Is it true that ticks are found only in forests and are active only summer time? Is Lyme disease always indicated by the presence of erythema (a specific large rash)? The tick must be unscrewed with your fingers or pulled out with tweezers, or can it come out on its own if you grease around it with oil? Can a tick live under the skin? 14 most popular myths about ticks.
MYTH: Ticks get borreliosis (Lyme disease)
NO. Ticks themselves do not get sick, they only carry infections, and that's not all. The most well-known pathogens are tick-borne encephalitis viruses and bacteria disease-causing Lyme. But ticks also carry other infections that cause anaplasmosis, babesiosis, mycoplasmosis, and bartonellosis. These infections often coexist with Lyme disease pathogens, hindering diagnosis and treatment.
MYTH: Ticks are only found in forests.
NOT ONLY. It is true that ticks love moist forests, especially mixed and deciduous ones, but they are almost everywhere - both in parks and on city lawns. Once these insects lived mainly in the lowlands, now they are found even in areas located up to 1500 m above sea level. Most of all they love the transition zones between various types vegetation, such as the edge of a forest, meadows, clearings, or places near roads. There are many of them in ferns, elder and hazel. Ticks do not like the sun, but they like warmth (but not heat above 25°C) and humidity.
MYTH: Ticks are only active in summer.
NO. Climate warming, especially mild winters, has led to the fact that the tick season begins as early as March and lasts until November, with a short break for the hot summer months. There are two peaks of annual activity: May-June and September-October. During the day, the peak of morning activity lasts from the first dew to noon, and the evening peak from 16 to dark. When the temperature drops below 4°C, they hibernate, hiding in the leaf litter and waiting for adverse conditions.
There are two peaks of annual tick activity: May-June and September-October. During the day, there is morning activity (from the first dew to noon), and evening activity - from 4 pm to dusk. In the hot afternoon, they hide.
MYTH: Ticks live on trees
NO. Ticks rise to a height of no more than 120-150 cm (the height of the ridge of a potential breadwinner). They hunt actively (especially larvae) or simply wait on leaves and grass, clinging to a vertebrate creature that they like passing by. They can jump in the direction of the victim, although they will rather hold on (females) until it comes close to their position, so that in a split second, with their claws, they can catch on the skin, wool, and clothes. On the front paws there are reliable "radar" (Haller's organ, which perceives smells, pheromones, heat, carbon dioxide concentration), so they feel the victim at a distance. Ticks distinguish 40-50 odors, including ammonia, butyric acid in sweat, and carbon dioxide in the air exhaled by a potential victim. They react to changes in temperature (when the victim casts a shadow) and vibration.
MYTH: When a tick finds its prey, it bites immediately
MYTH: Ticks are easy to spot on the skin.
NO. You need to have eagle eyesight. The tick in the larval stage has a size of 0.5 mm in diameter and is light brown in color (almost the color of the skin). And in the nymph stage - the size of a grain of sand (1.5 mm), so it will be possible to see it well only under a magnifying glass. In addition, the bite is completely painless, because the tick, along with saliva, injects a substance with anesthetic properties. Blood suction alternates with an additional injection of saliva, which prevents blood clotting and may contain pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The larva feeds on blood for about 3 days, the nymph - 5, and the adult can complete this process even up to 11 days. Only when the tick is satiated does it fall off.
MYTH: The tick can be twisted out with your fingers.
NO. You need good tweezers or a special device (sold in a pharmacy). For safety, it is worth doing this in disposable gloves, since the infection can enter the bloodstream even through microcracks in the skin of the hands. It must be grasped as close to the skin as possible and pulled out with a strong, slightly arched motion (not twisting either to the right or to the left).
MYTH: The tick is easily pulled out or falls off on its own when lubricated with grease.
MYTH: If you pull out a tick within 24 hours, there is no risk of infection.
MYTH: You can get vaccinated against all tick-borne infections.
NO. Vaccination against Lyme disease is not carried out (it was carried out, but was discontinued), and what is even worse, even having been ill with it, a person does not receive immunity for life. However, there is a vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis - immunity is given by two injections administered within 3 months. In the future, more periodic injections are needed to maintain the effect: the first 5-12 months after the second dose, the next after 3 years, the next every 3-5 years. The series must start in winter or in early spring(already the first two doses give immunity for the whole season). If you start vaccination in the spring, then you can go in an accelerated way - the second injection 14 days after the first and then according to the main scheme.
MYTH: Erythema is always a sign of burroleosis infection
NO. In most cases, erythema (large rash in different parts of the body) does not appear at all (or they are ignored), and the disease develops. But if a warm, and sometimes painful redness appears at or near the bite site, which expands, this is an indisputable sign of infection. You need to start treatment immediately.
MYTH: A tick can get under the skin and lay eggs there.
NO. Ticks about which we are talking in this article, refer to bloodsuckers. They include the families of ixodid ("hard" ticks) and argas ("soft" ticks). Having drunk enough blood, they simply fall off. These parasites breathe with the help of the so-called spiracle in the abdomen, so they cannot sink completely under the skin - they will not have anything to breathe.
There are cases when pulling out an insect, its head remains under the skin, which requires extraction, as it increases the risk of infection. But it will not live on its own in the body.
Such an erroneous opinion that flares can get under the skin has most likely developed as a result of confusion between different species (more precisely, genera) of these insects. So, for example, scabies mites (microscopic intradermal parasites) really live and multiply under human skin, making holes and causing terrible itching. This is a very unpleasant and highly contagious disease - scabies.
It is important not only for a city dweller, but also for a rural dweller to know what a drunken tick looks like and what to do if this small insect has bitten. In nature there is a large number of ticks, but not all of them pose a threat to human life and health. The most dangerous of them -. It is he who is the source of such terrible diseases as encephalitis, borreliosis or hemorrhagic fever. Costs .
This insect constantly migrates from one place to another, so it is not always possible to say exactly which species live in your territory. Traditionally, the tick lives in forests and where trees grow densely. A garden, square or just planting can become a source of habitat. Many ticks in places where it is gloomy and humid. They sit in the grass, on the leaves of trees, bushes. There are especially many of these individuals in deciduous and mixed forests.
Love these little pests of the trail, garden paths, roadsides where there is a lot of dried grass. You should be especially careful when walking on forest edges, in ravines or near forest streams. There is a high probability that you will be bitten by an insect in willow thickets, in a birch grove, in the grass near the river. In crowded places, you can easily find a tick. As scientists have proven, bloodsuckers are attracted by the natural smell of a person or animal, and their sensitivity is very developed. The tick recognizes smells at a distance of more than 12 m.
How to recognize that an infection has occurred?
This small individual is no more than 6 mm long, it looks like a spider. She has 8 legs with claws, with which she clings perfectly to clothes and hair. So the bloodsucker moves to a place where he can stick to a blood vessel to drink blood. By color shades individuals are black, brown and even reddish. A tick that has drunk blood becomes 2-3 times larger.
These small bloodsuckers are very fond of a warm and moist body. The tick, after reaching the target, will stick in the armpits, groin, ear or abdomen. Having chosen the part of the body that he likes, he sticks his proboscis. Bloodsuckers can hang on the skin for up to several days until they get drunk. Both males and females are equally dangerous. All of them are not averse to drinking human blood. But the male gets drunk quickly and disappears.
Few people can feel it on their body, because the insect does it carefully. It injects saliva under the skin, which has strong analgesic properties. It happens completely imperceptibly to a person. Often a bloodsucker is discovered after he has drunk blood. But a bite wound is easy to distinguish from all other injuries. The lesion is red, visually it is possible to determine a small wound. Depending on the type of tick, the diameter of the redness can vary from 15 to 65 mm. Over time, the bite begins to itch strongly, can cause an allergic reaction in humans. It is important to remember that these small bloodsuckers do not infect a person in groups. As a rule, only one insect can be found on the body.
Where does the bloodsucker go after drinking blood? The tick, when drunk, remains on the body for a long time. It looks like a small black dot in place of volumetric redness. If the insect lives on the skin long time, then his body will noticeably bulge over the wound. A quickly drunk individual will increase in size, change color. Those who saw this spectacle are unlikely to be pleased.
Signs of infection
It is an erroneous opinion that the insect gets on the human body, falling from the leaves on the tree. The bloodsucker crawls to the bite site from the ground. He waits for his prey in the grass. As soon as the insect smells the body, it attaches to the skin or clothing with the help of tenacious paws. Next advances through the victim to select the most convenient site to eat.
If the tick is non-contagious, the bitten person will experience nothing but redness and a slight allergic reaction. In rare cases, blisters and a strong burning sensation appear. If you damage it, be sure to remove the remaining part from under the skin with a disinfected pin or needle.
The bites of these insects are not so harmless. Some time after the injury, the following symptoms may occur:
- small rash at the site of the bite;
- headaches and general fatigue;
- muscle and bone pain;
- chills;
- change in the size of the lymph nodes.
If any of the above signs appear, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Insect removal and wound treatment
What measures should be taken? If you find a bloodsucker on yourself, then first you need to calm down. Sudden movements and panic will only exacerbate the situation. If possible, see a doctor. If you are away from the hospital, it is important to remove the insect yourself as quickly as possible. It does not hurt to remove it, the main thing is to preserve its integrity, so that in the future, doctors can determine whether the insect is a carrier of the virus.
In order to remove the tick, you need to carefully wrap it with gauze and, slightly loosening it, pull it. Do not sharply pull out an insect or use sharp and cutting objects. In this case, it is unlikely that it will be possible to extract the insect correctly. Another popular method is to wrap a thread around the tick and gently twist it out. If you do not make sudden movements, then in almost all cases the tick is removed and remains intact. After the bloodsucker is removed, the bite site is treated with iodine, the condition of the skin and general well-being are monitored.
If everything went well, the wound will turn pale pink after 2 days and will soon disappear on its own.
It will not be superfluous to take tests for the detection of infectious diseases.
Possible human health effects
Ticks are carriers of the following diseases:
- 1 Tick-borne encephalitis is a dangerous infectious lesion, which is characterized by extensive intoxication of the body, malfunctions nervous system person. Persistent neurological damage can lead to complete disability and even death. Therefore, it is important to carry out the prevention of the disease already in the first day after the bite.
- 2 Lyme disease is a deadly disease. A person infected with the virus suffers from very severe headaches, fever, rash. The disease affects almost all organs and systems human body. People with a genetic predisposition to these diseases are especially affected. If the necessary therapy is not carried out in time, the victim can become disabled for life.
- 3 Hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease that is accompanied by fever, subcutaneous hemorrhages and changes in blood composition. If you consult a doctor in time, the disease is very successfully treated. Therapy consists in the use of antiviral drugs and vitamins that strengthen the walls of blood vessels.
For example, the photo below shows what the bite of a taiga tick looks like on human skin:
And here is a midge bite:
As you can see, by appearance bite marks in this case are not very different.
Nevertheless, taking into account individual details in the appearance of tick bites on the human body makes it possible to distinguish them from the bites of other arthropods with a certain accuracy. Knowing the characteristics of the biology of ixodid ticks, including the specifics of their attacks on animals and people, also helps to distinguish between bites.
What does a tick bite look like in most cases?
The wound caused by a puncture of the skin, within an hour after the detachment of the tick, is covered with a crust, while some swelling and redness persist.
On a note
In the ordinary case, the next day the bite site no longer itchs, after 2-3 days the swelling and redness subside, and after a few days the crust at the site of the wound peels off.
After about 10-12 days, no trace remains at the site of the tick bite.
This happens normally, when infection does not occur in the bite wound and the inflammatory process does not develop, and the wound itself is not disturbed, combed and does not damage the protective crust on it. However, often due to various undesirable factors, the situation can be complicated, which is accompanied by the appearance of additional unpleasant symptoms.
Besides:
If the lump is lubricated with anesthetic ointment in time and not disturbed, then it gradually decreases in size and completely subsides after 4-5 days.
A more dangerous situation is when, when pulling out a tick, its body breaks away from the head (gnathosoma), as a result of which the mouth organs remain in the wound. It is not always easy to remove them from here, since it is difficult to capture them even with tweezers or tweezers from a manicure set - the tick gnathosoma is deeply immersed in the skin, and the rupture of its body usually occurs deeper than the level of the very surface of the skin.
If the detached head of the tick is not removed, like a splinter, on the second or third day, the tissues at the site of the bite will begin to boil, an abscess will form here, from which the remnants of the tick will later come out along with the outflowing pus.
Often a painful abscess with swelling is formed. From the moment the tick detaches to the rupture of the abscess and the expiration of pus from it, an average of 3-4 days pass, for a few more days the site of the abscess will heal.
The picture below shows the sequence of correct twisting of the tick:
And here are photos with examples of tick removal using various tick grinders:
On a note
In all cases, ixodid ticks bite only to suck on blood. They never attack a person in self-defense.
Besides:
On a note
An exception to last rule are the bites of the Australian paralyzing tick Ixodes holocyclus. Its individuals at all stages of their development secrete a toxin with saliva, leading to paralysis of the limbs in animals and humans, as well as symptoms similar to those of poliomyelitis (a fatal outcome is also possible). The first signs of paralysis after the bites of these ticks appear after 6-7 hours. The species Ixodes holocyclus lives only in Australia, and in Eurasia similar situations excluded.
Photo of the paralyzing tick Ixodes holocyclus:
Another important sign: ticks never bite through clothes, even through very thin clothes.(through pantyhose, for example). Mosquitoes, midges, horseflies, spiders can bite through thin fabrics, wasps and bees can sting, but ticks never stick to the skin through clothing.
At the same time, under loose clothing - under wide trousers, shirts, T-shirts, behind the head under a hat - a tick may well bite.
Differences between a tick bite and the bites of various insects
We have already said about the first important difference earlier: a red spot and a clearly visible wound remain at the site of the tick bite, gradually crusting over. This is in contrast to mosquito bites, in which only an itchy swelling remains, but without a visible insertion site of the proboscis.
From the bites of most stinging insects, spiders and centipedes, tick bites are completely painless. Even mosquitoes that inject anesthetics into the wound do not do it so “skillfully”, and their injection immediately attracts attention with slight pain.
From the bites of bed bugs (and to some extent fleas), tick bites differ in that they are not collected in “paths” of 2-3 wounds. Each bug bites several times in one attack, moving between bites by 1-2 centimeters, and as a result, characteristic “chains” of reddened bumps remain on the human body. The tick bites only once, after which it falls away from the body, and therefore leaves only one trace of a skin puncture on the skin.
On a note
It is easy enough to distinguish a tick bite from a bite of a centipede, tarantula or small poisonous snake: these animals leave two points at once on the skin puncture sites. Skolopendra bite with two well-marked jaws, spiders with two chelicerae, snakes with two teeth. Consequently, there will be two well-marked points in the places of their bites. The tick pierces the skin with a sawtooth hypostome in only one place.
By the shape of the wound itself, a tick bite can be distinguished from a leech bite. After sucking a leech, due to the characteristic structure of its oral apparatus the wound looks like a small even cross. In a tick, it just looks like a dot. After the leech falls off, the wound bleeds for a very long time, which does not happen after tick bites.
But to judge the infection of a person with the tick-borne encephalitis virus by the appearance of the bite will not work - outwardly this does not manifest itself in any way.
Reverse situations happen very rarely - they can occur, for example, on a multi-day hunting or fishing trip, in hiking trips, that is, during prolonged exposure to conditions wildlife without being able to undress, wash and examine the body. Here, a tick can suck blood from a person under clothing for several days, after which it will unhook.
- Cling to the clothes or hair of the victim;
- Get to a place convenient for bloodsucking;
- Pierce the skin and gain a foothold in the wound;
- suck blood;
- Detach and leave the host's body.
It is important to understand that there are almost never situations in which a tick has bitten, but did not have time to stick and crawled away.
Then, from 2-3 minutes to an hour, the tick moves through the host's body and looks for well-blooded places with thin skin. Then comes the bite:
The photo below shows the proboscis (hypostome) of a tick:
And this is what a hypostome looks like under a scanning electron microscope:
Representatives different types ticks and individuals at different stages of their existence tend to choose different places on the body of the host for attachment. On the human body, these are most often the areas of the armpits, and then, in decreasing frequency of attachment, the following areas follow:
- Breast;
- Stomach;
- Hands (including between fingers);
- Buttocks and perianal area;
- Legs;
- Neck and head (especially the area behind the ears).
The photo below shows a tick stuck behind the ear of a child:
It is noteworthy that in children, more often than in adults, ticks are attached to the head (including in the hairline, more often behind the ear) and sometimes even on the face - on the cheeks, on the chin.
It is interesting
The photos below show female ticks fed on blood:
Therefore, by the way, in one feeding, each tick sucks out more blood and other fluids than it weighs at the time of detachment. For several days of feeding on the owner most of of the consumed food has time to be digested and spent on development and growth, and undigested components are excreted with excrement. As a result, female ticks weighing 7-10 mg before feeding absorb about 5500-8500 mg of food during the time of attachment, but weigh only 900-1400 mg after falling off.
It is interesting
Virtually no factors external environment they are not able to force an unsatisfied tick to detach from the host. The fact is that the very fact of getting on the body of the owner and fixing on it is a vital necessity for each individual. So, one female lays several thousand eggs, and not all of them are fertilized, and only a part of them hatch larvae.
Of the several thousand larvae, only a few will be able to find the first host, and all the rest will die either from hunger or from predators. Similarly, out of several thousand larvae that have molted into the first instar nymph, only a few will be able to feed on the next host. As a result, for one adult tick attached to a person or animal, there are millions of its dead counterparts who failed to do so. Therefore, it is biologically determined that if a tick has stuck, then it will detach itself only after saturation, and it is impossible to force it to do this earlier. He would rather die than miss the chance to get enough to the end.
It is for this reason that methods for removing stuck ticks with hot matches, oil or repellents are ineffective. Even being burned or suffocating under a drop of oil, the tick will not let go of its prey.
At the same time, it is interesting that if in nymphs of all ages, larvae and adult males, nutrition contributes to common development organism, then in adult females, when feeding, the reproductive system first fully matures, and after fertilization, degradation begins digestive system with parallel development of a large number of eggs. In fact, after full saturation and development, an adult female is a living bag of eggs, practically incapable of further life. She can still move a short distance to find shelter on the ground, but here, after laying her eggs, only the mouth organs and the shell of the idiosome are actually left of her.
Adult males also do not live long after feeding, but their life is a little more eventful. They actively search for females, fertilize them, and can feed several times. However, engorged adult males no longer survive the change of seasons and do not survive until the next year.
Possible consequences of an attack by ixodid ticks
Tick bites can lead to consequences that differ both in their external manifestations and the danger to the health and life of the victim.
If we talk about bites in humans, then these consequences include:
- The normal temporary reaction to a bite is redness and slight itching after the tick detaches;
- Inflammation and suppuration of the wound, in which there was an accidental infection or the head of the tick remained after its removal;
- An allergic reaction, usually limited to swelling, spreading redness over the skin, and a rash around the bite site. Anaphylaxis in response to bites and ticks has not been documented;
- Infection with dangerous tick-borne infections. In Russia and neighboring countries, such infections include tick-borne encephalitis virus and Lyme disease (borreliosis), in other countries, ticks can carry pathogens of spotted fever and Q fever.
Of the two most common tick-borne infections in Eurasia, encephalitis is considered much more dangerous than borreliosis, since there is no specific effective treatment against TBE. Borreliosis, with timely diagnosis, is quickly and effectively treated with available antibiotics.
At the same time, even in the most dangerous areas for tick-borne encephalitis, the frequency of infection with this disease does not exceed 0.24% of total bites. That is, out of 10,000 tick bites, only 24 of those bitten develop tick-borne encephalitis.
Is it possible to understand by the appearance of the bite that an infection has occurred?
It is impossible to determine by the appearance of the tick, just as it is impossible to understand from the bite itself whether the pathogen has been transmitted. Immediately after the bite and immediately after it, tick-borne infections do not manifest themselves in any way, therefore, they do not affect the appearance of the wound in any way.
On a note
As noted above, annular migratory erythema may appear after a few days, which is a sign of infection with borreliosis.
The first symptoms of encephalitis and borreliosis develop on average after 2-3 weeks, but sometimes it can be different. So, borreliosis sometimes manifests itself already 4-5 days after the bite, and in other cases, the development of the infection is delayed for several weeks. Therefore, a bitten person needs to remember about the bite itself, so that when the first signs of the disease appear, immediately consult a doctor.
Some more photos
The tick stuck over the ear of the child:
And in this photo you can see signs of an allergy to a tick bite:
Removing a tick with a thread:
What to do next
In most cases, treating a bite with antiseptics is sufficient for first aid to the bitten. If the bite occurred in a region that is epidemiologically dangerous for tick-borne encephalitis, it is highly desirable to keep the tick for analysis, as this will help to find out if there is a risk of infection after the incident.
For this you need:
On a note
As for pets - incubation period piroplasmosis averages 1-2 weeks, and if at this time the pet shows signs of illness, it should be immediately taken to the veterinarian.
You do not need to drink any medications on your own and start any treatment after a tick bite. None of the tick infections can be treated at home. Only doctors prescribe and carry out such treatment.
Interesting video: what a tick bite can lead to
Visual testing of the anti-mite agent
Therefore, the whole feeding strategy is to use the host as a source of nutrition as efficiently as possible. To do this, the tick very carefully chooses the hunting grounds, the prey, and, moreover, the place of attachment to it (after all, choosing an unsuccessful place for a bite means high probability be discovered and killed).
On a note
In ticks, 2 types of search and trapping of prey are observed:
- passive watchdog;
- active pursuit.
On a note
The victim search process consists of two phases. The first phase is the spatial orientation of the tick. At this point, the arthropod qualitatively evaluates all factors environment(humidity, temperature, chemical composition air) and climbs to the most convenient place for itself, often on grassy vegetation, after which it settles in its upper tier.
The second phase begins when the tick senses the prey is approaching. At the same time, he turns his body towards a possible owner, stretches the first pair of legs up and makes oscillatory movements. At the ends of his legs there are sharp claws, with which the tick clings to the clothes or wool (feathers) of the victim.
On a note
Ticks do not have a specialized organ that would help them determine the position of the body relative to the ground, so the animal is guided solely by the degree of tension of certain muscle groups of the limbs. When hunting, when the front legs are extended upwards, the remaining three pairs hold the body in the desired position, performing both attachment and sensory functions. Therefore, purely anatomically, the tick can neither bend down on the victim, nor fall on it from the tree.
How do ticks sense prey? First of all, by the component composition of air. The strongest irritant is the increase in carbon dioxide. Other components released by the body of animals, including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, also affect.
The main distant chemoreceptors are Haller's organs located on the forelimbs of ticks. They look like pits, at the bottom of which there is an accumulation of sensitive cells. These cells perceive the slightest change in the concentration of the above substances and induce the tick to act. A tick can sense a potential prey at a distance of more than 10 meters. This explains the massive accumulation of ticks in places where there are a large number of animals and people.
In addition, being a cold-blooded animal, the tick clearly feels the infrared radiation of warm-blooded organisms, but for hunting it is still a secondary irritant.
How a tick clings and holds on to the host's body until it bites
The tick clings so tightly to the body that it is almost impossible to shake it off. The only way to get rid of a tick before it has stuck is to purposefully remove it from the surface of the body.
Until the tick has bitten, all these adaptations allow it to be on the host's body. long time, increasing the likelihood of successful feeding.
Given the size of the prey in relation to the size of the tick, the arthropod often has to travel considerable distances, so it may take several hours to select a bite site. Since the tick sucks blood for a very long time (usually for several days), the process of choosing an attachment site is extremely important and takes a significant amount of time.
On a note
The actual structure of the skin is also significant - how coarse it is and how well vascularized it is.
On a note
The places of tick bites in humans have been well studied. Shoes and clothes limit the number of attachment points, but ticks find a way out of this situation.
The largest percentage of ticks attached to a person falls on the axillary region, then in descending order: on the chest, abdomen, groin, buttocks, legs. In children, there is also frequent attachment to the head. It is worth noting that ticks are perfectly oriented under clothing, making their way to the body even through small gaps.
The oral apparatus of the tick is a complex formation and consists of several components, each of which has its own morphology and functions. You can examine in detail some interesting nuances under a microscope (see photo below):
The oral apparatus consists of a base, a proboscis or hypostome, one pair of chelicerae immersed in cases, and a pair of palps. The base of the proboscis has the appearance of a capsule with a dense chitinous cover - here the ducts of the salivary glands pass and the pharynx begins. Palps have a segmented structure, consist of 4 segments and perform a tactile function.
The hypostome is an unpaired chitinous plate fixed to the base. It looks like an elongated “sting”, on which a large number of hooks bent back are located in regular longitudinal rows, as shown in the photographs below:
To the top, the hooks become smaller, forming a crown of small and at the same time very sharp spikes. When the tick bites, the sharp hypostome is involved in cutting through the skin along with the chelicerae.
On a note
At the base of the hypostome, a pair of chelicerae are attached, which look like sharp blades enclosed in cases. Chelicerae are very mobile and can cut through the skin and integument under different angle and to different depths. At rest, they are enclosed in cases that protect them from mechanical damage.
Together, this is called the gnathosoma and is the anterior part of the body of the tick, which, during the bite, is immersed in the integument of the victim's body.
How does a tick bite
Despite the high mechanical strength the upper layer of the skin, it does not create serious obstacles on the way of the oral organs of the tick to the inner layers, where the blood vessels are located. Moreover, there is no direct relationship between the thickness of the skin of the preferred host and the length of the chelicerae.
The process of cutting through the skin lasts the first 15-20 minutes from the moment the bite begins.
In parallel, the process of introducing the proboscis into the incision formed by chelicerae begins. The entire proboscis is completely immersed in the wound, almost to the base of the head, and the palps are bent almost parallel to the skin.
On a note
Important is the fact that the tick is able to regulate the depth of penetration of the proboscis into the integument. It depends on the size of the victim and the thickness of their skin. It should also be taken into account that the deeper the tick sinks into the skin, the stronger the immune system will be. defensive reaction host organism. Severe inflammatory processes can begin that negatively affect the tick and reduce the chances of successful feeding.
After the tick safely digs into the skin, it proceeds to feed. At this moment, along with the proboscis, there are also chelicerae with cases in the wound, which expand the tissues near the hypostome.
Accordingly, first the food enters the cavity of the case, and then into the pre-oral cavity of the tick. On the surface of the skin, this case ends in a frozen roller, to which the base of the proboscis is glued.
It is interesting
It is worth noting that the tick feeds not only on blood, but also on lysed skin tissues, where the proboscis is inserted.
This is also dangerous because, together with the saliva of the tick, pathogens such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis can enter the host's body. Moreover, the longer the encephalitic or borreliosis tick eats, the large quantity it secretes saliva and the more likely it is that a person will become infected with the corresponding disease.
The duration of tick nutrition varies and depends on the stage of its ontogeny and sex. Nymphs drink blood for 2-3 days, and sexually mature females can stay on the host's body for up to a week. Males usually do not feed, and if the male individual sticks, then it stays on the host for only a few hours.
On a note
Distinguishing a female tick from a male is quite simple. The male has a wide chitinous matte shield on the upper side of the body, which completely covers the back, while in females the shield reaches only the middle of the back.
Tick nymphs become saturated relatively quickly. They need food for molting and further development, however, they are also carriers of pathogens various diseases like adults do.
After the tick is completely saturated, it disappears by itself. The muscles of the oral apparatus relax, the chelicerae are tightly pressed against the proboscis, and the tick easily removes it from the integument of the victim's body.
We should not forget about preventive measures. After walking, you need to carefully examine yourself, children and animals, and before going out into nature, use repellents, wear closed clothes and shoes. With the right approach, it is almost always possible to remove the tick from the clothes (or body) in time - long before it has time to stick.
Video recording of a tick bite at high magnification - all the details of the process are visible
Is it possible to pull a tick out of the skin with a syringe (vacuum): an experiment
The spring-summer period is an ideal time for a pleasant pastime in nature, and for ticks - the best time to attack a person. You can meet these arthropods in the park, in the forest and even on suburban area. In addition to the unpleasant sight that is a tick attached to the body, such a meeting can lead to infection with serious infectious diseases, including tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease and others.
In nature, there are more than 40,000 species of mites. Among them, the most dangerous to humans are blood-sucking ixodid ticks. They resemble small brown bugs with four pairs of legs and a proboscis (the size of a hungry individual is about 5 mm, a satiated tick usually increases significantly). During a bite, along with the saliva of a tick, pathogens of infectious diseases enter the human body.
However, not all ticks are carriers of infections. Many of them are sterile, that is, they do not contain viruses and bacteria dangerous to humans (the number of infectious and non-infectious ticks varies depending on the region). But since it is impossible to determine by the appearance of a tick whether it is infected or not, it is always necessary to remain vigilant.
Bite people, both females and males of arthropods. This usually happens after the end of a long autumn-winter hibernation - ticks wake up and need blood. The source of food for them can be both an animal and a person.
The hunt for potential food occurs as follows: the tick, using hooks on its paws, climbs onto blades of grass or sticks sticking up and waits for the victim, if one appears, the arthropod grabs it with its front paws and begins to look for a place suitable for a bite. Those people who think that a tick can fall on its head from a tree are mistaken, these animals overcome no more than 10 m of distance in their entire life and definitely do not climb trees. They can be found on the neck and on the head only because, having hit the human body, they always move up in search of an open and “juicy” area of skin.
Where do ticks live?
Favorite habitats of ixodid ticks in nature are wet and shaded areas of the area:
- ravines;
- the bottom of the meadows;
- forest edges;
- thickets of willow along the shore of forest reservoirs;
- edges of forest paths.
As a rule, people do not feel the very moment of the bite, but they find the tick when it has already firmly stuck to the body. This is explained simply: during the puncture of the skin of the victim, the arthropod, together with saliva, releases active substances into the wound, which have some analgesic effect.
People prone to allergies at the site of the bite may develop a severe allergic reaction with itching and redness of the skin. In rare cases, a tick bite can lead to and. The symptoms of these conditions are as follows: swelling of the face, shortness of breath, a sharp deterioration in well-being, loss of consciousness, etc. In addition, due to a tick bite, a person may have an increase in body temperature, aches in muscles and joints, chills, severe drowsiness.
In general, the severity of the body's reaction to an arthropod bite depends on the state of health. In allergy sufferers, young children, the elderly, the reaction can be very violent. In healthy adults, contact with a tick may not affect their well-being in any way, and they learn about the fact of a bite only when they see an incomprehensible formation on their body.
What should I do if bitten by a tick?
Since the likelihood of contracting dangerous infections increases significantly with prolonged contact of the human body with a tick, the main thing to do is to remove the arthropod. But the removal procedure should be carried out correctly so as not to crush or damage the tick, since this can further contribute to infection. In addition, the tick can and even needs to be examined in the laboratory for the fact of contagiousness, and for this it must remain intact.
Therefore, if there are no skills in removing ticks, but there is an opportunity, it is better to contact the nearest medical institution, where they will expertly extract the arthropod and give recommendations on further action. In addition, you can ask all your questions regarding the tactics of behavior in the presence of a tick on the body by calling 103 (by calling an ambulance).
It is best to remove a tick with a special device that is sold in pharmacies. This can be a “lasso pen”, UNICLEAN TICK TWISTER, etc. If there is no pharmacy nearby, you can use ordinary cosmetic tweezers or sewing thread.
The person who will remove the tick must take care of his safety - wear rubber gloves or wrap his fingers with a bandage. It is also advisable to prepare Plastic container with a lid or a plastic bag for the tick (so that it can be safely delivered to the laboratory).
The removal procedure itself must be carried out as follows:
- Grab the arthropod with tweezers or a special device as close as possible to the proboscis (it is this part of the animal's body that is in the skin). If a thread is used, a loop should be made from it, which must be carefully tightened over the head of the tick embedded in the skin.
- Gently pull up. At the same time, great efforts should not be applied, from them the tick can simply burst, and all its contents will fall on the skin and into the wound. In addition, the proboscis of an arthropod remains in the wound with a sharp jerk, because of this, inflammation and even suppuration may occur.
- After removing the tick, wash the skin with soapy water and treat with any product containing alcohol. There is no need to apply a bandage. If the head of an arthropod remains in the skin, you should try to remove it from the body with a sterile needle like a splinter.
Important: sunflower oil, fatty ointments, airtight dressings and others folk remedies tick control are not effective, their application only takes precious time.
After removing the tick, it is advisable to do the following:
- Mark the date on the calendar when everything happened.
- Call your therapist or family doctor, explain the situation and inquire about the need and timing of blood tests and some preventive measures (in some cases, to prevent the development of tick-borne encephalitis, immunoglobulins are administered to victims of tick bites, antiviral drugs are prescribed, etc.) .
- Take the tick to the lab. Information about laboratories can be found on the website of Rospotrebnadzor in your region.
Be sure to visit a doctor in the following cases:
- If there are signs of inflammation in the bite area (swelling, redness, etc.).
- If in the interval from 3 to 30 days after the bite, red spots appear on the skin.
- If the body temperature rises, muscle pain, unmotivated weakness and other unpleasant symptoms appear (these signs are especially important to monitor during the first 2 months after the bite).
Consequences of a tick bite
Ixodid ticks are carriers of the following infectious diseases:
- Tick-borne, in which the patient, due to damage to the gray matter of the brain, has various neurological disorders, mental disorders, even death is possible.
- Tick-borne borreliosis() - a polymorphic disease in which the skin, lymphatic system, joints, heart and others are affected internal organs. Borrelia, the causative agents of borreliosis, are most often found in the study of ixodid ticks.
- Monocytic ehrlichiosis, which is characterized by neurological disorders, general intoxication syndrome, inflammation respiratory tract and other pathological manifestations.
- Granulocytic anaplasmosis. This disease resembles or intestinal infection and proceeds quite easily. Immunocompromised individuals may develop complications from the nervous system and kidneys.
To avoid becoming a victim of ticks, when visiting potentially dangerous places(park, forest, etc.) you must adhere to a number of rules:
- Wear the right clothes. It should be light, so that the ticks are visible, and the maximum covering and protecting the body from arthropods getting behind the collar, under the leg, under the sleeve. Since ticks attack from below, pants must be tucked into socks and boots.
- Always use repellents. Today, manufacturers offer a large number of protective equipment from ticks, among them you can choose safe ones even for small children. There are also special suits impregnated with acaricidal substances. Upon contact with acaricides, mites die and fall off clothing.
- Move on the widest possible paths minimizing foot contact with grass and shrubs.
- Periodically inspect clothing.
- After returning home, carefully inspect both clothing and body giving Special attention the following places: ears, hairline, interdigital folds, popliteal areas, groin, perineum, navel.