Rospotrebnadzor announced three new types of ticks found in Russia. How not to catch a tick (especially at the height of the season), aif.ru figured out.
Myth 1. If you do not walk in the forest, there is nothing to fear.
Not at all! Ticks don’t live on trees! They live in the grass. And it is from there – from below – that they crawl onto their victims. aif.ru reminded about this Head of the Laboratory of Infection Carriers, National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after A.I. N.F. Gamalei of the Ministry of Health Nadezhda Kuznetsova.
Advice! How to find out if there are ticks in a particular clearing? Take a white cloth and run it across the grass. If at least one tick is caught on the fabric, run.
Myth 2. There are no ticks in sunny places.
Indeed, in general, ticks prefer shady and damp places. But, like other bloodsuckers – mosquitoes – who also love shade, they are quite capable of “coming out into the light” in order to feast on the blood of the victim. They do not like the sun, but this does not mean that it paralyzes or kills them.
Advice! Wear light but closed clothing at all times.
Myth 3. Pungent odors repel ticks.
In fact, almost no folk remedies can scare away a tick more effectively than factory repellents.
As told biologist-entomologist Roman Khryapin, the only essential oil that repels ticks is lemon eucalyptus oil. “It is really effective,” the expert emphasized.
However, it is easier and more effective to apply one of the repellents that are sold in the store before a walk.
Advice! Do not forget that protective agents should be applied to clothing, and not to exposed areas of the body.
Myth 4. The only way to get infected is to catch a tick.
As reminded aif.ru Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, “Tick-borne viral encephalitis is transmitted through the unboiled milk of infected goats.” “Every year in Russia, the sanitary and epidemiological services register several cases of such infections,” she stressed.
Advice! There is only one advice – do not drink fresh milk, take care of your health.
Myth 5. If there is a bite, but there is no cut on the body, the threat has passed.
Alas, how does one explain Lyudmila Karan, Leading Researcher, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, such a situation is, on the contrary, unfavorable. The presence of a tick body is an opportunity to check whether it is a carrier of barreliosis. If the bite site is present, but the tick itself is not, then you can determine whether the threat has passed, you can not earlier than in three weeks, only by passing an analysis for antibodies to borrelia (to exclude the disease).
Who needs a vaccine? Explains Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova:
“Vaccinations against tick-borne viral encephalitis are for people who, on duty of their work or service, must be in places where these insects are. And also for those who are going to hike in areas where the appearance of ticks is noted. The vaccination is done twice and the procedure must be completed two weeks before going out into nature. Everyone else needs to have proper, body-covering and repellent-treated clothing while in the forest.”
