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Thursday 30 June 2022
That’s how small a tick is compared to a match. In reality, it is only a few millimeters small. She is full and greatly enlarged. You can see the mouthparts, the legs on the side and the abdomen, which has been swollen from the sucked blood.
Ticks are small animals. These little creatures are not popular, but they are true survivors. They form an order in the animal kingdom that belongs to the class Arachnids. All arachnids have eight legs. Insects, such as bees, have only six. So a tick has eight legs and an oval body. Ticks feed on the blood of other animals and humans. Those animals that live on other animals without eating them are called parasites. The blood donors are called hosts. With its first pair of legs, the tick holds on to the animals whose blood it wants to suck. When a host comes by, the tick latches on, then looks for a feeding spot and starts sucking blood. To do this, she has a suction organ on her head. As she sucks, her body fills with blood and she grows larger and larger. Although adult ticks are only 2 to 4 mm in size, these small animals are extremely adaptable. Ticks can survive under water for up to three weeks, they can easily cope with sub-zero temperatures and even survive a whole year without food without any problems.
Female ticks lay eggs. Larvae and then nymphs develop from this, which is an intermediate stage to the adult animals. To get from one level to the next, the ticks need a meal of blood each time.
When the tick sucks, it also releases something like spit into the wound. This can transmit diseases. Two serious diseases that can be transmitted by ticks are TBE (tick-borne encephalitis), which is an inflammation of the brain, and Lyme disease. To protect yourself from infection, you can be vaccinated against TBE. If you live in an area where ticks can carry these diseases, it’s a good idea to speak to your doctor about getting vaccinated. Lyme disease initially feels like the flu. The disease can be treated very well with antibiotics; there is no vaccine. If you had a tick and it was removed, you should monitor the bite site for a few days. If a red spot forms around it, you should go to the doctor immediately, because then you could have contracted Lyme disease.
Ticks are found all over the world. In total, scientists have discovered about 900 different species. The common wood tick is particularly widespread in Europe.
What to do if you were bitten by a tick
Before going to bed you feel a small foreign body on your body. What is that? Oh a tick! Show the “thing” to an adult. Now it’s time to be careful, but at the same time act quickly. If you want to avoid catching Lyme disease, you should get rid of the tick as soon as possible. Have an adult carefully remove the tick with needle-nose tweezers. It works like this: With the tweezers you grab the tick directly above the skin surface, so you grab it by the head. Then pull it out slowly and evenly without turning. Take the removed tick, put it in an empty film canister and ideally take it to a doctor. He can examine them for pathogens. If the tick was infected, he will give you medication. If you don’t have suitable tweezers at hand or if you’re afraid of contagion, it’s best to go to the doctor immediately. He removes the tick and can tell you whether there is a risk of illness and what you can do about it.
How can you protect yourself from a tick bite?
Appropriate clothing – sturdy shoes, long trousers and long sleeves – helps. But what to do when it is very warm outside? Take an insect repellent. They are available in drugstores and pharmacies. These funds help not only against mosquitoes, but also against ticks. Insect repellents change body odor so much that insects no longer notice where a person is. Unfortunately, they are only effective against ticks for half as long as against mosquitoes. This means that you have to apply some of the product again after four hours at the latest.
Remember!
Never remove ticks with alcohol, glue, oil or other tinctures. If the tick dies after a while with this type of “treatment”, pathogens will enter your body. The risk of getting infected and getting sick later increases!
See a doctor immediately if you can’t remove a tick completely. The remains of a tick can also trigger infections.
Check your body for ticks every day when you have been walking in the undergrowth, in tall grass or in the forest. Get help from an adult you trust.
Apply insect repellent regularly, especially if you are under a tree. Ticks like to settle on people who stay in one place for a long time.
In the following quiz you can show how well you know the little parasites.
1. Ticks are parasites. What does that mean?
a. They feed on the blood of another living being.
b. They feed exclusively on fungi.
c. They only live near water.
2. How many legs do ticks have?
a. Ticks have 6 legs.
b. Tick larvae have 6 legs, adult ticks 8.
c. Female ticks have 8 legs, the smaller males only 6.
3. Where do ticks like to hang out?
a. in the rocky mountains
b. at the edge of oceans
c. in forests and meadows
4. Ticks require very little blood. Nevertheless, they are among the most dangerous wild animals. Why?
a. Ticks can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease.
b. Despite their small size, the animals can leave nasty puncture wounds.
c. Ticks are very poisonous.
5. How do ticks get their hosts’ blood?
a. They bite with their protruding incisors.
b. They have a pointed mouthpart that they use to pierce the skin.
c. Ticks have a sensitive olfactory organ that they use to sense when their host has a small wound.
6. What color should our clothes be so that ticks are not attracted?
a. Ticks avoid the color yellow.
b. In the forest you should always wear something red, it deters ticks.
c. The color of the clothes doesn’t matter. Ticks are easier to spot on light-colored clothing.
7. How big is a tick that has fed on blood?
a. about the size of a pinhead
b. about the size of a pea
c. about the size of a chicken egg
8. What should you do if you find a tick on your body?
a. You should carefully pull them out with tweezers.
b. Don’t pull her out and wait for her to soak and fall off on her own.
c. You should sprinkle the tick with citric acid to make it fall off.
9. To which species do ticks belong?
a. to the bloodsucker vampires
b. to the mosquitoes
c. to the arachnids
(1a, 2b, 3c, 4a, 5b, 6c,7b, 8a, 9c)
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