How to protect yourself from mites?

The danger of ticks is that they can tolerate a serious disease - the encyphalitis, which pushes on the central nervous system and leads to paralysis.

Favorite places of sucking ticks on a person: behind the ears, on the neck, under the armpits, in the groin.

The mites are a brick-red body with a dark brown shield on the back and an elongated proboscis, the total body length is 2.5-4 mm, the males are smaller than females and do not exceed 2.5 mm. The attached mites grow in size as the bloodshot grows, they become pink, subsequently gray, the size of a small pea on the body.



Typical habitats of ticks are mixed, coniferous and deciduous forests with a thick undergrowth, a well developed grass cover and litter of fallen rotting foliage. In the body of mites, the virus persists throughout life and can be transmitted by inheritance.

Once on the body of the victim, the mites look for a place for suction, usually the area of ​​the neck, chest, axilla, skin folds.

A forest mite is unable to move independently over long distances - sitting on a blade of grass, a branch, a leaf, etc., it waits for the potential victim to be within its reach. As soon as this happens, it clings to the skin or clothing and begins to move around the body, choosing a place to suck. After that, the mite plunges its "proboscis" into the skin and gets to the subcutaneous blood vessels, from where it sucks blood.

You can be bitten by a tick and not in the forest. The population brings ticks from the forest to the house with outer clothing, bouquets of flowers, berries, mushrooms. In addition, they can be brought into the home by pets.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

• While in the forest, where you can meet ticks, protect yourself from crawling under their clothes and sucking to the body.

• In the absence of special clothing, it is necessary to dress in such a way as to facilitate quick inspection for detecting ticks: wear solid and light clothing; It is better to wear a sports jacket with a zipper with cuffs on the sleeves, a shirt to fill in trousers, trousers into socks or boots, tie a head with a handkerchief or put on a tightly fitting cap; Shirt collar and trousers should not have a fastener or have a tight buckle under which the tick can not creep;

• When in the forest, do self-examination and at least once every 2 hours, surface examinations should be carried out every 10-15 minutes.

• Do not sit or lie on the grass in a hazardous area.

• Parking and overnight stays in the forest should preferably be arranged on sites devoid of grass vegetation. Before spending the night, you should carefully inspect clothing, body, hair.

• Do not put freshly cut grass, branches on which ticks can be placed.

• Inspect dogs and other animals after walking to remove attached and sucked ticks from them.

• If you are planning a trip to the area in which cases of tick-borne encephalitis have been registered for the next year, contact your local hospital for vaccination.

 • Use special chemical personal protective equipment against mites.

If the tick sucked

- if you find a sucking mite on the skin (in particular, if the victim is a child!), It is better to seek medical help, for example, in the emergency room. In the event that medical assistance is not available (the nearest medical facility is very far away), you can try to remove the mite yourself, trying not to tear off the submerged proboscis. Grab the tick with tweezers or a loop of tight thread as close as possible to its mouthpiece and, shaking from side to side, trying not to squeeze, so as not to squeeze its contents into the wound, remove it from the skin.

- Do not try to pierce the tick, drip on it with alcohol, poison with kerosene and set it on fire - while it will release a contagious liquid into the skin;

- disinfect the place of the bite with any suitable means (70% alcohol, 5% iodine, etc.).

- If the tick bites the child, it is necessary to contact the medical institution - regardless of whether you managed to cope with its removal yourself or not;

- in case of tearing off the head or proboscis (accidentally or during removal), a black spot remains on the skin, which must be treated with 5% iodine.

 - After removing the insect, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.

 - Place the mite in a container with a moistened cloth and cover with a lid to prevent the mite from creeping out. If possible, deliver it to the study within no more than 2 days.

According to the results of the tick test, you will be given recommendations for the prevention of the disease.