapeutic drug that actively fights against various viruses. The active ingredient Rimantadine blocks the penetration of the virus through the cell membrane at an early stage. Effective in the prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, provided it is received by the victim no later than 2 days from the moment of the bite. The release form of rimantadine in the form of tablets of 20 pieces per pack, the average price of which is about 100 rubles.
4. Human immunoglobulin is a solution for intramuscular or intravenous administration, containing a wide range of antibodies against pathogens of viruses and bacteria. After a tick bite in children, as a prophylaxis of tick-borne encephalitis, immunoglobulin is introduced by dropping in a diluted form. For adults, the drug is prescribed in undiluted form.Available in the form of ampoules and a bottle with a solution. 10 ampoules cost about 1000 rubles.

Reviews

Mite

Last summer, they found a tick behind the ear of a child. At first they were very scared with her husband. They were afraid to pull out the tick, they went to the hospital. They told us that the parasite had not yet had time to cling tightly. Studies have shown that the bloodsucker was not a carrier of viruses, but for prophylaxis after a tick bite, Cycloferon was prescribed antiviral medicine and gave Suprastin tablet against allergies. After this incident, a tick vaccine was given to the son.

Marina, Tula

I remember from my childhood how my uncle caught a tick on himself. He did not have time to suck, and no one gave this occasion meaning. After 2 days, my uncle had a fever and was taken to hospital. It turned out tick-borne encephalitis. I was lucky to have introduced immunoglobulin in the first stage of a tick bite. After 3 months, my uncle was cured and nothing threatened his health.

Konstantin, Petrozavodsk

A couple of years ago I was on vacation in a village with relatives. We went to the forest for mushrooms and berries. After another hike, I found a tick. We decided to pull out yourself. He had already managed to suck and crawl under the skin.When hooked with tweezers, the tick burst when pulled out. His head remained inside the wound. I had to urgently go to the hospital in the nearest settlement. There, the remaining parts were pulled out from under the skin and prescribed treatment with rimantadine. Drank the course for 2 weeks. There were no consequences.

Vladimir, Krasnoyarsk

Dangerous diseases

Spider-like bloodsucker is a carrier of a number of dangerous diseases. Each of them is accompanied by certain symptoms of the effects of an attack by a bloodsucker: chills, high body temperature, weakness, general malaise, a desire to take a horizontal position, and a reaction to bright daylight (photophobia).

The most dangerous diseases with which the parasite can infect are:

1. Tick-borne encephalitis. A carrier is an ixodic tick. The main sources of food are large and small animals, humans, birds. A tick can infect a person directly during a bite, or through dairy products from infected pets - cows and goats. With tick-borne encephalitis, the victim develops a strong fever, headache, nausea, diarrhea, reddening of the skin of the face, general weakness, apathy, drowsiness, and convulsions.
2. Borreliosis (Lyme disease).The first sign of the presence of a virus in the body of the bitten one is the appearance in 1-3 weeks of a large red spot at the bite site. Then the stain disappears. The incubation period of the disease can last several years. With borreliosis, fever appears, weakness in the body. The functioning of the internal systems of the body is deteriorating: the heart, visual organs, blood vessels, joints. Late diagnosis of the disease sometimes leads to disability of the victim.
3. Ehrlichiosis. In addition to humans, ixodid carriers of the disease can bite deer, horses, dogs. The incubation period for ehrlichiosis is 2-3 weeks. The disease itself can proceed almost unnoticed by the victim or, on the contrary, it is very difficult. There is a strong fever, nausea, sweating, anemia. Failure to treat a tick bite can be fatal.
4. Coxiellosis. Vector carriers are also more often ixodic ticks and infected animals. The effects of a tick bite occur in 5-30 days: sweating, high fever, dry, strong cough, lack of appetite, migraine, redness of the face. Sometimes the disease is accompanied by pneumonia.
5. Tick-borne typhus.The first sign of infection with this disease is the appearance of a bubble at the site of the bite. More severe symptoms occur after a few days: fever, aching joints, nausea. Gradually, a rash appears on the body, the whites of the eyes and skin turn yellow. Attacks continue for 3-5 days, then the condition of the victim returns to normal. After a few days, the next wave of symptoms occurs. There may be several such waves, each subsequent one is lighter.

Treatment of diseases

Tick ​​removal

If a tick has stuck, there is no need to wait for him to be able to suck and fall off himself. Even if the parasite has bitten a vaccinated person, you still need to go to the hospital. When a dangerous virus is detected in the body of the victim, treatment is prescribed using antibiotics and immunotherapy. The course of the disease and the severity of the consequences depends on the person’s immunity. A strong and enduring body is able to cope with the disease in a short time.

Important!

If the tick has bitten, but it has not stuck, but only the upper layer of the epidermis has bitten through the jaws, there is a risk of infected saliva in the human body. You need to catch the parasite and take it to the laboratory.

As an emergency prophylaxis of tick-borne encephalitis, a tick bite is given in the form of an immunoglobulin injection. Next, you should undergo a course of treatment with corticosteroid drugs, blood substitutes. After the cessation of all the symptoms of the patient's illness, they are transferred to antimicrobial agents and antibiotics.

When a tick, which is a carrier of borreliosis, bit, the victim is hospitalized and prescribed to take strong antibiotics. Doxycycline is often used in borreliosis after a tick bite. It refers to tetracyclines that block the reproduction of microbes in the body. While in the hospital, the patient is undergoing a course of vitamin therapy.

With the help of modern drugs for tick bites in a short time can remove the symptoms of the disease. During meningitis, vitamins B and C are injected into the victim's body. After the cessation of fever, inpatient treatment continues for 2 weeks. The recovery period can be several weeks.

The most dangerous diseases of tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis with timely treatment can be cured without serious consequences for a person.But in the case of delayed medical care or in the presence of a very weak immunity, serious consequences for the health and quality of life of the affected person can develop. With tick-borne encephalitis in the worst case - it is a disability or even death of a person.

Prevention of tick bites

Prevention of tick bites

To minimize the risk of being bitten by a tick, direct contact with the parasite should be avoided: walk on asphalt roads, avoid trees and bushes, do not touch street animals that can carry parasites on themselves. If there is an urgent need to go into the forest, you need to remember the following rules:

• each item of clothing is tucked into each other;
• cover the neck and head with a scarf or hood;
• remove long hair under a hat;
• wear light clothing on which the parasite is better visible;
• avoid places with tall grass and dense thickets;
• use special remedies for ticks: aerosols, creams.

After each trip to the forest or park, carefully inspect yourself after undressing. Immediately wash the clothes in hot water using powder.It is advisable to dry it in a special dryer or iron iron on maximum mode.

Even with these rules, you can not notice the tick bite on the body. If the parasite did not dig in, but simply bit through the skin, the victim could be infected with a dangerous disease. To prevent this from happening, in regions with a high level of tick-borne encephalitis infection in medical institutions, the population is vaccinated.

On a note!

Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis does not protect people from other viruses. Even if the tick has bitten repeatedly of an already vaccinated person, the victim must necessarily seek the help of doctors and provide for the analysis of the parasite.

Vaccination takes place in 3 stages: after the first vaccination 3 months pass, then the second is put, and exactly one year later the third. Then every three years you need to put only one vaccination. The vaccine stimulates the growth of antibodies in the human body and increases immunity to the virus. There is a form of emergency vaccination. It is shown to people who should soon be in the endemic zone of tick-borne encephalitis. Another option is to protect yourselfbeing on the territory of tick-borne activity - to take antiviral drug Yodantipirin during the entire stay.