Experts spoke about common misconceptions about the tick bites.
No wonder people are afraid of ticks: bite threatens a possible 60 diseases, including Lyme disease (or Lyme disease), viral fevers, tick-borne typhus or palsy, etc..
The most dangerous and well-known disease — tick-borne encephalitis causes brain inflammation and in rare cases death. But is it all scary?
The most famous fallacies exposes Vladimir Protasov, the physician network of medical clinics “Family”.
The # 1 myth All ticks carry disease
In fact, from the variety of mites (science has more than 48 thousand species), human disease carry only two species of ticks — the taiga and the European forestry. But even in these species, not all individuals infected. Therefore, when you bite the risk of infection is quite low.
Myth # 2 If bitten by an infected tick, the disease will transmitted to humans
Do not have. Immunity may protect the body from the trapped virus.
The presence of infection in the tick does not mean that she will develop in the victim of the bite.
Myth # 3 Walking through the forest is dangerous, because the mites can fall on you from the tree
Biologists have proven that mites do not rise above 1.5 metres, and in addition forests they can live in other places with dense grass in the ravines, on the edges, even in city parks.
Mites are some time to crawl on the victim and to be at the head — this is a misconception.
Ticks usually sit on the stems or blades of grass, and enough legs for anything that moves.
Myth # 4 Pliers are more willing to sit on white
It’s not true.
Visual apparatus does not allow the mites to distinguish between colors, but the smell is so developed that they can smell a person over 10 meters.
And on the clothes of light tones just ticks easier to detect.
How to protect against bites?
If you are going into the forest, carefully choose clothes. Smooth the fabric over the tick will be harder to hold on to. Jacket, might want to tuck in pants, and hem — in socks, cuffs, sleeves tight to pull better on the wrists or to fill in the gloves.
Shoes are preferable to high and closed. Headgear mandatory, the best choice the hood, and protects hair, and neck.
Frequently inspect yourself and children during the walk. The mites usually takes about half an hour to find a suitable place bite — soft and delicate fabrics. If you are attentive, you can just remove it from yourself. When I returned home and undressed, once again, look around.
Pay special attention to the “favorite” places ticks: behind the ears, on the neck or stomach, in the groin, the armpits, on the inner sides of elbows and knees.
How to understand that bit you?
If you did not immediately see a tick on himself, to help identify the bite can the following alarming symptoms: fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, or muscle pain, redness on the skin (it is formed at the bite site), rash on the body. Different diseases symptoms can appear from several days to two weeks after infection.
The most reliable way to learn about the disease, to donate blood for the study some time after the bite.
PCR will show the presence of tick-borne encephalitis only ten days after the bite, and for the presence of antibodies to it — only after two weeks.
