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A tick is a small arachnid that carries diseases that are dangerous for humans. It is not always easy to identify a tick as it looks for hosts at different stages of its development and its larvae and nymphs can be very small. It is easiest to recognize an adult tick when it has had time to bite the host and drink blood. So what does a tick look like?
Ticks are arachnids known primarily for the characteristic way in which they attack their hosts. They stick to the skin of mammals, including humans, and stay in this position for a long time, sipping blood and increasing in size. Ticks also transmit serious diseases, including Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis. There are 21 species of ticks in Poland, of which the most common are common tick (Ixodes ricinus) and meadow tick (Dermacentor reticulatus).
In the context of tick-borne diseases, the common tick is of the greatest importance. It can carry bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. (Lyme disease) i Anaplasma phagocytophilum (granulocytic ehrlichiosis), a type of protozoan Babesia (babesiosis) and flaviviruses responsible for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Ixodes ricinus is also responsible for the transmission of bacterial tularemia and Q fever.
As for meadow ticks, they spread Lyme disease and Q fever.
Ticks have several stages of development – they appear as larvae, nymphs and adults (imago). At each stage of life, these arachnids can be a source of health and life-threatening conditions due to the tick-borne diseases they transmit. The attainment of the next stages of development by ticks can only take place when they eat blood.
Any form of a tick can bite a person.
- Check it out: What to do when a tick bites?
The development cycle of a tick takes an average of two years, but in the case of a common tick living in Poland, it may take three years or more. The length of this cycle is influenced by environmental conditions. In summer, the eggs hatch by the female tick larvae, because of their small size, they look like small dots. After finding a host, the larva transforms into nymphwhich looks like an adult tick, but is smaller than it and not ready to breed. When she manages to feed her with blood, she transforms into an adult.
The tick larvae are very small, which makes them easy to overlook on the skin – they have up to 0,8 mm in length i six legs. At first glance, the tick larva looks like a dark dot. If it bites a person, a slight inflammation may develop at the site of the bite due to allergens in the arachnid saliva. This allergic reaction – not the same as migratory erythema – sometimes occurs when bitten by a larva, nymph or adult tick.
Light reddening of the skin at the site of the bite is the body’s reaction that can occur when bitten by a healthy tick. When bitten by a larva or a nymph, such a skin lesion is smaller than when bitten by an adult tick. The tick larvae feed mainly in the period from May to September, although the greatest intensity of their activity is observed between June and August.
Tick lava is not believed to transmit Lyme disease, but it can infect other diseases, including viral encephalitis and babesiosis.
- Read more: A simple rash? Not necessarily. It could be a tick larva
The tick nymph is the second stage of development of this arachnid after the larvae. The nymph is larger than the larva, it has 1,4 mm long and eight legs. It is brownish-black and looks like an adult tick, but is more difficult to spot and therefore may pose a greater risk to humans. Early tick detection and removal minimizes the risk of contracting tick-borne diseases.
A tick nymph that is grafted into the skin may look like a mole, but when it starts drinking blood, it grows up to 3 mm in size. This form of tick can transmit the same diseases as adults.
- Check: They resemble moles – dangerous tick nymphs
Adult ticks grow up to a few millimeters in length – males 2,5-3 mm and females 3-4 mm. However, such sizes apply to hungry individuals who are just looking for a host. A fully fed female tick it swells and may grow to more than 1 cm.
Before a tick gets stuck in the skin and feeds it with blood, it’s easy to mistake it for a harmless arthropod. It is inconspicuous, it lives mainly in grass and low shrubs (up to approx. 3 meters high), and its bite does not hurt.
The tick does not immediately start drinking the host’s blood. At the beginning, they introduce an anesthetic and anticoagulant substances under the skin, and they begin to feed after an average of two hours. Quick tick removal reduces the risk of contracting diseases that some individuals can transmit. If we do not remove the tick early enough, after some time (it’s a matter of hours and sometimes days) it will become saturated with blood and detach itself from the skin.
To get a tick off your skin quickly, it’s worth having a Tick Removal Kit at home. You can buy it at a favorable price on Medonet Market.
If we manage to remove the tick, it is best to send it to a laboratory that will confirm or exclude the presence of pathogenic toxins in this particular individual, so we can either start the treatment quickly or feel safer.
Spotting a tick in an animal is difficult because the parasite is usually hidden in the fur – the problem especially concerns long-haired dogs or cats. Often a tick is detected only after it has had time to drink blood and significantly increase its size.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to emotions. Often times, a particular sight, sound or smell brings to mind a similar situation that we have already experienced. What opportunities does this give us? How does our body react to such an emotion? You will hear about this and many other aspects related to emotions below.
Read also:
- Why do ticks pose a health risk?
- Preparations for ticks – how do they work? Composition of preparations for ticks
- Ticks – the most important questions and answers