How to protect yourself from ticks. How to protect yourself from ticks in the forest or on a hike - the main precautions How to protect your home from ticks

A tick is an animal that is often called an insect, but in fact this creature does not belong to them, since it belongs to the order of arthropods, the class of arachnids. Among the representatives of the group of ticks, there are species that are harmless to humans and others that are very dangerous. They often carry diseases that can lead to death, so it is important for everyone to know what the danger is, how to protect themselves from ticks and how to provide first aid in case of a bite.

The tick looks like a brown spider. Its body size changes significantly during the saturation process. A hungry tick can be up to 0.3 cm long, a well-fed tick can be more than a centimeter long.

Ticks are carriers of various diseases, the most dangerous of which are tick-borne encephalitis - inflammation of the brain and borreliosis, which affects the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

The consequences will be severe if health problems are not detected in time and treatment is not started in a timely manner. In addition to these diseases, you can become infected through a bite with various types of fevers, typhoid, viruses - about 60 diseases in total, but they appear extremely rarely.

By sticking to the skin of a person or animal, the tick injects a substance into the victim’s blood that does not allow pain to be felt at the site of the bite and can itself be very small. It is difficult to notice and can be detected after a long time, when the tick has already burrowed deeply and the likelihood of infection is high. For this reason, it is doubly important to know how to protect yourself from ticks in the forest, in the park, or in the country.

Where are ticks found?

Most often, ticks can be found in coniferous forests, ravines, and on roadsides. They live and reproduce in a humid environment: under old rotten leaves, in the soil and in the grass. They are more active in wet weather; if the day is dry and clear, they become more dangerous in the mornings and evenings.

Contrary to popular myth, they do not live in trees, but cling to animal fur and people’s clothing, climbing to do this on low plants – up to 1 meter. There are about 10-12 times more ticks along the paths than in the forest, since the likelihood of finding food for them here is much greater.

Recently, these arthropods are also found in cities, especially in forested areas, from where they can be brought into the house by pets or people themselves.

Ways to protect yourself from a tick bite

The question of how to protect yourself from ticks in nature is faced by tourists, lovers of going out and relaxing in nature, forestry workers and people of other professions associated with staying in forests and fields.

In the spring, you can get vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis - they will help in case of a bite to avoid contracting the disease. Vaccinations are done several weeks before the tick season and are especially important for those who often visit the forest or work there.

It’s safer to move in open, dry places; in hot weather, avoid clearings overgrown with small bushes and grass; on forest roads, try to stay as far away from the roadsides as possible.

Clothes for hiking in the forest should be made of smooth fabrics that ticks cannot catch on, and have tight-fitting cuffs and collars. Pants must be tucked into boots, shirts and T-shirts must be tucked into pants, jackets must be tied with a belt if there is no elastic at the bottom. You should definitely put a hat on your head or tie a scarf and put on a hood to prevent the tick from slipping down your collar.

Once every 30-40 minutes, inspect your clothing, since the tick, clinging to it, will crawl for some time in search of a place to bite. They choose places with thin skin - behind the ears, armpits, on the neck, elbow bends, under the hair, in the groin, under the knees.

Tick ​​protection

Another option for protecting yourself from ticks in the country and in the forest is treating skin and clothing with special products; for gardeners, this method, along with periodic inspections, will be the most effective.

All means are divided into repellent or repellents and those who kill - acaricides. There are drugs with combined effects. Repellents are applied to the skin or clothing, acaricides are applied only to clothing due to toxicity.

All products must be checked for allergenicity, applied to the skin, avoiding contact with the eyes, nose and other mucous membranes, and clothes should be treated without wearing them. Be sure to read the instructions before use.

First aid for a tick bite

The first thing you need to do is get the bug out as soon as possible to reduce the risk of infection. To prevent infection from getting into the wound, it is treated with any antiseptic before removing the tick. You need to pull it out carefully so as not to crush the body and spread disease.

You can remove a tick by making a loop of thread to grab it, unscrewing it with tweezers, and you should not lubricate the bite site with vegetable oil, much less kerosene.

There is another dangerous myth in this regard, that these liquids will not give the tick the opportunity to breathe and it will begin to crawl out on its own. They may not allow you to breathe, but it will take a couple of hours, and on top of everything else, the tick may die, and this will only complicate your treatment. Therefore, we take out this bug as quickly as possible, and the most effective way is thread. The author of these lines had to pull it out this way, it is the most convenient. Having wrapped the tick, we twist it, swaying from right to left, usually a few movements are enough and do not pull too hard at once, so as not to tear the tick into two parts.

If the head still comes off when twisting, then wipe the bite area with alcohol and remove the residue with a sterile needle. The bite may hurt for several days due to inflammation and may not heal for a long time.

After all procedures, the bite wounds are disinfected, as are the hands of the person who removed them.

In case of redness of the bite site, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, pain, rashes, immediately consult a doctor who will prescribe tests, treatment or preventive measures.

Hello dear readers. In today's article we are talking about what ways there are to protect children from ticks in nature.

How to prevent a tick bite, how to remove it correctly.

Rules for protecting children from ticks in nature

When the sun begins to warm up, how nice it is to take a walk with your child in a park, a forest, or just in a yard with a lot of green space.

But it should be remembered that in the warm season ticks can live in all these places.

Ticks begin to appear in forests, fields, and on any lawns from the very first warm days; they are found until October, but most of them are in the spring months and early summer.

In cloudy weather they are more active than on dry and hot days. Ticks are found on flower stems, bush branches, and blades of grass ranging from 30 to 70 centimeters in height.

When a person passes by, insects cling to clothing and crawl along it for 20-40 minutes to find a bare area of ​​skin to feed on, and they look for the thinnest areas (neck, areas behind the ears, armpits, back of the head).

Children are especially vulnerable: they are smaller and ticks attack them more often.

If a child is bitten by a tick, the bite itself is not dangerous. When bitten, pain is not felt, since the insect’s saliva contains painkillers.

The tick will suck blood and fall off. There will be redness, itching, and slight swelling in the wound area.

Infections that enter the bloodstream after a bite with tick saliva are dangerous.

A tick can infect a child with borreliosis (Lyme disease) or tick-borne viral encephalitis.

Encephalitis is a very serious disease, causing an inflammatory process in the membranes of the brain.

This can lead to paralysis. Lyme disease most affects the heart and blood vessels, and even cardiac arrest can occur.

It is very important for parents walking with their children in the forest or in the park, or staying with them in the country, to know how to protect themselves from ticks in nature.

Not every bite, of course, carries the risk of contracting a serious illness, but since there is a risk, it is better to know how to play it safe.

On the Internet you can find the website of Rospotrebnadzor, there are tables where you can see in which regions there are the most ticks.

You can protect yourself from ticks

If you follow a number of rules, the likelihood that your child will be bitten by a tick can be significantly reduced.

• The smallest children can be placed on a light-colored diaper or sheet: it is easy to see the tick on them, since it is dark in color.
• Make sure that children do not lie on the grass or walk on tall grass; It is better to move along well-trodden paths in the forest.
• At the dacha, you need to mow the grass on time and remove overgrowth. It is necessary to treat the dacha area with special anti-tick products.

So, you go for a walk in the park or in the forest during the months when there are ticks: how can children protect themselves?

• Clothes should be light-colored, tight-fitting, and have long sleeves.
• The shirt or T-shirt must be tucked into the trousers.
• It is advisable to tuck your trousers into your socks.
• For clothes, stroller, bicycle, etc. repellent should be applied. Repellent should not be applied at home.
• Wear closed shoes.
• Walk only in a hat, hide your hair under it.
• you can use a special protective clothing against ticks.

It is very important to examine the child with whom you are walking outdoors approximately every 20 minutes.

When you return home, you need to carefully examine the child again (remove clothes, examine the whole body and hair).

This must be done even if you have used a repellent. The repellent must be washed off upon returning from a walk.

During the season when there are a lot of ticks (spring, early summer), it is better not to bring home bouquets of flowers, as they may contain ticks.

If you take your dog for a walk, it should also be thoroughly examined upon returning home. How to protect yourself from ticks in the country? All of the above rules are observed if you spend a lot of time with your child at your summer cottage.

In addition, the area itself must be treated with anti-tick products.

How to choose tick repellents for children

Products that can protect against ticks are divided into two types:

• Repellents will repel ticks.
• Acaricides kill ticks. They contain alphacypermethrin, the effectiveness of the products is high, but they are toxic.
• Combined means of protection containing both repellents and acaricides.

How can a child protect himself from a tick bite using special means?

Children are shown repellents that can be natural or chemical. Natural ones are not toxic, but their action time is shorter than that of chemical repellents and their effectiveness is lower.

Chemicals are considered by doctors to be relatively safe for children. They contain DEET (diethyltoluamide) or DMF (dimethyl phthalate).

Both chemical compounds have repellent and insecticidal properties. Every four hours a child is in the forest or in the country, chemical repellents must be reapplied.

Until the child turns 12 years old, the content of DEET and DMF in the repellent should be reduced (to 8% DEET and 10% DMF, respectively).

Parents can purchase repellents in the form of creams, aerosols, lotions, etc. Look on the packaging for the state registration number with the letter “U”: it means that the product is harmless to children.

Store substances that protect against ticks at a temperature not exceeding 25 degrees.

How to use repellents correctly

• The product is applied to clothing in strips (especially on the ankles/collar/cuffs) before a walk in the forest or park and every four hours if you are outdoors (in the countryside) for a long time. Sometimes you can apply repellent to the skin, but in a very thin layer: in this case, the adult applies the repellent to his own hands, and the adult applies the product to the exposed areas of the child’s skin with his hands.
• It is not recommended to spray repellent near wounds, as well as near the eyes, mouth, and ears.
• The product is applied not at home, but outdoors.
• The product is not applied to the skin under clothing.
• Under no circumstances should the protective substance be sprayed near food.
• After you apply repellent to your child (and yourself), wash your hands well.
• The product must be washed off in time, and clothes treated with repellent must be washed (do not wear them a second time).

Parents should not forget that repellents are additional methods of protection against ticks, because they only repel insects.

The main way to protect against ticks is regular and thorough examination of the child. This is especially true for kids.

Another way to protect yourself: vaccination

Of all the diseases that a tick can infect, only encephalitis. The vaccine contains a non-live encephalitis virus.

The medicine is quite harmless and highly effective. Protection begins to take effect two weeks after the second vaccination, so the child should be vaccinated in March.

For childhood vaccinations (if the child is over a year old), German and Austrian vaccines are used. Their vaccination schedules may vary; your doctor will tell you the details.

Proper tick removal

How to properly remove a tick from a person? The tick will not fall off on its own; it must be removed as soon as possible; the sooner this is done, the less likely it is to become infected.

• The insect can be removed using a special device: they are available in veterinary pharmacies. You can also buy it in the online store. Buy two devices at once in a set, differing in size (for large and small ticks).
• You can use tweezers. The tick should be grabbed with tweezers right at the surface of the skin and pulled out very carefully. Under no circumstances should you rotate the tick.
• A simple thread will help. It is wrapped around the tick (also as close to the skin surface as possible) and the two ends of the thread are twisted together.
• If you cut off the base of the syringe, you can use a vacuum to pull the tick out.
• If you don’t have any devices at hand, try to grab the insect with your nails, but not with your fingers! Use a napkin, etc.
• After removing the tick, lubricate the skin at the site of the bite with an antiseptic (for example, iodine).
• It happens that after pulling out a tick, the head may remain in the skin. You can remove it yourself the same way you remove a splinter or consult a surgeon.
• The tick should not be smeared with any substances.
• After removing a tick, an adult should wash their hands well.

Parents should clearly remember how to remove a tick at home:

• It is very important to pull, not yank, and without much force (so that the head of the tick does not come off).
• You need to grab the tick just above the skin so that the insect's digestive system does not shrink and does not increase the risk of the tick's saliva penetrating the skin.
• After you have removed the tick, place it in an airtight container along with a damp cloth (this will prevent the tick from drying out) and take the jar with the tick to the laboratory. Addresses of laboratories on the website. At home, such a jar can be stored for no longer than two days (in the refrigerator). Laboratory tests will show whether the tick is infected or not. If the tick is infected, an injection of immunoglobulin will save you from dangerous diseases, which must be done no later than three days after the bite.

So, now you know how to protect yourself from ticks in the forest, park, or country house. Take care of your children! And watch Dr. Komarovsky's video about ticks.

The period of spring tick activity has begun. Every spring, hundreds of thousands of Russians bitten by ticks turn to medical organizations. MIR 24 figured out how to avoid becoming a victim of a tick and what to do if you find one on your body.

Few people are unaware of the dangers of ticks. However, every spring, when going to the countryside or just into nature, many people neglect basic safety rules. They seem to forget that an attached tick can be a carrier of dangerous diseases. These include encephalitis, borreliosis, ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis and hemorrhagic fever.

“All diseases transmitted by ticks are extremely unpleasant and have the most serious consequences for humans,” Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Arbovirus Biology at the Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immunobiological Preparations named after A. M.P. Chumakov RAS Galina Karganova. “The most dangerous among them, of course, is encephalitis, although others also require immediate identification and treatment.”

Ticks, carriers of the encephalitis virus, have been found in a significant part of Russia. Rospotrebnadzor clarifies that in total there are 48 territories in Russia that are endemic to viral encephalitis. According to the list compiled by the federal service at the end of January 2019, 19 regions are recognized as completely endemic (among them the most popular among tourists are the Vologda, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Novgorod regions, Crimea, Krasnodar and Altai Territories). The highest incidence of tick-borne encephalitis is in the Urals and North-West Russia. The risk of infection is high in the Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts. In another 29 regions, the virus has spread to parts of the territory. Their full list can be found on the Rospotrebnadzor website.

Moscow is still free from encephalitis, although it exists in the Moscow region - in particular, in the Dmitrovsky and Taldomsky districts.

Who should get vaccinated?

Viral encephalitis is acute, with high fever, nausea and vomiting. The virus attacks the spinal cord and brain and can lead to paralysis, disability, and even death. It is very difficult to treat, so the best means of protection against encephalitis is vaccination. Unfortunately, if you are going outdoors for the May holidays, then it is too late to get vaccinated now. After all, in order to get a protective effect, you had to come to your senses at least a month ago. For a lasting result, you need to do two vaccinations, and the protective effect occurs only two weeks after the second vaccination, and the interval between the first and second must be at least 14 days.

Those who are planning summer and autumn trips to regions where there is encephalitis should get their first vaccination against encephalitis right now. The standard vaccination regimen requires three vaccinations and a one-month interval between them.

Vaccination against encephalitis should not be given to children under one year of age and to those who are allergic to chicken eggs and components of vaccination vaccines, as well as while taking other medications.

How to minimize the risk without vaccination

If you are planning to travel to regions with high activity of encephalitis ticks during the May holidays, think about protecting yourself from infection in advance. According to Galina Karganova, most people expose themselves and their loved ones to unnecessary risk simply because they do not think about ticks. “Do everything you can to avoid them getting sucked on,” she says.

Before walking through a forest or park, wear closed clothing and shoes. It minimizes the risk of ticks crawling onto the body. Use anti-tick sprays. They need to generously spray shoes and pants below the knee. Clothing should cover your arms and legs, ideally with elastic bands at the wrists and ankles. There is no need to lie on the grass, immerse your face in a bouquet of wildflowers, or touch the grass with your hair. It is generally better to tuck your hair under a headdress or under a hood. Ticks move slowly, so they can easily be detected and removed from clothing and shoes. Therefore, while in nature, it is advisable to periodically carefully examine yourself and your children.

“Ticks are often brought home from a walk on clothes and shoes. There was a case of a tick even attaching itself to the body of a paralyzed old woman who did not leave the house: the children brought her a bouquet of wildflowers from a walk,” said Professor Karganova.

If a tick is already in your home, it will certainly find a victim. Therefore, when you come home from the park or forest, carefully inspect all your clothes, or better yet, wash them at high temperature in a washing machine. If you can't do this right away, simply put your clothes and shoes in a large plastic bag and tie it tightly so that if any arthropods get in there, they can't crawl out.

Ticks are often brought in from the street by pets. Therefore, cats and dogs must be treated with special means and anti-tick collars must be put on them. Then the risk of becoming a victim of an arthropod will decrease several times.

Check the tick for the virus

If you are nevertheless bitten by a tick, you need to remove it from your body as soon as possible. “There is no need to run with it to the first aid station and waste time, since the speed at which the tick is removed depends on whether infection can be avoided,” says Professor Karganova. It is better to remove the tick not with your hands, but with a thread, tweezers or a hook by the proboscis (loose it with rotational movements and pull it out entirely).

“It happens that parts of the tick remain. This is unpleasant, it qualifies as a thorn, but it is easier to deal with later. The main thing is to prevent infection with dangerous infections,” the biologist explained. The tick removed from the body must be stored in a jar or test tube and promptly submitted to the laboratory for diagnosis. Addresses of laboratories can be found on the websites of territorial departments of Rospotrebnadzor. Muscovites can apply for an examination to the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology.

The analysis must be carried out immediately. So far, the only effective way to prevent tick-borne encephalitis is the administration of immunoglobulin. But it can be administered within 72 hours after the bite, after which it is no longer useful. And the analysis will take more than a day, so it’s important not to waste time.

Symptoms of encephalitis, borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases are difficult to recognize in the initial stages. In many patients, they are similar to symptoms of poisoning, acute respiratory viral infection or overwork, so they can only be diagnosed by a doctor using a blood test. If you are diagnosed with these diseases, begin treatment immediately. If these diseases are not treated, they can lead to complications - even to such severe cases as damage to the nervous system and brain (with borreliosis and anaplasmosis). The latter diagnosis can also cause severe kidney damage. Hemorrhagic fever, in turn, can develop into sepsis, focal pneumonia, and acute renal failure. Therefore, under no circumstances put off antiviral therapy prescribed by your doctor “for later.”

In spring, with the onset of warm days, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of getting out into nature. But we shouldn’t forget about the danger that awaits us there, namely ticks. They can be potential carriers of encephalitis and other equally dangerous infections. It is in our best interest to do everything we can to protect ourselves from tick bites.

How to avoid a tick bite?

Basically, precautions involve preventing ticks from getting on your body. Many recommend wrapping yourself almost head to toe in protective clothing. This is, of course, effective, but we don’t always want to walk through the forest/park, etc. in such “outfit.” But your clothing is one of the most important factors in helping to avoid a tick bite.

Try to cover your legs as best as possible: choose closed shoes, tight-fitting pants, it is better if they have elastic at the bottom. There is an opinion that ticks can jump on a person from trees, but in fact this is not so, they cannot climb there. Basically, ticks wait for their prey on grass or bushes. But this does not mean that the head does not need to be protected.

Very often, ticks choose the most inconspicuous places to bite, or areas with delicate skin: the genital area, head, area near the ears, skin folds. These most vulnerable areas need protection.

If the weather and your plans allow you to wear clothes that cover your body as much as possible, great. If you live in a region with increased tick activity, this is especially true.

In addition to proper clothing, protection against tick bites while hiking or walking involves the use of special means. All existing tools can be divided into several groups:

• Repellents- repellents. Usually sold in aerosol form. You need to spray the product on those places where ticks are most likely to penetrate: ankles, hips, knees, waist, arms. Here are several effective drugs: “Biban”, “Acrozol”, “Gal-ret”. When the entire surface of clothing is treated with repellent, it repels ticks with 95% efficiency, and the effect lasts up to 5 days.
• Acaricidal substances- toxins that affect ticks, causing them to die. They also treat clothing, upon contact with which the tick becomes severely poisoned. Among the most popular: “Permanon”, “Pretix”.
• Acaricidal-repellent agents- combine the qualities of the previous two. One of the best remedies is “KRA-rep”

When using all these drugs, you need to remember that their effectiveness is reduced by moisture. They guarantee reliable protection only in dry weather.

How else to protect yourself from ticks in the forest? An equally important point is to examine your body. If your walk in nature was short, carefully examine your body immediately upon arriving home, especially the vulnerable places that we wrote about above. Also, carefully inspect your clothes and wash them to avoid bringing a tick home. If you are in tick habitats for a long time, it is better to periodically set aside a few minutes for inspection in order to detect a bite in time.

How to protect yourself from ticks in the country?

Recently, ticks have begun to live not only in forests and wild places, but also in country houses. How to protect yourself from a tick bite on your property?

• Try to mow the grass, trim the bushes, and remove branches from the area as often as possible. The fewer objects there are on which they can hide while waiting for a victim, the less likely they are to bite.
• Do not ignore the presence of rodents and destroy them, since they are often the ones who bring ticks with them.
• If you have already found ticks at your dacha, you can use acaricidal agents and treat the area with them.
• Frequently inspect pets that may bring ticks into the area.

Well, don’t forget about the basic methods of protection - closed clothing, preferably in light colors, on which ticks are easier to spot.

Vaccinations – preventive protection against encephalitis ticks

If you live in areas with high tick activity, vaccination will be the wisest decision. Although it cannot prevent an encephalitis tick bite, it will protect you from the consequences of the bite, namely encephalitis or other borne diseases.

It is better to get vaccinated before the tick season, so that at least two weeks pass before possible contact with them.

It is better to prevent any problem, in particular a tick bite, than to solve it later. Do not forget about precautions, and then your health and the health of your loved ones will be safe.

Ticks do not bite their prey anywhere, they choose places where the skin is softer and it will be more difficult to notice them (groin area, armpits, area behind the ears, the inside of the elbow and knee).

• Repellents (safest for people);
• Acaricides (should be applied only to the surface of clothing);
• Insecticidal-repellent (also applied to the surface of clothing).

Repellents include:

• Medilis;

There are also drugs in this group with a lower content of toxic substances designed for children.

Some people may experience allergic reactions when repellents come into contact with their skin, so it is recommended to first apply a small amount of the product to the inside of the hand and wait 20 minutes. If during this time redness or itching appears on the skin, you should stop using this product.

Acaricides– products of this group should not be applied to yourself, as they are highly toxic. To apply acaricides, you should place clothes on the floor or hang them and spray them thoroughly. After treatment, the clothes should dry and only then can you wear clothes treated with acaricides.

Acaricides:

• Reftamide taiga;
• Anti-Tick Picnic;
• Gardex extreme;
• Tornado anti-mite;
• Fumitox-anti-mite;
• Pretix;
• Gardex anti-mite.

The products are sold mainly in the form of aerosols, but there are others. Pretix is ​​sold in the form of a chalk, which is used to outline clothing in places where ticks should not penetrate. It is strictly prohibited to treat clothing on a person.

Popular drugs:

• Medilis-comfort;
• Kra-rep;
• Mosquitol spray;
• Gardex Extreme;
• Kaput tick.

How to remove a tick

If you have removed a whole tick, you can submit it to a laboratory to be tested for various diseases. This will allow you to protect yourself from dangerous diseases and start treatment on time. The tick that bit you should be placed in a box and taken to the laboratory as soon as possible.