Good day! It seems we all know about the undesirability of personal "meetings" with ticks.
Of course, most often people do not face negative consequences in the form of tick-borne encephalitis. But it was the other way around in the case of my cousin.
The situation is simple: I was visiting, I was bitten by a tick, and they were carefully removed. Everything seems to be good, but after a week the temperature is 39 and chills. Doctors diagnosed encephalitis infection. Want to know more about the effects of an encephalitis tick bite in humans? Then read on.
The content of the article:
Encephalitis Tick Bite Consequences
When planning to relax in nature, everyone should know that in the spring-summer period in the forests, squares and parks, the activity of arthropod parasites from the order of arachnids - ticks increases significantly. It is especially dangerous to meet an encephalitis tick.
Encephalitis virus is quite resistant to environmental conditions. It can even enter the human body through the digestive system, for example, after consuming unboiled milk. This is not surprising, because tick-borne encephalitis also affects pets.
The main distributors of the pathogen are ixodid ticks that live in forests and are most active in the early days of warm weather.
Moreover, the European forest and taiga tick are considered the most dangerous. Encephalitis virus enters the central nervous system through the blood, therefore it can not be transmitted by airborne droplets.
In some cases, the rapid development of encephalitis begins literally the day after the bite: nausea, vomiting, insomnia, muscle pain, a sharp increase in body temperature to 38 - 40 °, periodic loss of consciousness.
Sometimes the disease proceeds in a milder, so-called, worn-out form, in which there is a headache, a feeling of weakness, severe fatigue, general weakness. Moreover, the clinical picture may appear even a month after the bite of an encephalitis tick.
If we exclude the erased form of the development of the disease, then tick-borne encephalitis is divided into meningoencephalolytic, polio, polyradiculoneuric and the most common meningeal forms of the disease.
It is these severe forms of encephalitis that often result in paralysis of the muscles of the respiratory muscles and death.
From the timeliness of its introduction and the state of the body's immune system, its effectiveness directly depends. In addition, anticonvulsant and glucocorticoid drugs, analgesics, and antiviral medications from the interferon group are used as drug therapy.
In case of pathological changes in the respiratory functions, emergency measures are taken - the patient is connected to an artificial lung ventilation device. The main thing is to restore the viability of all body systems.
After intensive therapy, if positive treatment results are observed, the patient is discharged from the hospital and prescribed maintenance therapy, therapeutic exercises, massage.
Moreover, over the next year, such a person needs to visit a neurologist regularly, and it is also forbidden to do heavy physical work, drink alcohol, take a steam bath in the bath, and sunbathe.
All these medical prescriptions must be carried out implicitly, because even after successful treatment of the disease, complications sometimes arise. In particular, often after encephalitis, neuritis or arthritis develops in the future.
Thus, the consequences of an encephalitis tick bite are very serious. Therefore, you should try to avoid encounters with carriers of infection - ixodid ticks.
In the case of a tick bite, the parasite must be carefully removed, placed in a tightly closed container and taken to the laboratory for testing for the presence of the encephalitis virus.
And the best prevention is an encephalitis tick vaccine. Be carefull!
The difference between an encephalitis tick and a regular first aid for a bite
What is an encephalitis tick? Tick-borne encephalitis is a focal infection of viral origin, it is characterized by febrile events and severe intoxication of the body.
The risk of death in both cases is high, in addition, neurological and mental disorder may occur.
What parasites need to be afraid?
For Russia, several species of insects are considered to be carriers of encephalitis; one should be wary of taiga and dog ticks. The first tick lives in the forest area of Siberia and the Far East. The dog tick spreads from central Russia to the center of Europe.
In some parts of the country, both species of tick are found. Particularly unlucky were the residents of the Leningrad Region, where both types of ticks can be found.
An encephalitis tick is a taiga or dog tick, a carrier of the encephalitis virus. In appearance, size and habitat, it is no different from uninfected insects, so visually determine whether it is dangerous to bite or not.
The disease virus is found not only in insects themselves, but also in larvae and nymphs. A tick may transmit the virus from an infected animal.
Different regions of Russia are characterized by different risks of infection with diseases, ticks become the carriers of which. In the central part of the country, up to 5% of ticks are infected with dangerous viruses, and in Siberia and the Far East this percentage reaches 20. This does not mean that prevention can be neglected, but panic is not worth it.
Diagnostic Methods
What to do with a bite of an encephalitis tick? First of all, you need to calm down and determine the condition of the bitten person, find out the symptoms and record the time of their appearance. There is no technique for visual determination of the presence of a virus in a tick; this is impossible.
Outwardly, it looks exactly the same as other insects of this species. Only a laboratory study will accurately diagnose an encephalitis tick or not. For this, the PCR method is used, which determines with high accuracy the presence or absence of the virus.
The tick itself becomes infected from other animals, and only transfers this disease to humans. Ticks get encephalitis from domestic and wild animals - it can be birds, rodents, horses, cows, hens, etc.
The most dangerous period in which additional protective measures should be taken is spring and the beginning of summer. This is the season of activity of all types of ticks. It is visually impossible to distinguish an encephalitis tick from an ordinary tick; only laboratory research will help.
The consequences of an encephalitis tick bite are critical, but not every bite causes a deadly disease. The virus enters the bloodstream through a bite site where an infected tick bites. It is his saliva that carries the virus into humans.
Even if a tick has a virus, there is no guarantee that it is transmitted through a bite. It is also affected by interferon in the human body and a lot depends on the immune system.
Incubation period
Annually, the number of encephalitis ticks detected by a bite is greater than people with encephalitis. How to distinguish an encephalitis tick? In the laboratory or by the consequences of a bite.
If you still bit the encephalitis tick, you should pay attention to the incubation period, which lasts up to 2 weeks. In the presence of tick-borne encephalitis in a person, fever begins. The viraemic phase lasts 3 days and causes loss of appetite, dyspeptic disorders, migraines, muscle weakness and aching.
With meningitis, the patient feels a severe headache, febrile events reach a critical point, stiff neck muscles.
With encephalitis, the patient experiences impaired consciousness, loss of part of motor functions, impaired mobility and disorders of the nervous system. First, a temperature of 37 ° C appears, then it rises sharply to 39.
The most dangerous ticks in the Far East. The nature of the course of symptoms after a bite by an encephalitis tick is more dangerous and the disease is expressed by severe symptoms.
In addition to encephalitis and meningitis, after a bite of an infected tick, a number of diseases can be obtained.
Signs of Borreliosis
Along with tick-borne encephalitis, a person can get Lyme disease, or borreliosis. Symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis are similar, and it all starts with a tick bite.
After contact with an insect, a person has a fever, weakness, myalgia, migraine, and a violation of the central nervous system. If with encephalitis symptoms appear already in the first day, then borreliosis can give the first symptoms in a few weeks and even after 1 month.
You can distinguish Lyme disease from encephalitis by examining the site of a bite. With borreliosis, at the site of contact of the skin with a tick, erythema occurs, local or multiple, recurring and migrating.
It looks like a pink bright ring with a light area inside. After a tick bite, a person or dog immediately has a bright spot.
Signs of central nervous system damage with tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis:
- Pain in the neck, shoulders, lower back associated with a violation in the radicular nerves.
- Neuralgia at the site of erythema.
- Paresis of the front of the nerves on one or both sides of the face.
- Serous Meningitis Syndrome.
Manifestations of tick-borne encephalitis are similar at first to flu symptoms. In both types of the disease, patients experience lethargy, fever, fever, chills, aching muscles, sometimes vomiting and a reaction to light.
It is important to evaluate the factors preceding the onset of symptoms. If the day before there was a hypothermia of the body or contact with the sick flu or SARS, then the likelihood of flu.
And if a few days before the onset of symptoms there were walks in the woods or in the city with a forest zone, there was no spring and hypothermia in the yard, so you should look for a tick bite site.
The need for medical advice
What to do if an encephalitis tick has bitten? First of all, you need to see a doctor. If the tick is not contagious, the patient is released with recommendations for prevention.
Specific treatment for tick-borne encephalitis has not been developed. If there is a suspicion of a disease or one or more of the above symptoms are manifested, for example, after a walk the temperature has risen, he will be hospitalized for medical care.
As protection, you should be careful when visiting places of potential danger. Before you go for a walk out of town, you need to completely cover your body and legs with clothing. Contrary to popular belief, ticks do not jump on a person from trees.
They are unable to crawl to a height of more than 1.5 m, therefore, in the vast majority of situations, a person comes into contact with a tick sitting on a bush or in the grass. Once on a person, the tick moves, looking for a place for a bite.
To scare away the tick, you can use repellents containing permethrin and DETA. Inspection is preferably carried out every hour. Ticks are best seen on a light background, so it is advisable to wear bright things for hiking in the forest zone.
If the tick sits deep and drinks blood, you need to grease it with fat to block access to air. Then he will be forced to climb to the surface. After removing the tick, place it in an airtight container and take it to the laboratory for analysis.
When a patient goes to the hospital with a tick bite, the diagnosis is faster and more accurate. You can immediately determine if the tick has been infected with the virus, it is better to treat the effects after a bite as soon as possible.
How to remove the pest?
Experienced foresters give tips on extracting ticks using a thread or tweezers, but for an unprepared person, these methods can be difficult, and the danger of leaving part of the insect inside is high.
If you do not pull it out to the end, even small parts will serve as a source of infection and inflammation. Instead of fat, you can use any tool that will create a dense film on the tick so that it can not breathe.
Essential oil, any oil leaf of a plant, sebum, at worst, is suitable. The consequences after a bite of a virus-infected insect cannot be eliminated with antiseptics, but after removing the insect, you need to wash the bite site with chlorhexidine or any disinfectant that is at hand and consult a doctor.
The consequences of a tick bite in a person are serious, so you should not neglect visiting a hospital. After a bite of an encephalitis tick, a person who has not been vaccinated is given immunoglobulin injections and prescribes maintenance medication.
The sooner the patient seeks help, the higher the chances of minimal consequences of infection.
Doctors annually recommend vaccination; this is not an empty threat. From tick-borne encephalitis, a person’s life can change for the worse. Is it worth the risk of health and the future? Vaccination is a highly effective preventive measure.
Vaccines in Russia are represented by several types, including domestic production.
What is dangerous encephalitis tick for humans
Tick-borne encephalitis is a focal viral infection transmitted to humans by a tick bite. The disease is characterized by fever, general intoxication of the body, brain damage.
The disease is fraught with persistent neurological and psychiatric complications, sometimes ending in coma and death. Adequate and timely therapy will help to avoid severe consequences.
General information about the disease
When planning to spend outdoor recreation, one should take into account the danger of a bite of ixodid ticks - representatives of the arachnid order. Not every tick is encephalitis, but each of them is potentially dangerous.
In recent years, the distribution area of the tick has increased significantly - numerous cases of encephalitis in the European part of Russia and in other regions that were previously relatively favorable in terms of tick-borne infection are recorded.
The consequences of bites of ixodid ticks largely depend on the state of a person's immune status and the proximity of the bite to the brain. Symptoms of encephalitis can manifest themselves in a wide variety of variations, the consequences of the disease can be just as different.
Sometimes a typical clinical picture is observed the day after the bite, in other situations, months pass between the detection of a tick and the onset of the disease.
Ticks are infected by the virus from animal carriers and transmit the infection to humans. Pathology is characterized by spring-summer seasonality, corresponding to the activity of arachnids. Transmission transmission of the virus (suction tick) - the main way to infect a person.
How does the attack
The attack occurs during daylight hours: the bite is almost always painless. Adult ixodid ticks can wait a long time for the victim, hiding in the grass, on the leaves of shrubs.When a person approaches, ticks attach to clothing or a part of the body.
Contrary to popular belief, ticks do not fall from trees, but crawl from below. In order to achieve the optimal site for their introduction into the skin, these arachnids can go a long way. Ticks prefer soft, warm areas of the human body for penetration.
At the time of the bite, the tick releases an anesthetic, which gives it the ability to attach to the body imperceptibly. After a bite, the tick remains on the skin for several hours, less often immediately. It is impossible to identify an infected tick by appearance: the presence of the virus is detected only in laboratory conditions.
Even if you remove the tick from the skin immediately after its introduction, the likelihood of infection remains. The possibility of contracting the virus is present when the tick is crushed: pathogens of encephalitis can penetrate the body through wounds on the skin.
Tick-borne encephalitis - symptoms and complications
On average, 1-2 weeks pass from the bite of an infected animal to the onset of the disease. The most unfavorable option for the development of the situation is when a person has not noticed a tick bite, and has taken the initial symptoms of the disease as a cold or other ailment and started appropriate therapy.
The most typical situation includes the following symptoms:
- A rapid increase in temperature to 38-40 ° C (duration of fever from 2 to 10 days);
- Malaise, headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, sleep disturbances and other manifestations of intoxication of the body;
- Redness of the face, neck, upper torso (sometimes an injection of sclera is noted);
- Pain throughout the body;
- Paresis and paralysis.
From the very beginning of the disease, a significant part of the victims show signs of confusion, stupor, distracted attention. Strengthening of these signs with an unfavorable development option can reach a degree of coma.
In half of the clinical situations, the ailment proceeds in a mild and worn-out form, which is characterized by a short febrile period. The temperature quickly drops to normal levels, and within a few days (up to 8 days) the victim feels subjectively healthy: meanwhile, a viral infection progresses in the body.
The consequences of an encephalitis tick bite are extremely varied - from personality and cognitive impairment to complete paralysis.
First Aid and Further Therapy
If you find a sucking tick, remove it as soon as possible. You should not delay the elimination: the more the spider drinks blood, the more viruses will enter the body. If you plan to take the tick to the laboratory, it is advisable to get it alive and not damaged.
It is most convenient to remove the tick with tweezers. The body of the creature needs to be captured closer to the head and proboscis, and then gently pulled up, rotating in any direction. Usually, after two or three turns, the tick is removed as a whole.
Sometimes when a tick is removed, its head or proboscis comes off: it is not scary if in the next few hours you go to a clinic where the parts of the body of the spider are painlessly removed.
Smear the tick with oil, kerosene or some other liquid is not worth it.Even if the arachnid crawls out after this, you will lose time: in addition, such a tick, laboratory staff may simply not accept it. After removing the tick, you need to lubricate the place with iodine or another antiseptic.
Contacting the clinic after a bite or even crawling is a must. If you have not saved the tick, your blood will be taken for analysis. This will quickly determine if infection has occurred.
After diagnosis, a comprehensive supportive treatment is performed. In the acute period, patients are prescribed strict bed rest plus intensive care.
Treatment has two goals:
- Reduction of intoxication;
- Suppression of encephalitis virus activity.
Intramuscular injections of gamma globulin are prescribed: the sooner the drug is administered, the faster the therapeutic effect occurs. The average duration of action is 24 hours: in a day the patient's temperature drops to normal, meningeal and encephalitis symptoms decrease, sometimes disappear completely.
To reduce the symptoms of poisoning, infusion detoxification therapy is performed. Fluids are introduced into the patient's body to restore normal electrolyte balance, glucocorticoids are also prescribed.
Where to get tick-borne encephalitis tests
Place the removed tick in a small glass container, after putting cotton wool moistened with water there to prevent the arachnid from drying out.
If you don’t know where to look for laboratory addresses and panic, just call the Ambulance at 03 and get initial bite advice.
Ticks: where they live and what are dangerous
The arrival of spring pleases with warmth and the opportunity to spend more time in the fresh air. After such a tiring winter, he is drawn to the forest, to the park, to the meadow to enjoy the young greenery and the sun.
Ticks (Latin Acari) - are the most numerous subclass of arthropods from the class of arachnids, of which only a small part are parasites and pose a danger to humans.
Are all ticks dangerous to humans
It is important to note that ticks alone do not cause any disease. They can only be carriers of diseases.
Not all ticks as a species cause encephalitis or other diseases. Only some individuals can be carriers of a number of diseases, but only if they have previously bitten and drank the blood of a sick animal.
Infection occurs during the regurgitation of saliva and the contents of the digestive tract into the blood of a person, which may contain viruses, bacteria, protozoa or helminths.
Also, infection is possible by crushing the tick and rubbing the contents of its intestines into the wound. In rare cases, infection by the fecal-oral route is possible - if the same contents of the intestine of the tick get after crushing with dirty hands in the person’s mouth and on the nasal mucosa.
A tick bite is dangerous for a large number of diseases. About 60 diseases are known to be transmitted by tick bites. These include:
- tick-borne encephalitis;
- borreliosis (Lyme disease);
- tick-borne typhus;
- tick-borne relapsing fever;
- tularemia;
- ehrlichiosis;
- babesiosis;
- fever (hemorrhagic, ku, Tsutsugamushi, Marseille, Spotted Rocky Mountain fever, etc.);
- rickettsiosis and others.
The size of the tick before the bite can be from 0.2 mm to 4 mm.In most cases, a person does not notice a tick moving around the body and does not feel the moment of its bite, since the tick releases an anesthetic during the bite, which makes the process painless.
Does a tick die after a bite or not? After a bite, the tick does not die, but continues to live in the familiar environment, unless of course the tick was removed by force and at the same time did not damage it (the tick can be crushed or parts of its body may remain in the skin during extraction).
Tick bite looks like without a tick? Often, after visiting a potentially dangerous place in terms of ticks, a person begins to worry, suddenly the tick bit and unhooks itself, infecting it with a dangerous disease. This begs the question of what a wound looks like after a tick bite.
And in most cases, it does not look at all or looks like a red inflamed wound. In very rare cases, an individual reaction to the bite is possible in the form of a pink spot or papule around the site of the bite, which is no different from the bite of any insect.
What does a tick bite site look like in a child? The place of a tick bite in a child is no different from how it looks in an adult.
What happens after a tick bite
A tick bite in most cases does not appear and does not bother a person, and a tick can be detected only with a thorough examination.
If the tick was a carrier of a particular disease, then after the incubation period specific symptoms for this disease will arise.
How long a tick bite appears in a person depends on whether the tick was infected or not, and if infected, by what pathogen. The first manifestations of the disease can begin from 2 days to two weeks.
If the tick just sucked, is it dangerous? As mentioned above, infection with a disease is possible when a tick spits up the contents of the digestive tract. It is assumed that in the first three hours the tick does not burp.
I also want to note that, according to statistics, only 5% of ticks are carriers of viral encephalitis. And only in 5% of cases after a bite of an infected tick, viral encephalitis develops.
Are animal ticks dangerous to humans? There are several types of ticks that infect animals. Some predominantly attack animals, but sometimes they can attack humans. Other species are common to animals and humans. Ticks on animals are dangerous to humans.
Therefore, it is important to remember that it is impossible to extract ticks from animals with bare hands, you cannot crush a tick so as not to crush it. It is better to use special tools for this.
During what period are ticks dangerous for humans? Very often people ask questions: “Are ticks dangerous in August?”, “Are ticks dangerous in April?”, “Are ticks dangerous in May?”, “When ticks cease to be dangerous to people?”, Etc.
Tick activity begins as soon as the average daily temperature exceeds + 5 ° C. Their highest activity is observed from May to September. And when the temperature drops below + 10 ° C, the mites hibernate. But ticks can attack in April and November.
How to protect yourself in nature
If your profession or circumstances require a long or regular stay in a potentially dangerous zone with respect to ticks during their maximum activity (from May to September), then it is worth getting vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis - this is the most reliable method of prevention.
Therefore, in the forests it is worth avoiding moist, shaded places with dense undergrowth and grass, young aspen trees, raspberries. And preference should be given to windy and sunny places - light groves without undergrowth and shrubs, dry pine forests, open glades.
In addition, it must be remembered that ticks are most active in the morning and evening. In hot weather or during heavy rain, ticks are inactive, which reduces the risk of attack.
To a large extent, correctly selected clothes, preferably light colors, on which it is easier to notice the parasite, can protect against ticks. It is best if the outerwear is made of raincoat fabric and similar smooth fabrics, on which the tick is more difficult to hold than on rough ones.
It is better to change clothes with fleece with a nap inside, so that the tick is more difficult to catch on the material. The bottom of the legs is the most likely path for the tick to enter the body. The cuffs of the legs should be pulled to the ankle with rubber bands or in any other way.
High boots are preferred in this case. The cuffs of the sleeves should also be fastened and tightened on the wrists or put under the rubber band of the gloves.
A preferred hat is a hood, which can prevent the tick from sliding behind the scruff of the neck. But if there is no hood, then a hat is better than nothing. Before going to places of accumulation of ticks, it is recommended to process clothing in places where the tick can crawl from clothing to the body (bottom and belt of trousers, cuffs of sleeves, collars) with an acaricidal agent.
At the place of your preferred picnic or halt, inspect the nearest branches of the bushes for the presence of these parasites. It’s easy to recognize them: the tick looks like a brown-red bug. Upon arrival home, also be sure to inspect your body or ask someone close to do this.
When the tick penetrates under the clothes, it does not bite right away, but for some time moves around the body, in search of a convenient place. Favorite places for ticks are areas with the most delicate skin: a place behind the ears, neck, inside of the elbows, under the armpits, stomach, groin, inside of the legs, under the knees, nevi.
How to protect the skin from a parasite
For this purpose, special means of protection against ticks are used, which, depending on the active substance, are divided into 3 groups:
- Repellent - repel ticks.
- Acaricidal - they kill.
- Insecticidal-repellent - drugs of combined action, that is, killing and repelling ticks.
Repellents. Repellents include products containing diethyltoluamide: “Pretix”, “MEDILIS-from mosquitoes”, “Dipterol”, “Biban”, “DEFI-Taiga”, “Off! Extreme ”,“ Gall-RET ”,“ Gal-RET-kl ”,“ Data-VOKO ”,“ Reftamid maximum ”,“ Permanon ”.
They are applied to clothing and exposed areas of the body in the form of circular stripes around the knees, ankles and chest.
The tick, avoiding contact with the repellent, begins to crawl in the opposite direction. The protective properties of processed clothing last up to five days.The advantage of deterrents is that they are also used to protect against sinuses, applying not only to clothing, but also to the skin.
If repellents can be applied to the skin, then acaricidal and insecticidal-repellent preparations cannot be applied to the skin !!!!! Therefore, before using any tool, it is important to read the instructions.
How to protect an infant?
To protect children, drugs with less toxic components have been developed - this is the Medilisik for Mosquito Repellent Aerosol aerosol, the Ftalar, Efkalat, Off-Child, and Biban-Gel creams, Pihtal, Evital colognes, means "Kamearant".
Some funds are allowed from 3 months of age. Therefore, when choosing a remedy for your child, you must consider the age of the child.
Acaricides. In acaricides, the active substance is the insectoacaricide alpha-metrine (alpha-pericamethrin), which has a nerve-paralytic effect on ticks. When mites come into contact with treated clothing, paralysis of the extremities occurs and they disappear from the clothing.
The main form of application: aerosol packaging containing propellant, and with a mechanical spray (non-propellant packaging - BAU). These are “Reftamide taiga”, “Picnic-Antikleshch”, “Gardeks aerosol extreme”, “Tornado-antikleshch”, “Fumitoks-antikleshch”, “Gardeks-antikleshch” and others.
The exception is acaricidal bar Pretix, produced in Novosibirsk. They draw a few belt bands on trousers and jackets before going to the forest. It is only necessary to monitor their safety, since the strips quickly crumble.
It is impossible to carry out processing with the help of means in aerosol containers of clothing worn on people. The clothes are laid out, processed and, after it dries, put on. The protective properties of clothing treated with acaricidal substance are stored up to 14 days.
Insecticidal-repellent products are available in aerosol containers: Medilis Comfort, Kra-rep, Moskitol Spray - special protection against ticks, GardeksExtreme - tick aerosol, Mite-caput aerosol. As well as acaricidal, insecticidal-repellent agents are applied only to clothing.
What to do if bitten by a tick and sucked?
If a sucking tick is found on its body, it must be pulled out. You can get a tick both independently and by contacting a medical institution.
The longer the tick parasitizes, the higher the likelihood of contracting a disease, if it is a carrier of this disease.
It is also necessary to wash your hands thoroughly and also treat them with an antiseptic, since it is possible to get encephalitis with dirty hands - if the virus enters the mucous membrane of the mouth, nose, eyes. There are several ways to get a tick.
Spread the tick with oil, warm paraffin, nail polish. It is assumed that within 15 minutes the tick will begin to choke and crawl out on its own. But this does not always happen.
Make a loop from the thread and grab the tick as close to the proboscis as possible and gently swing from side to side, trying not to tear it abruptly, because parts of the body may remain in the skin.
You can grab the tick with tweezers and try to twist it counterclockwise. Twisting is also not always possible. In this case, it is necessary to swing from side to side, as with the thread.There is a special tool for extracting ticks.
If during the extraction of the tick the head came off, then it is necessary to carefully treat the bite site with alcohol and a sterile needle (you can take it from a sterile syringe or bake on fire) to get the head out, as we get a splinter.
And even if you yourself have removed the tick, you must go to the doctor’s office.
Externally infected and uninfected ticks are no different. And you can determine this only by delivering the living !!! tick in the sanitary and epidemiological station. Therefore, when removing a tick, you must try not to damage it.
Therefore, we consider each tick bite as potentially dangerous in terms of viral encephalitis, since this is the most serious disease transmitted through a tick bite, leading to disability and, in some cases, is fatal.
How long does encephalitis manifest?
In most cases, when infected with viral encephalitis, the first symptoms occur after 7-20 days. But there are fulminant forms when the disease manifests itself already a day after a bite, and prolonged - when the incubation period lasts up to 30 days.
How does encephalitis occur after a tick bite? Viral encephalitis has 5 main forms of the course:
- Feverish, or erased, occurs like a common acute respiratory disease, with general malaise and fever, muscle pain, aches, headaches and is often not diagnosed. This form is the most favorable.
- Meningeal - manifests itself in the form of headaches, intolerance to light and sounds, stiff neck muscles, fever, nausea, and vomiting.
- Meningoencephalitic - focal and cerebral symptoms join the meningeal symptoms: sleep disturbance, cramps, eyelid drooping, asymmetry of the face, lack of eye movement.
- Polio - only the spinal cord is affected - the muscle strength of the limbs decreases, the sensitivity of certain areas of the skin falls out, muscle atrophy gradually occurs.
- Polyradiculoneuritis - manifested by intense pains throughout the body, which may be accompanied by ascending paralysis of Landry.
Regardless of whether the attacked tick was encephalitic or not, a specific immunoglobulin against tick-borne infection is administered to the victim during the first 3 days.
Immunoglobulin is administered strictly intramuscularly: with a febrile form daily for 3-5 days, meningeal every 10-12 hours 5 days, dose 0.1 ml / kg. In more severe forms for the treatment of tick-borne encephalitis, immunoglobulin against the disease is prescribed in increased doses.
What to take after a bite for prevention?
First of all, after the detection and / or extraction of the tick, it is necessary to consult a doctor. In addition to immunoglobulin, tablets can be prescribed for a tick bite - iodantipyrine, which is an inducer of interferon α and β.
Treatment after a bite of an encephalitis tick in a person is complex, depends on the form of the disease and is carried out exclusively in a hospital:
- etiotropic therapy (aimed directly at the destruction of the pathogen) - specific donor immunoglobulin, homologous donor polyglobulin, leukocyte donor interferon, reaferon, laferon, intron-A, neovir, etc .;
- infusion therapy with glucose, Ringer, trisoli, Sterofundin solutions;
- antipyretic drugs - paracetamol, infulgan. It is forbidden to use acetylsalicylic acid due to possible complications on the liver;
- glucocorticosteroids (methylprednisolone, prednisolone) - drugs of this group prevent damage to the brain and spinal cord, reduce their edema;
- anticonvulsant therapy - sodium oxybutyrate, magnesium sulfate, sibazon;
- decongestants - mannitol, furosemide, l-lysine escinate;
- neurotrophics - complex B vitamins (neurorubin, milgamma);
- substances that improve microcirculation in the brain - thiotriazolin, trental, dipyridamole, actovegin;
- hyperbaric oxygenation.
Signs of borreliosis after a parasite bite
The first signs of borreliosis occur 5-11 (less often 30) days after a tick bite.
From the second or fourth week of the disease, the second phase begins, which is characterized by cardiac and neurological disorders, while erythema has already passed.
With a tick bite, in addition to encephalitis, it is important to keep in mind borreliosis - the symptoms in children after a tick bite are the same as in adults. Therefore, it is important to observe the site of the tick bite for at least 2 weeks (up to a month).
If there is a growing pink with a zone of enlightenment in the center of the spot at the site of the bite, it is necessary to suspect borreliosis and consult a doctor as soon as possible. The administration of tetracycline antibacterial drugs is effective in the treatment of erythema.
For children, doxycycline is prescribed in a dose of at least 2 mg / kg / day.
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