It may take several hours to the ticks on a person. Moves around a person’s clothes or his body and seeks places where the finest skin issaid in the TASR TV show Health scientist from the Institute of Zoology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) in Bratislava, Markéta Derdáková.
When the parasite finds a suitable place, it cuts the skin with “cages”, which grow from the base of the head above the so -called. with a trunk (hypostom), which is inserted into the skin after cutting the skin and then starts to suck the tick. “Pliers like to look for a place on the body, for example, in the bend behind the knees, under the arms, the ear, on the abdomen, in the intimate places,“She specified.
When a person finds a tick on the body, it is important to choose it as soon as possible. “First we turn the tick into one side or the other to relax, and then pull it out with a tweezer,” The expert advised, according to which the direction to which the tick is spinning does not play any role. The place must then be properly disinfected.
The tick is a parasite, feeds on the host’s blood exclusively and can transmit agents of various infectious or parasitic diseases to humans or animals. The most common in Slovakia is the common tick. “It transmits the most agents of the disease. Whether it is a tick -borne encephalitis virus or they are bacteria that cause Lyme borreliosis”Derdáková said. She added that other diseases such as babesiosis may also occur in the animals that have been infected with a tick.
A frequent symptom of Lyme borreliosis is a red rash. “It is manifested by the redness of the place where the tick has been scaled. There may be lightening in the center of the reddened place, ” explained the expert. According to her, the red circle can reach about five to ten or more centimeters. “The rash itchy, it occurs around ten to 14 days after the infected tick is chopped,” she added.
In about 30 to 40 percent of infected people, such a rash does not occur. Other symptoms of the disease are fever around 37.5 to 38 degrees Celsius, joint and whole body pain as in the flu, sewing of neck, night sweats.
Tick -borne encephalitis is manifested by high temperatures and headaches. “They usually appear after ten to 14 days of infection, but it can be 28 days, ” she said the scientist.
Although the tick season usually starts in March, scientists have found that their activity is year -round. “We can say that in Bratislava there were active ticks all year round, even in winter“She said. According to her, scientists are watching the activity through the so -called ticks, which they installed in several places in Bratislava (Les in the SAS area at the Devínský Lake or Botanical Garden), as well as by flaving lurking ticks in their natural environment.
One of the projects aimed at the occurrence of ticks can also be involved in the public. “We are preparing a website through which people can report the occurrence of ticks throughout Slovakia,” she said. In this way, scientists want to map the diversity of ticks in Slovakia, as well as the occurrence of non -native “exotic” ticks that can reach our territory from the southern regions.
Pliers occur everywhere where the vegetation is located, in towns, gardens, parks, forest parks, meadows, but most often in forests. “For example, there are many thrushes in cities that are important reservoir hosts of borrelia,“She explained. She added that pliers can also carry rodents, lizards, birds.” But there is no need to worry, because in cities where places are mowed and in the summer, the incidence of ticks is low, “she pointed out.
According to the scientist, it is advisable to walk in long pants and long -sleeved T -shirts. Use repellents against ticks and always after returning home to view the whole body, wash your clothes and take a shower. “Colleagues in Germany found that the tick would survive, even if you wash it in a washing machine at 40 degrees. On the other hand, if you bring it home, it should not survive for a very long time because it needs moisture, and when it does not, it dries, ”she concluded.
