Tick ​​types. Tick: small insect - big problems. Encephalitis - symptoms, consequences, treatment

Everyone has heard about ticks, but unfortunately, not all people know what they look like and when their period of activity occurs. You need to know the enemy by sight, so today we will tell you about everything.

The most common question among our readers is what month do they appear in? We answer that the peak of their activity is early spring, then they continue their hunt until autumn.

In fact, there are about fifty thousand species of ticks in the world, which means how little we know about them. The very first fact known to a narrow circle of people is that ticks are not insects at all, but arachnids. They also include scorpions, spiders and harvestmen.

We all saw spiders and harvestmen, their appearance is familiar to us. Scorpions in our latitudes you will meet infrequently, and you don’t really want to stumble upon them.

But their life is not long, many factors can influence it, scientists discover everything every day. more reasons on which the tick lives more or less.

By outward signs they are easy to distinguish - the bug has 3 pairs of legs, and the tick has 4 pairs.

We list a few of them that a person can become infected with:

• Lyme disease
• Hemorrhagic fever
• Tick-borne encephalitis
• Tick-borne typhus
• erlichiosis
• Q fever

If a terrible tick has stuck to you, then you need to remove it according to this instruction, be very careful and attentive!

To prevent the disease from becoming an unpleasant surprise, it is better to take a tick that has bitten you or pets to the doctor.

If there is a suspicion of illness, the hospital will immediately help you and begin immediate treatment.

Let us consider in more detail the description of what ticks are, which a person should avoid and, if possible, get rid of them.

They are also sometimes called lieutenants, that is, these bloodsuckers prefer to live in secluded places, such as burrows, nests, caves, cracks. It is known that some individuals of these bloodsuckers can live up to 25 years.

Their bite is very dangerous - in just one minute this pest can infect a person with relapsing fever, and the puncture site on the skin will remind of itself for several weeks with itching and pain.

3. Scabies mite– are transmitted after contact between people. Usually the female passes, which is already fertilized, therefore, when it hits the epidermis of the victim, it immediately begins to gnaw its way inward.

After some time, she lays eggs, nymphs are selected from them and spread under the skin within two weeks.

After this time, the larvae mature and are ready to breed. They feed on a special substance that is obtained by the reaction of the skin secretion with the saliva of the tick.

After mating, males die, and females live for about two to three months, laying eggs in hair follicles. You can get infected with this scourge anywhere, through another person, animal.

5. Bed - ticks do not live on human skin, but in bed and fluff of blankets and pillows, dust, eating pieces of skin.

Although the pests themselves are small, they leave behind a lot of waste products.

They can get infected on the street. Pests feed on sebum and earwax.

7. Spider mite- do not harm people, but plants. live on reverse side leaves, sucking out the juice.

Excessive reproduction of them threatens with death for most of the crop or indoor plants, therefore, there are many insecticides that will help gardeners and gardeners stand up for their crops.

They carry various serious plant diseases. They live quite a bit - from a week to a month.

8. Gamasovy - these bloodsuckers live for about seven months. They prefer to live on birds and small animals (rats, mice).

They are called accordingly - chicken, mouse, rat. But in the absence of a primary food source, ticks will bite anyone with blood. Although they are very small, the saliva of bloodsuckers is very toxic.

These include several pests - forest, taiga, dog, forest. The larvae begin to wake up in early spring, when the earth gradually warms up under the rays of the sun.

But the danger is only in wild forests and fields, ticks are rare in cities, because parks are usually treated with pesticides, but in the spring even a city dweller must follow some rules for self-preservation.

And ticks sit on trees in rare cases, usually their habitat is grass and bushes up to a meter high.

Also big role fabric plays outerwear. It should be smooth, without roughness, for example, Bologna. On it, the clawed paws of ticks will not be able to catch on and will slide off.

In an ordinary forest, you need to inspect yourself every couple of hours, in places with a large accumulation of ticks, it is better to check in half an hour.

The same goes for protecting pets. the best remedies– Dana Ultra, Api-San, Bolfo. The preparations are produced in the form of a spray and drops, which are applied to the withers of the animal. On sale there are also special collars, which should indicate that they protect against ticks.

Now it is known what ticks are, and that many can negatively affect a person in some way. They not only bite and carry various serious diseases, but also attack domestic animals, livestock, poultry, destroy crops by feeding on crop juices or garden plants.

The onset of spring brings with it not only excellent weather, picnics and walks, but also such an unpleasant phenomenon as the activation of ticks. Ticks are small arthropods from the order of arachnids that have been living on the planet for several million years. Since they live mainly in the soil, the period of their activity falls on the time when it warms up to +5 degrees. Many of the representatives of this subclass are carriers of the most severe diseases, such as tick-borne typhus, encephalitis and borreliosis. The number of tick species is striking and recorded at approximately 50 thousand, but the subclass itself is divided by researchers into three groups: haymakers, parisitoform and acarimorph ticks.

For many, "ticks" are only those that live in the forest and bite animals and people. But in nature there is great amount ticks, divided into species and differing in nutrition and lifestyle. We will now consider some types of ticks. The classification of ticks distinguishes three independent orders.

In addition to the three main and collective groups by which scientists classify ticks, there are many other species. Consider the most common:

1. in most cases are carriers of encephalitis. Particular activity occurs in May-July, insects live in grass or bushes and it is from the vegetation that they get to humans. Moving from below, the tick is looking for appropriate place with thin skin, most often it is the wrists, neck, head.
   
2. Argas mites differ from other species in that they hunt all year round. They live in dark and hard-to-reach places such as nests, caves and various cracks. In case of a lack of consumed blood, argas mites hibernate. However, only half an hour is enough for them to completely saturate with blood, and only a minute is enough to infect the victim with a serious illness.
   
3. subcutaneous mites live under the skin of a person, as their name suggests. They develop and live under the skin quite long time until they are eliminated by feeding on dead cells. Acne, itching and severe redness occur at the site of the affected areas. Infection occurs from carriers of the disease through towels, touches and personal hygiene items.
   
4. Scabies mites able to move from animal to person, causing a disease such as scabies. Infection from other people through household items is also common, especially bedding and a comb.
   
5. live in pillows, blankets and mattresses, feed on dust and exfoliated particles of dead epidermis. They do not feed on human blood, they are not able to bite. Dust mites cannot be seen with the naked eye, they are microscopic. Very often they are confused with those that feed on human blood.
   
6. Spider mites live on plants, feed on their juice and entangle with their cobwebs. Plants wither and die if action is not taken in time.
   

What does a tick look like?

All these types of ticks look different. Only some small individuals reach 4 mm in size, but mostly their average size is 0.1-0.5 mm. The body is of two types: the fused head and chest, passing into the abdomen, and the body with the presence of a hard shell.

Animal ticks do not have eyes, but are endowed with a sharp sensory apparatus that allows them to navigate perfectly in any space. It is important to note that, like other representatives of arthropods, ticks do not have wings, so they are not able to fly or jump.

Tick ​​habitats

In almost all parts of the world, except for the most northern latitudes. Ground mites prefer high humidity, therefore, most often they live near water, in bushes, mosses, animal burrows or grass and fallen leaves.

There is an opinion that the tick lives on trees and at any moment can fall on its prey from above. This is not so, because ticks are not able to climb to a height more than a meter, therefore, they prefer to hunt from grass, from the branches of low bushes, such as blueberries, or from fallen leaves. That is why you should be wary of "halts" in the campaign.

Most often, ticks wait for their prey in paths on the grass or near a forest road. But in a pine forest, where the humidity is much less than deciduous and mixed forests, it is almost impossible to meet ticks. Ticks' preference for warm habitats is also evidenced by their spread in bakery or grain barns, apartments, and even deep layers of human skin.

Can ticks jump and fly?

None of the species of ticks can fly, so you should not be afraid of an attack from the air. Can ticks jump from branches of trees and shrubs? No, they are not capable of jumping. Their main way of attacking the victim is to cling to it. Ticks do not prefer to climb to a height of more than one and a half meters, but this is quite enough for them. In the event of a threat, such as a fire, ticks simply unhook from a branch or blade of grass and simply fall down. Some might call it a jump, but it's just an uncontrolled fall down.

How do ticks reproduce and lay eggs?

reproduction forest mites occurs after full saturation. After fertilization, the female must feed on blood for about 10 days in order to produce offspring. At one time, she is able to lay 5000 eggs, which in the first stages after birth are on low plants. Then, after the larvae appear, they need to find a host - a vertebrate that will supply them with blood. This is what will allow the larvae to turn into nymphs (more adults).

Mouth apparatus and feeding habits of ticks

Special devices help to absorb food for ticks: chelicerae, or leg tentacles, which crush food, and pedipalps, which serve to chew food. In arthropods that feed on the blood and juices of plants, the limbs are modified: the pedipalps are fused and perform the function of piercing the skin or outer shells of plants, and the chelicerae form a proboscis with notches for secure fastening. All this is a piercing-sucking mouth apparatus.

Ticks that feed on solid food (flour, seeds) have gnawing mouthparts. The chelicerae are modified into claws, and the pedipalps perform their original chewing function.

According to the way of feeding, mites are divided into two types:

• Saprophages- individuals that feed on leftovers organic matter. This includes plant sap, rotting organic residues, millet, flour, particles of exfoliated human epidermis, as well as subcutaneous fat;
• Predators- Ticks stick to vertebrates and feed on their blood. Without food, they can live up to 3 years, but still they constantly lie in wait for the victim and wait for the right moment.

How does a tick attach itself and where does it bite most often?

The process of sucking the ixodid tick to the victim is divided into two categories: passive and active. The first involves the tick living in grass, bushes or near paths, where a lot of people or animals accumulate. Without spending any effort, the tick, having found a future host, sticks to it. But this happens only in those cases when a person’s legs are open, because the tick attacks from below. However, clothes are not a hindrance to him - the tick makes its way up it, finding open area body.

The second way of attack is active. It is built on an instinctive level, since the tick senses its prey and makes its way to it by all possible means. Following his incredibly sharp senses, he makes his way closer to the grass, crawling on it, and waits for the approach of a person or animal. When the victim approaches optimal distance, a tick, spreading forward two front legs with claws, clings to wool, skin or clothes. If the goal is lost, but the tick, driven by hunger and instinct, continues to pursue it.

The places with the thinnest and most delicate skin seem to be the most attractive for ticks to bite. As already mentioned, these include the neck and head. But also great attention should be paid to the examination of the inguinal zone, armpits, chest and abdomen, because most ticks are acutely aware of the smell of sweat, which attracts them very much.

Diseases carried by ticks

Having suffered from it is impossible to say for sure that there will be no further serious consequences. The thing is that many representatives of this species are carriers of diseases that are terrible for humans. The most serious include encephalitis, Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis. Also common are relapsing tick fever, tularemia, babesiosis, and spotted fever. All entail an extremely serious condition, often ending in disability and an extremely long rehabilitation period, and sometimes death.

Lyme disease - symptoms, consequences, treatment

It is provoked by the bite of a tick, which is a carrier of a spirochete and is called ixodid. Infection occurs after the saliva of an infected arachnid enters a wound on the skin. There are also cases when a person himself, while combing the skin, rubs an infection from a crushed tick. The main symptom after injury is a red spot, the surface of which rises above other areas of the skin, with a white center, which then turns into a crust and scar.

Disorders appear after 1.5 months nervous system, cardiac apparatus and joints. Paralysis, insomnia, depression, hearing loss are common. The outcome of this disease is usually not fatal, however, the effects on the heart can be a serious danger. For the treatment of Lyme disease, experts prescribe antibiotics (from 2 weeks), in more severe cases they are administered intravenously.

Encephalitis - symptoms, consequences, treatment

Encephalitis is one of the most severe diseases, which is an acute disorder in the brain. Its cause lies in the immune system, which mistakenly attacks its own tissues. Encephalitic mites live in many forests in Europe and Russia, but refusing to visit them is guaranteed not to save you from the disease - ticks often hide in branches and wool.

Surprisingly, even after drinking the milk of an infected cow or goat, a weak body can become infected with encephalitis. The spread of the virus occurs in 1.5 weeks, affecting the gray matter of the brain, accompanied by convulsions, paralysis of either certain muscles or entire limbs. After the defeat of the entire brain, severe headaches, vomiting, and loss of consciousness are observed. The consequences are very severe - disability and in frequent cases death. For the treatment of encephalitis, doctors prescribe intravenous immunoglobulin, and antiviral drugs are required for prevention.

How to protect yourself from ticks?

There are several simple rules, which everyone can adhere to to avoid tick bites:

• clothing that securely covers all parts of the body, especially arms and legs;
• headdress;
• closed and high shoes, or trousers tucked into it;
• light-colored clothes, on which it is easier to see the tick;
• treatment of exposed skin with repellent;
• examining yourself and loved ones every half hour;
• refusal to collect flowers, branches and plants.

Repellents

Repellant is one type of tick repellant. The spray can be sprayed not only on clothes, but also on the skin, however, it is necessary to ensure that it does not fade and repeat the procedure again. Particular attention should be paid to the areas of the armpits, abdomen, neck and wrists - most often ticks for a bite choose them. Of course, this remedy is not an exact guarantee that all ticks will bypass a person, but nevertheless, the use of repellents significantly reduces the likelihood of being bitten.

Acaricidal agents

These tools are the most powerful and effective. The substance used in the spray affects the nervous system of the tick, causing its limbs to go numb. But we must remember that acaricidal agents are extremely harmful to the skin and moreover, they cannot be inhaled. Adults are advised to process their clothes, but in no case put them on, wait a while for everything to dry completely, only then put them on. One spray with such an acaricidal spray gives an effect for a period of about two weeks.

Insecticide-repellants

This type It is considered the most convenient and reliable, because it combines two means together, which means it not only repels ticks, but also paralyzes them. Convenience lies in the fact that the product is allowed to be applied to the skin and clothing. In addition, the drugs fight not only ticks, but also other blood-sucking insects, which also has its benefits - mosquitoes will not stick.

Vaccination

The most severe disease carried by ticks is produced in order to the immune system a person was able to recognize the virus and began to fight it. First you need to contact a therapist who will tell you where it is best to perform this procedure.

It is important to consider that it can only be done in hospitals that are licensed to provide this type of vaccination. In case of improper storage of the drug, the effect of the vaccine is useless, and sometimes dangerous. In Russia, preparations of domestic, German and Austrian production are used. The advantage of foreign vaccines is that they have much fewer contraindications and side effects.

What should I do if bitten by a tick?

If there is no hospital nearby, then you need to, following all the rules, remove the tick yourself. The animal is on the skin from half an hour to two hours, so during this time it can be detected and removed. In no case should the tick be crushed or pulled out, only twisting will help get rid of it.

How to pull out a tick?

Most effective methods to remove a tick:

• using ordinary tweezers or a clip, you can remove the tick from the skin by twisting it, but without squeezing too much;
• with a strong thread - you need to tie it into a knot as close as possible to the proboscis of the tick, and then, shaking and pulling it up, remove the animal;
• clean fingers.

After removing the animal, the wound must be disinfected with iodine or brilliant green, and the hands should be washed again with soap and water.

Should I go to the doctor after a tick bite?

Definitely yes. If possible, you should immediately contact a specialist to remove the tick from the skin, and then to examine it. Any emergency room, on-duty surgeon or infectious disease specialist, who will perform the procedure, and also reliably disinfect the bite site, will do.

Where to take a tick for analysis?

If the victim managed to remove the tick in the hospital, then the animal without fail sent to a laboratory to be tested for infection. In the event that the tick is removed at home, then it is necessary to place it in a small jar along with a moistened piece of gauze or cotton wool so that it does not dry out. Be sure to take into account the fact that the tick must be alive, only in this way the study will be carried out.

Usually, all tests can be carried out in a sanitary and epidemiological station or special epidemiology centers, the addresses of which can be clarified with an ambulance. We have compiled a list of other cities in Russia.

We have been scared of ticks since childhood. As soon as the corresponding season begins, the incidence of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis immediately increases. So the fear is justified.

In this article, we will analyze in detail who ticks are, why they are dangerous, what these animals look like, where they can be caught and how to protect yourself from them. Let's take a look at others important topics that you didn't even know existed. Let's start.

Ticks are insects or not?

There is a common misconception that a tick is an insect. But nothing like that. As children, our parents might tell us that they are not insects. So, ticks are relatives of spiders, they belong to the class of arachnids.

How are they different from insects?

1. Four pairs of paws. Each tick has eight legs, while insects have only six.
2. Absence of antennae. Insects have them.
3. Two parts of the body (or as biologists say, a segment). Insects have three segments - head, thorax and abdomen. In ticks, two segments are connected into one and is called the cephalothorax.

It is worth noting that arachnids, from an evolutionary point of view, are more primitive and ancient than insects. What do insects and mites have in common? The fact that both of them belong to the class of arthropods.

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What kind of ticks are there?

In turn, ticks are not of the same species. There are a huge number of them.

They differ literally in everything: lifestyle, size and degree of danger to humans. Some mites are absolutely harmless, others can cause allergies ( dust mites). Well, there is a species that can kill a person with one of its bites.

There are such types of ticks:

Types of ticks in humans

People may have these mites:

Ticks in dogs and cats

Ear mites, which we have already discussed above, also live on dogs and cats. All species can live on both humans and animals.

What ticks are found on the territory of Russia?

On the territory of Russia, you can most often find such ticks:

1. Ixodid. We have already talked about him enough. They can be found throughout Russia, but not everywhere they are carriers of encephalitis. Most likely to get this terrible disease among residents of Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk. A little less - Omsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk. But if you live in Yakutsk, Moscow, Murmansk and other similar cities, then the probability is very low. Nevertheless, if suddenly a tick bites you, it is better to consult a doctor. Most of all, ixodid ticks love places where the climate is temperate, and the spring is warm enough. The highest chance of catching an ixodid tick is in crowded places. They perfectly feel where you can feast on fresh blood.
2. Pasture mite. We haven't talked about him yet. Well, it needs to be corrected. It lives in the steppes of Russia, in the European part of our country. You can also find a lot of them in Western Siberia. The pasture tick likes to live in humid, warm regions where the climate is temperate. Both livestock and humans can pick up an animal. It is activated in summer time. However, redundant solar activity he does not love, like other brothers.
3. Brown dog tick. He can be found in Black Sea coast. His favorite food is pets and people. It does not carry encephalitis, but it is capable of infecting Marseilles fever. You can get infected from it through dogs. Most often picked up by its owners of these pets.

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What color are the ticks?

The color of mites is standard for all arachnids.

Most often, this animal can be one of the following colors:

1. Brown.
2. orangeish.
3. White.
4. Brownish grey.

No matter what color they are, they can be potentially dangerous.

Do ticks have wings?

Contrary to popular belief, ticks have never flown. It's just that many people confuse ticks and deer bloodsucker. Although in fact, the latter is closer to flies than to ticks. Actually, it's an insect. Here he has wings.

Another common misconception is that ticks can jump. Also a myth. They, like any other arachnids, crawl.

They hunt people or animals as follows:

1. The tick lives in places where there is tall grass. They do not know how to climb high and therefore guard at a relatively low height. With this, we debunk another myth that ticks seem to live on trees.
2. Ticks have a very good sense of smell. Consequently, they smell the blood of the victim and begin to run quickly enough towards it.
3. A tick can climb and search for a long time a good place to suck on. Sometimes searches can last several hours.

So we see that there are no ticks with wings. But they are quite good sprinters. Well, what to do if you need to stick to prey that moves fast enough?

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What size pliers?

We have already understood that ticks can be of different sizes.

In a nutshell, this topic cannot be fully disclosed. The reason is that the life expectancy of ticks is affected not only by the type of animal, but also by its living conditions.

But we will try to highlight certain points:

1. The average lifespan of an ixodid tick is about 2 years. Although here it is necessary to take into account not only the features environment, but also what stages of development are taken into account. The maximum lifespan of the ixodid tick, including the early stages of development, is eight years, the minimum is six months. Although sometimes individuals come across that are able to live much longer.
2. Bed mites in favorable conditions live for four months. If the apartment is regularly carried out high-quality cleaning, then their life expectancy is many times reduced.
3. The lifespan of a scabies mite depends on many factors, and human immunity is important. In the air, they die in just a few hours. In addition, the life expectancy of animals is affected by how quickly a person turns to a doctor and appropriate treatment is started. you will find here.

Where do ticks live?

As already mentioned, ticks can live all over the globe, and everywhere there are places favorable for their existence.

For an animal to develop, it is enough good conditions, which are:

1. High humidity. Therefore, there are many of them in those places where plants do not allow moisture to leave the habitat of animals. That is why so many ticks can be picked up in forests, parks and other places with actively developing vegetation.
2. The presence of grass. As already mentioned, the main habitat of ticks is tall grass. That's where you can find them.

Contrary to popular belief, ticks can also be picked up in the city, which is confirmed by numerous dog owners. Moreover, it is quite possible to pick up borreliosis or encephalitis in the city, so you need to take precautions.

What does a tick bite look like?

Here, too, everything can be different depending on which tick has bitten, whether it managed to unhook and whether it is contagious.

Pay attention to such points:

1. The tick bite is painless. Therefore, a person can already see a rounded redness and a slight local allergic reaction after the fact.
2. If a person has caught Lyme disease, then the bite resembles the planet Saturn. In the center is a rounded redness, and around it at a distance is a red ring, which becomes larger with time. If Lyme disease develops further, then a scar appears at the site of the bite, and the central place becomes white or bluish.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

To protect yourself from a tick bite, be sure to follow these instructions:

And remember that if you suddenly find a stuck tick or a bite that looks something like the one described above, then be sure to consult a doctor.

Conclusion

So, we figured out what ticks are, what are dangerous, what diseases they cause, where they live, in which areas it is safer to live, in which less, what to do to protect yourself from bites, what to do if it suddenly happened, how many people live ticks and many other issues.

I hope that this article was useful to you. There is no need to be afraid of ticks, but in any case, God protects the safe. Take precautions and be careful.

The tick (Acari) is one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet. Contrary to the erroneous opinion, ticks are not insects, but are representatives of the arachnid order.

Description of ticks. What does a tick look like?

In size, these representatives of arthropods rarely reach 3 mm; in general, the size of mites ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. As befits arachnids, ticks lack wings. Adult ticks have 4 pairs of legs, while pre-pubescent specimens have three pairs of legs. Having no eyes, ticks navigate in space with the help of a well-developed sensory apparatus, thanks to which they can smell the victim 10 meters away. According to the structure of the body, all types of ticks can be divided into leathery, with a fused head and chest, and hard (armored), in which the head is movably attached to the body. The supply of oxygen also depends on the structure of the body: the former breathe through the skin or trachea, while the armored ones have special spiracles.

What do ticks eat?

According to the way of feeding, ticks are divided into:

Blood-sucking predatory mites wait for the prey, settling in ambush on blades of grass, twigs and sticks. With the help of paws, equipped with claws and suction cups, they attach to it, after which they move to the place of nutrition (groin, neck or head, armpits). Moreover, the victim of a tick can be not only a person, but also other herbivorous mites or thrips.

A tick bite can be very dangerous, as ticks are carriers of diseases, including encephalitis. Ticks can go without food for up to 3 years, but at the slightest opportunity they show miracles of gluttony and can increase in weight up to 120 times.

Types of ticks. Tick ​​classification

Ticks have more than 40,000 species, which scientists have divided into 2 main superorders:

Description of the main types of ticks:

• ixodidticks

• Argasaceae ticks

• Shell mites

• Gamasid mite

• Subcutaneous mite

• scabies mite

• ear mite

• Dust mite (bed, linen)

It is absolutely harmless to birds, animals and humans, as it is a complete "vegetarian" and feeds on plant juices, settling from the bottom of the leaf and sucking the juices out of it. It is a carrier of gray rot that is detrimental to plants.

• Water (sea) mite

It feeds on its relatives, therefore, sometimes it is specially settled by a person in greenhouses and greenhouses to combat spider mites.

• Barn (flour, bread)mite

For a person, in principle, it is safe, but for stocks of grain or flour it is a serious pest: products are clogged with waste products of the flour mite, which leads to its decay and mold formation.

lives in the southern part of Russia, in Kazakhstan, Transcaucasia, mountains Central Asia, in the south of Western Siberia. It mainly settles in forest-steppes or forests. Dangerous for animals and humans, can be a carrier of encephalitis, plague, brucellosis, fever.

harmless to humans, but dangerous to dogs. Lives everywhere. It is especially active in coastal areas and on the Black Sea coast.

Where do ticks live?

Ticks live in every climate zone and on all continents. Due to the fact that ticks prefer wet places, they choose forest ravines, undergrowth, thickets along the banks of streams, flooded meadows, overgrown paths, animal hair, dark warehouses with agricultural products, etc. Some species are adapted to life in the seas and reservoirs with fresh water. Some mites live in houses and apartments, for example, house mites, dust mites, flour mites.

Tick ​​spread

How long does a tick live?

The lifespan of a tick depends on the species. For example, house dust mites or dust mites live 65-80 days. Other species, such as the taiga tick, live up to 4 years. Without food, ticks can live from 1 month to 3 years.

Reproduction of ticks. Stages (cycle) of tick development

Most mites are oviparous, although there are some viviparous species. Like all arachnids, ticks have a clear division into females and males. The most ineresting life cycle observed in blood-sucking species. The following stages of tick development are distinguished:

• Larva
• Nymph
• adult

Mite eggs

In late spring or early summer, the female tick, having saturated with blood, makes a clutch of 2.5-3 thousand eggs. What do tick eggs look like? The egg is a rather large cell in relation to the size of the female, consisting of the cytoplasm and nucleus, and covered with a two-layer membrane, which is painted in various colors. Tick ​​eggs can be completely different shape- from round or oval, to flattened and elongated.

What do tick eggs look like?

Mankind naively believes that the planet belongs to him.
Which, as it were, a priori allows people to change nature for themselves and use it as they please.
However, this misconception leads to an adequate answer.
Nature begins to resist. And sometimes it is unequivocal to indicate to people that they are not alone here and at one fine moment they may be considered superfluous.

One has only to take a closer look, for example, at only one microcosm surrounding us - the planet of ticks.
Every year there are more and more of them. Distribution areas are increasing.
As well as the number of deadly diseases carried by ticks.
Ticks get closer and closer to a person. It is not uncommon now to pick up a tick in a city park or square.
A ring of creatures in chitinous shells shrinks around a person.

PLIERS (Acarina), a detachment of small arachnids, uniting about 20 thousand species.

Shell mites (Oribatidae)- the most extensive group of soil mites, most abundant in forest soils and litter.
They use their gnawing chelicerae to chew on rotting plant debris with abundant microflora.
They carry tapeworms in their bodies that infect livestock.

Barn mites (Acaridae), also called flour, or bread, are small animals with gnawing chelicerae. They live in the soil and rotting plant debris, as well as in the storage of agricultural products, sometimes causing damage to grain, flour and cereals.
In people who work with grain, they can cause severe skin irritation and respiratory symptoms characteristic of allergic reactions with chelicera injections.
Fortunately, the barn mite quickly leaves the person, as it feeds on the tissues of insects.

In humans, these include Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, tick-borne typhus, tick-borne encephalitis, and tularemia.

Despite a significant number of species of ixodid ticks, only two species are of real epidemiological significance: Ixodes Persulcatus (taiga tick) in the Asian and in a number of areas of the European part, Ixodes Ricinus (European forest tick) in the European part.

The ixodid tick is a self-propelled blood container equipped with four pairs of legs and a proboscis-syringe. The head with cutting chelicerae is very movably attached to the body.
During feeding, it is deeply immersed in the skin and anchors there with a special suboral outgrowth - the hypostome - with teeth directed backwards.

The time spent on feeding differs for different sexes: females hang on the host for up to 6 days, while males devote only a few hours to feeding.

But, having had their fill, they are in no hurry to leave the owner, but go in search of sucking females, with whom they immediately, without interrupting their meal, mate.
If necessary, ticks can for a long time - in nature for months, and in the laboratory and for years - do without food at all due to their inactivity and extremely economical expenditure of body reserves

The eggs hatch into asexual larvae with three pairs of legs.
The larva immediately begins to look for a prey and, having eaten and molted, turns into a nymph - a larger creature (1.5 millimeters) and already eight-legged, but still asexual.
Nymphs, having wintered in the litter, go out in search of food.
If they are lucky, they will leave for the second wintering well-fed, and the next spring they will be met by adult ticks.

The larvae attack mainly small rodents, lizards, songbirds.
Nymphs spread their appetites to chipmunks, hedgehogs, hares, and the main victims of adult ticks are ungulates, large predators and, of course, humans.
But you can also find an adult tick on a wood mouse, and a larva on a cow.
Thus, the cycle of development of the tick takes at least three warm seasons (during which the tick feeds only three times), and can stretch for 4-5 years.

An adult tick rarely travels more than a dozen meters in its entire life.
He waits for his walking food, sitting on a blade of grass or a twig somewhere near a permanent path, on the sides of the roads.
The two rear pairs of legs hold onto a support, the two front pairs (the olfactory organs are located on their last segments) are extended forward and to the sides, as for hugs.
If a suitable animal passes by (or passes by on a bicycle), the tick grabs it with its front legs and then begins to choose a place to bite.
Tales of "tree jumping" ticks are a common misconception, based in part on their way of crawling up the body and attaching themselves to a person's head or neck.

But there are also the so-called moose flies (Hippobosca equina) - blood-sucking insects from the Diptera order, whose flat, rigid body and spreading legs make them look like ticks.
In addition, when they hit a person or animal, they drop their wings so that they do not interfere with their way through wool or hair.
In fact, some bloodsuckers have nothing to do with others.
And most importantly, neither the encephalitis virus nor the pathogens of other tick-borne diseases live in moose flies.

Before sticking, the tick seeks out a sweeter and softer place. It takes him up to an hour to do this.
The slowness of the tick is somewhat of a boon - as it can be detected long before the bite.
It is terrible to think what would happen if ticks moved like mosquitoes or ants and sting without long hesitation.

In our area, ticks are predominantly carriers of ENCEPHALITIS - viral infection affecting the central and peripheral nervous system.
Infection occurs through a tick bite or through the digestive and gastrointestinal tract when taken raw milk goats and cows infected with tick-borne encephalitis.

The incubation period of tick-borne encephalitis lasts an average of 7-14 days with fluctuations from one day to 30 days. The disease often begins acutely, with chills and fever up to 38-40°C. The fever lasts from 2 to 10 days. General malaise, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, weakness, fatigue, sleep disturbances. Pain all over the body and limbs. Characteristic muscle pain, especially significant in muscle groups, in which paresis and paralysis usually occur in the future.
Usually characterized varying degrees stupor (stupor).
The disease of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe proceeds in a milder form than in the eastern part of the area of ​​tick-borne encephalitis.
The severity of the disease depends on the ability of the virus to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, affecting or not affecting the brain.
Closer to the west of the continent, tick-borne encephalitis is less common, but there is more Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis).
And although the disease is less dangerous, it is also very bad.
This is infection caused by spirochetes, with a tendency to chronic and recurrent course and predominant damage to the skin, nervous system, musculoskeletal system and heart.
Borrelia with mite saliva enter the skin and multiply within a few days, after which they spread to other areas of the skin and internal organs(heart, brain, joints, etc.).
Borrelia can persist in the human body for a long time (years), causing a chronic and relapsing course of the disease.
The process of development of the disease in borreliosis is similar to the process of development of syphilis.

The prognosis for life is favorable, but disability is possible due to damage to the nervous system and joints.
Lyme disease is usually treated with tetracycline antibiotics.
Doxacycline is more commonly recommended
Doxycycline is an antibiotic from the tetracycline group.
Widely known to everyone, the drug "tetracycline" is a natural substance formed in nature special kind fungi.
The active part of the tetracycline molecule is isolated and modified using the most complex chemical synthesis, resulting in the formation of a fundamentally new biologically active substance, a new antimicrobial drug - doxycycline.
Its therapeutic activity significantly exceeds its progenitor (natural tetracycline), chemical synthesis makes it possible to achieve high degree purification of the drug and the appearance of new highly useful properties.
As a consequence of this - new possibilities of use and a significant reduction in negative reactions.
Firstly, the spectrum of action is significantly expanded, secondly, the risk of allergic reactions is significantly less, and thirdly, absorption from gastrointestinal tract and the release is slower.
As a result, the therapeutic concentration of doxycycline in the blood after a single dose is maintained from 18 to 24 hours!
And this is very important, because it allows you to take the drug only 1 time per day.

A characteristic feature of infection with borreliosis is a round red spot at the site of the bite - erythema migrans, which increases in size over time and takes on the shape of a ring.

Ticks get closer to humans every year.
He is food for them. Around industrial centers with a large concentration of people, ticks mutate. Become immune to insecticides. And the worst thing is that they already carry several viruses at the same time.

Well, everyone caught up with horror and that's enough. With the question: Who is to blame - like decided. It remains to understand what to do :)

How to properly remove a tick

AT field conditions in nature, the tick will have to be removed independently. And as quickly as possible.
Therefore, the common misconception that you need to drop oil on a tick and wait until it crawls out or suffocates has no basis. He will not crawl out and suffocate in any foreseeable future. Do not do this! This is harmful myth!
You will only lose precious time waiting for a purely human reaction from the tick.
Well, there are asthma attacks, panic or diarrhea from horror.

Spiracles (stigmas) are located on the side of the body, behind the fourth pair of legs and are surrounded by a plate (perithreme)
The tick can do without air for a long time, closing the peritremes like dampers. Meanwhile, the virus will continue to enter your bloodstream. The longer the tick is on the body, the more virus you will collect.

The ONLY CORRECT ACTION is to remove the tick IMMEDIATELY.
This must be done either with a thread or at worst with tweezers.
And better through special devices. Do not pull out the tick with your fingers. Don't flatter yourself about them. They are too thick compared to the pliers and clumsy and will not replace thinner tools.

If you've been so careless and haven't bothered to buy really handy tick removers, thread will help you.

A strong thread, as close as possible to the proboscis of the tick, is tied into a knot, the tick is removed by pulling it up.
Sharp movements are not allowed.
Removing the tick must be done with caution, without squeezing its body with your hands, since this may squeeze out the contents of the tick, along with pathogens, into the wound.
It is important not to break the tick when removed - the remaining part in the skin can cause inflammation and suppuration.
When the tick head is torn off, the infection process can continue, since a significant concentration of the virus is present in the salivary glands and ducts.

VERY IMPORTANT!
REMEMBER that the tick's proboscis, that is, the part that it inserts into the skin, is equipped with small "thorns" directed towards the back of the tick.
If you pull the tick along its axis, then the "thorns" will bristle, dig even harder into the skin, which can help separate the proboscis from the body of the tick and leave it forever in the skin.
The tick is removed in a circular motion (or unscrewed), and not by traction.

In this case, the spikes of the proboscis will curl up to the axis of rotation and the head of the tick will not come off.

If, when removing the tick, its head came off, which looks like a black dot, the suction site is wiped with cotton wool or a bandage moistened with alcohol, and then the head is removed with a sterile needle (previously calcined on fire). The way you remove a common splinter.

Be healthy!