Ticks attack from hiding, they are fast and effective. So how do you defend yourself against them? How to avoid a tick bite? Learn about effective tick remedies that will help protect you from being bitten and contracted by tick-borne diseases.

How to protect yourself from ticks ?How to avoida tick bite?Ticksbelong to the group of arachnids. There are over 850 species, but of the 20 species living in Poland, the most common are three types of ticks - common, meadow and pigeon's ring. Unfortunately, the most dangerous ones.

Ticks feed on animals most often - from field mice to hares and cows - but they also like human blood. When the air temperature is above 7-10 ° C (i.e. from mid-March to the end of November), arachnids constantly hunt the host. And they know very well where it is easiest to meet him, which is why they lurk not in the depths of the forest or in the middle of a clearing, but rather on their outskirts, on the sides of narrow paths, under trees.

On the other hand, the perimeters (when there are no pigeons) come to the apartments through open windows and balcony doors and through ventilation ducts. They accumulate in cracks in the floor and walls, under window sills and wallpaper.

It follows that we are not really safe anywhere. In addition, never, because common and meadow ticks attack mainly during the day (the most active ones are in the morning, around 8 am and in the afternoon - from 3 p.m. to midnight), while the margins only at night.

It has been proven in laboratory tests that even without feeding, ticks can live for 6 years. It is estimated that 10-15 percent. of these arachnids are infected i.a. tick-borne encephalitis virus and Lyme disease spirochetes. The female makes about 3 thousand. eggs and passes infectious viruses and spirochetes to its offspring.

How to protect yourself from ticks? Effective ways

1)Knowing where and when they may be in wait for us, let's try to avoid them. Since ticks are most active in the morning and late afternoon, take a walk in the afternoon.

2)Walk in the middle of the paths, away from roadside grasses and bushes. If you want to pick flowers and herbs in a clearing, then in the middle of it, not on its edges, and only after the dew is dry.

3)Remember aboutappropriate body cover, i.e. long pants, a blouse with a sleeve, a cap or a hat on the head. Ideally, the clothes should be bright. Not because ticks don't like bright colors, but to make them easier to spot.

4)Use tick repellent. The use of tick repellants, i.e. appropriate repellants - substances containing diethyltoluamide (DEET), which are sprayed on clothing and exposed skin, except for the face, will effectively repel ticks for several hours. The substance DEET blocks the receptors of insects and arachnids, discouraging landings on the surface of the skin.

5)Despite these precautions, after returning home, you need to carefully inspect the entire body. If you find a tick that has already been punctured, grab it with, for example, tweezers close to the skin and, with a slight twisting motion, vigorously pull it upwards.

Disinfect the rank carefully and observe:

  • if you do not develop flu-like symptoms (fever up to 38 ° C, muscle and joint pain, headache, stomach pain) within 2-3 weeks, which may indicate infection with tick-borne encephalitis. You must then be under the care of a doctor.
  • if no redness appears in 1-5 weeks. If so, see your doctor immediately - antibiotic treatment is necessary to control Lyme disease in its early stages. If no erythema occurs during this time, do a blood test (test for antibodies against Lyme spirochetes) to make sure that the tick has not infected you with Lyme disease

6)Herbs that repel ticks

Modern phytotherapy recommends specific herbs for ticks, such as e.g. purges and tansy. The latter gives off a characteristic smell that resembles the smell of camphor, which is why it effectively repels flies, mosquitoes, ants, aphids, moths, ticks and other insects.

In turn, cleansing can help when bitten by an infected tick, as it is believed to inhibit the multiplication of bacteria responsible for Lyme disease.

How to protect yourself from ticks? See in the video

How to protect yourself from ticks? This is how ticks attack

The tick senses a potential victim from a distance of 20 meters - reacts to her body temperature, the smell of sweat and exhaled carbon dioxide. Once on the skin, it does not attack indiscriminately. It can wander for up to an hour in search of a place where the epidermis is thin and slightly moist.

Most often he chooses the place behind the ear, on the border of the hair, under the knee or in the groin. Although the tick pierces the skin quite deeply, it is practically imperceptible.

At the same timebecause it introduces a secretion that contains anesthetic substances and delays the inflammatory reaction in the host. Therefore, there is no pain or redness that would alert you and make you look more closely at the irritated skin area.

So it can easily forage even 6-7 days. During this time, he drinks about 2 ml of blood and increases his size considerably. While a hungry adult individual is about 2 mm long, a full-fed one is even 12 mm.

How to protect yourself from ticks? Ways of disease transmission

More and more ticks are carriers of germs, including dangerous Lyme spirochetes and encephalitis viruses. Viruses enter our bloodstream as soon as the tick is bitten, while the spirochetes a little later - they penetrate the most after 24 hours of feeding. But these dangerous microbes can also enter the body via other routes.

The encephalitis virus is also easy to get infected by drinking milk straight from a cow or goat that has been fed by infected ticks, and eating butter or cheese from such milk.

The virus is resistant to gastric juices, but it dies during pasteurization. Lyme disease, on the other hand, can enter the blood when tick secretion is rubbed into a small wound on the skin.

  • Home remedies for ticks
  • How to remove a tick step by step
  • Ticks - how to defend against them

Dr. Piotr Gryglas explains how to protect yourself from ticks

Source: x-news.pl/Dzień Dobry TVN

You must do it

It is worth getting vaccinated

While the only defense against Lyme disease is our caution and prudence, the vaccine protects against tick-borne encephalitis (not refunded).

It is given in three doses - the second one is taken 14 days after the first, and the third one after 12 months. The second dose already protects against the virus.

Find out more>>>Tick-borne encephalitis vaccine

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Parasitic diseases