The ticks have woken up and are already out hunting: the first cases of parasite sucking were registered in Nizhny already in early April! In May, despite the cold weather, the situation became even more complicated. Woman’s Day will tell you how not to become a victim of this small but very dangerous insect.
A tick bite is by no means harmless. Despite its small size, the parasite can easily cause problems that cannot be compared with life. Because ticks are carriers of deadly diseases – encephalitis and tick-borne borreliosis (or Lyme disease). Both of these diseases, in case of untimely treatment, lead to disability, and in some cases even death.
According to experts, the most reliable means of protection against tick-borne encephalitis (the most formidable disease transmitted by ticks) is vaccination. True, in order for a vaccinated person to develop a stable immunity, it is necessary to be vaccinated according to a certain scheme: the first vaccination is done in the fall, the second dose is administered in the spring, before the active life of the ticks, and the third dose is administered a year after the second, that is, next spring. Immunity after such a three-time vaccination is maintained for three years. Further, to preserve it, it is necessary to repeat the vaccination once every three years throughout life.
But immunoglobulin is the only remedy that can help if an unvaccinated person is bitten by an encephalitis tick. In this case, you need to urgently go to the hospital and, no later than four days after the bite, inject immunoglobulin.
As for tick-borne borreliosis, unfortunately, there is no vaccine for it. It is necessary to closely monitor the site of the bite, and if your temperature rises, and pink circles appear around the wound (as in the place of a pebble thrown into the water), you urgently need to run to the hospital, where adequate treatment will begin.
Those who did not manage to get vaccinated in the fall can do it according to the spring emergency scheme. In this case, the time interval between the first and second vaccines is reduced to two weeks. Only two weeks after the second vaccination, a person develops immunity, and he becomes protected from a dangerous ailment.
There is also the so-called passive immunization, when an immunoglobulin is administered to a person. At the same time, the body very quickly, within 48 hours, forms the necessary antibodies that protect against encephalitis. But they just as quickly, after 4–5 weeks, leave our body, and it is again “unarmed” against encephalitis. In addition, after passive immunoglobulin vaccination, vaccination can be resumed in the usual way only after four weeks, that is, the person will be defenseless for a month.
Protective external means
Since the tick, once on the body, does not stick immediately, but for an hour and a half, it searches for a secluded place with thin skin and good blood supply (armpits, groin, behind the ears), you have time to find and neutralize the parasite. Every hour and a half, examine yourself very carefully. In addition, when going for a walk, even in the yard, treat your clothes with tick repellents, which are now sold in great numbers.
If the tick is nevertheless sucked, it is necessary, if possible, to go to the hospital / clinic and conduct an examination of the parasite (you can do this in the laboratory of Rospotrebnadzor, Turgenev str., 1). If you removed the tick yourself, place it in a glass container with a glass stopper on a damp cloth or cotton swab and take it to the laboratory. Within 2–4 hours, using the express method, it is possible to determine whether a tick is encephalitic or not. And remember, the tick introduces an infection into your body during the bite itself, injecting its saliva into the blood, so whether you remove it an hour earlier or an hour later does not play a big role.
Side effects of vaccination
- in 10% of cases, swelling, swelling, redness may appear at the injection site;
- in 3%, the temperature may rise, malaise, drowsiness in children, and malnutrition may appear. But all this takes place within 1-2 days.
Противопоказания
They are possible in allergy sufferers who react to chicken egg white. You can not be vaccinated with exacerbation of chronic diseases, as well as diabetes and bronchial asthma.