Contents
Wday.ru learned from experts that it will actually help prevent a tick attack.
On the trees, even the buds have not yet swollen, and these blood-sucking parasites have already intensified with might and main. It’s no joke, since their awakening on the territory of Russia, the number of victims of bites has already moved to thousands. It would seem that every inhabitant of the country knows everything about these parasites for a long time. But in our age of information technology, there are many misconceptions about tick-borne encephalitis and its vectors. Wday.ru has collected the most common myths.
Ticks only attack in spring
In fact, the tick activity period lasts from the end of March to September. But a lot depends on climatic conditions. If the autumn was long, warm and with a lot of precipitation, then they can attack people and animals in October.
In Moscow, the Moscow region, as well as St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, for example, two species of ticks live. The peak of taiga tick activity occurs in May-June. Ticks usually die at the end of July. But the forest tick has two peaks of activity: May-June and September-October. So, when you go to the forest for mushrooms or berries, do not lose your guard!
Ticks jump on prey from trees
This is wrong. The parasite lies in wait for its prey, sitting on blades of grass and stalks along paths and paths. “Blood-sucking parasites do not rise more than half a meter,” recalls Irina Chkhinzheria, a representative of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare in St. Petersburg. – When they wake up, they crawl out of the winter litter, climb up the branches and assume a waiting pose. With three pairs of legs, the tick holds onto the plant, and the fourth, the front one, puts it forward and moves it in different directions, trying to feel the presence of a warm-blooded creature. “
The fact is that on the front legs of the ticks there are unique “radars” – Haller’s organ, which perceives odors, pheromones, heat, and the concentration of carbon dioxide. So the mite is able to smell both butyric acid in sweat and carbon dioxide, which a potential victim breathes out.
One has only to be close to an animal and a person, as he immediately clings to the skin, wool, clothing and imperceptibly creeps up until he finds a secluded place to suck on the body. The parasite prefers places where the skin is softer. In humans, this is the back, armpits, groin, skin under the knees. In animals – head, neck, groin.
Tick can only be found in the forest
It is not only when you visit the forest that you can be attacked by ticks. Forest parks and orchards are also a risk area. You can get infected with tick-borne encephalitis without even leaving your home. Contact with animals or people returning from a walk from the forest is enough: parasites can be on clothes, in flowers or branches.
That is why every year the territories of the most visited recreation areas are subjected to special treatment – parks and forest parks, squares and children’s out-of-town health institutions. In addition, this list also includes cemeteries – there are no fewer ticks than in parks.
In large parks, areas are cultivated along pedestrian paths and paths, in children’s health institutions – the territory inside, as well as along the perimeter at a width of 50 meters. So delving deeper into the thickets is fraught.
This year, in connection with the World Cup, the attention was paid to the territory of country hotels that will host football fans, training bases in the region and the city. And in St. Petersburg there is also the Primorsky Victory Park, because it is so great to walk along the way to the stadium “St. Petersburg Arena”. Foreigners who are used to having picnics right on the grass within the city also have nothing to worry about: ticks have not been found on the territory of Krestovsky Island. But the territory will be processed anyway, just in case.
“The tick needs blood. First of all for the female to lay the egg. These parasites feed on the blood of vertebrates, but prefer forest dwellers such as rodents, birds and squirrels. Well, and a person is bitten only because of the lack of the best food sources, ”clarified Svetlana Bogachkina from the regional Rospotrebnadzor.
Ticks prefer people in white clothes
Believe me, the tick does not care what color the clothes you choose: red, white, or all the colors of the rainbow. His visual apparatus is so primitive that he cannot distinguish colors. Therefore, it reacts to heat and movement. It is believed that ticks are easier to spot on white clothes. However, in order to make out an arthropod whose size does not exceed a few millimeters, you need to have truly eagle vision. But a tick, already pumping blood (it will take him 5-6 hours), is easy to notice, because it swells to the size of a ripe cherry.
So it’s better to pay more attention to the quality of things. “The shirt should have long sleeves, preferably with elastic at the cuffs,” warns Irina Chkhinzheriya. – The shirt must be tucked into the trousers, the ends of the trousers must be tucked into the socks and boots. Cover the head and neck with a scarf. Also, to protect against ticks, repellants are used – repellents, which are used to treat open areas of the body and clothing. In addition, clothing designed to be resistant to ticks is available. “
Vaccination will solve all problems
Vaccination is the most effective protection against encephalitis. True, you need to take care of this in advance, before the start of the season. The first vaccination must be done in the fall, the second after 3-4 months, in February-March. Over the next three years, it is enough to do one vaccination per year to protect yourself from infection with dangerous viruses for a fairly long period.
“And now you can still get vaccinated. But in this case, you will have to “inject” twice with a difference of 7-14 days between injections, depending on the vaccine. Please note: after that, for another two weeks, you will have to give up trips to the dacha and from walks in the parks – this time is necessary for immunity to form, ”warn in Rospotrebnadzor.
But even the vaccinated should not relax. After all, a tick can be a carrier of other diseases, and there is currently no vaccine against tick-borne borreliosis. Will not help for the prevention of viral infections and immunoglobulin.
“Since 1994, the introduction of immunoglobulin has been discontinued in European countries, since this procedure is meaningless. We spend millions of rubles on prophylaxis, which has no proven effectiveness, and at the same time we get a very strong emotional outburst of patients who require the introduction of immunoglobulin, ” said the chief physician of the N.I. Botkina Alexey Yakovlev. – In St. Petersburg, we tried to replace the immunoglobulin with a pill close to a placebo. After all, a medicine that acts on all viruses and helps against all diseases can hardly be called a real medicine. I won’t say its name, but it allowed us to save enormous amounts of money. “
In general, this is the very case when a drowning man should still take care of his own salvation himself. “We urge people to worry about vaccinations themselves in advance, and not to think that there is some kind of magic pill or a magic injection that will help in some way after the fact,” he added.
The removed tick must be taken for research to a microbiological laboratory or other laboratories conducting such research.
Moscow
FBUZ “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the City of Moscow”, Grafsky per., 4, bldg. 2, 3, 4, tel. +7 (495) 615-51-63.
FBSI Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, Novogireevskaya st., 3A, tel. +7 (495) 788-00-01.
Moscow region
Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Moscow Region, Mytischi, st. Semashko, 2, tel. +7 (495) 586-12-11.
St. Petersburg
Microbiological laboratory FBUZ “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in St. Petersburg”, st. Defending, 35, tel. +7 (812) 786−87−00.
Leningrad Region
Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Leningrad Region, St. Petersburg, st. Olminsky, 27, tel. +7 (812) 448−05−11.
Samara
FBUZ “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Samara Region”, st. Georgy Mitirev, 1, tel. +7 (846) 260−37−97.
Sochi
Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Sochi, st. Roz, 27, tel. +7 (862) 262-16-10.