What to do after a tick bite?

Ticks, gaining access to human blood, can become carriers of all sorts of diseases, such as encephalitis, borreliosis, rickettsiosis and other infectious pathologies. Therefore, if you find a parasite on your body, you should remove it, and the sooner the better. Waiting for the tick to crawl out on its own is a completely pointless exercise, because the longer the insect stays in the layers of the skin, the more infection will penetrate into the body.

What should you do if you find a tick?

First, the insect must be removed. Let's say right away that this is not easy to do, since during the bite the tick secretes salivary fluid, part of which serves as a bonding material and acts as glue, so the insect's nose is firmly glued to the wound surface. What to do? If the tick has not yet moved deeply, then you can move it left and right for 1-2 minutes, after which it should smoothly come out. It is not recommended to forcibly pull out or pull out the tick with tweezers: this way you can remove the tick, but its head will remain in the thickness of the skin, which will subsequently cause an inflammatory process. You should simply grab the insect with your fingers by the lateral surfaces of the abdomen, as close to the head as possible, and gently pull it upward.

To safely pull out a tick, you can use a regular thread: tighten the loop around the head, the closer to the skin, the better. Then pull - gradually, slowly. To speed up the process, some advise dripping 2-3 drops of sunflower oil, alcohol or strong saline solution on the tick.

In most situations, this technique allows you to remove the tick without problems. However, if you rushed and the head remains in the thickness of the skin, do not try to pick at the wound. Usually, within 1-2 days, the skin itself pushes the foreign body to the surface. But to avoid inflammation, it is necessary to lubricate the bite site with alcohol, brilliant green or another disinfectant 2-3 times a day.

At the same time, monitor the wound, even if you successfully pulled out the parasite. A pink spot that lasts for about 3 days is a normal reaction of the skin. If the spot grows and darkens, you should contact a specialist who will examine the wound. You may have to take a blood test to diagnose encephalitis or borreliosis.

What to do after a tick bites a person?

The tick does not cause pain at the moment of biting and is not even felt by a person at all. The insect bites the skin, and at the same time, saliva is released, which acts as an anesthetic substance. This is what makes the bite painless. After this, the parasite sucks blood from small blood vessels - in this state, it can move deep into the tissues, staying in the thickness of the skin for up to 10 days.

What to do after a tick bite in a child

With the onset of warm days, we increasingly want to go out into nature, into the fresh air, away from the bustle of the city. And, of course, we take our children with us - they also need active recreation. However, at the same time as going out into nature, we may face danger - just at this time, ticks become active in forests and plantings.

To protect against insects, it is often enough to use repellents - special substances that repel parasites. Also, much attention should be paid to clothing.

• When going into the forest, wear lighter clothes so that you can notice an insect on it in time.
• Outerwear, despite the warm weather, should be as inaccessible as possible to ticks - long sleeves and trousers, tucked into socks if possible, as well as a tight collar and cuffs.
• It is mandatory to wear a hat, preferably with a wide brim (for example, a Panama hat).
• While walking in the forest, examine yourself and your child every 1-1.5 hours.
• For children, use only insect repellents that are suitable for use in children.

However, let's return to the question: what should you do if a tick has already bitten a child?

First of all, don't panic. You need to pull yourself together and try to remove the insect from the skin. If you can't do it yourself, you can go to the nearest emergency room or sanitary and epidemiological station - they will do it quickly and competently. If you do the removal yourself, do it slowly, shaking the insect little by little, without pulling it out, so as not to tear off the head.

After the procedure, it is necessary to treat the wound with alcohol, iodine or brilliant green.

If a child is bitten, the process of neutralization does not end there. Even if you have successfully removed the insect, you should immediately take the child to a clinic or hospital. It is advisable to put the removed tick in a sealed jar and send it to a laboratory within 2 days to examine it for possible infection. After the analysis, depending on the result, the doctor will tell you what to do next. As a rule, the injured child is closely monitored for 3 weeks, paying attention to any symptoms that appear.

If the tick examination shows that it is infectious, the child will definitely need to take a blood test. Already 10 days after the bite, blood should be given for the presence of borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis using PCR. After 2 weeks, tests are taken for the presence of antibodies to the encephalitis virus, and 30 days after the bite - for the presence of antibodies to borrelia.

As an emergency preventive measure, the affected child may be prescribed Anaferon, but such a prescription should only be made by a doctor.

What should you do after a tick bite?

• First, the best remedy for a tick bite is prevention. Wear the right clothes, use appropriate insect repellents, and periodically inspect yourself and your child for ticks.
• A means of preliminary prevention of diseases caused by ticks is vaccination, which includes the introduction of several doses of the vaccine at certain intervals. The vaccination should be done at least one and a half months before the onset of the "dangerous" season.
• Remember that the most favorite places for ticks to penetrate are the hair on the head, subscapular areas, the spine area, the perineum area, the umbilical area, legs and arms.
• If you are bitten by a tick, to speed up its removal, you can drop a few drops of vegetable oil or a strong-smelling substance (ammonia, ethyl alcohol, acetone, kerosene, etc.) on the insect.
• A firmly lodged tick should be removed gradually, swinging it left and right, without any sudden movements.
• After removing the insect, it is necessary to carry out mandatory treatment of the wound.
• If the tick has not been completely removed, you may want to consult a doctor for medical advice.
• It is recommended that the removed tick be examined in the sanitary and epidemiological station laboratory for infectivity.
• It is imperative to monitor the general condition of the victim - control the body temperature for 3 weeks. If symptoms such as fever, headache or muscle pain, nausea, or the appearance of the wound worsens (redness, pain, swelling) appear, you should immediately consult an infectious disease specialist. As for the child, it is recommended to show him to a specialist in any case.

What should you not do after a tick bite?

• You can't leave the insect in the wound (they say, it'll get drunk and fall off on its own). The tick can exist in the thickness of the skin for about 10 days. During this time, the infection can not only enter the body, but also spread and develop to its full extent.
• You must not try to abruptly pull the insect out, or forcefully pull it upwards, because in such a situation you risk tearing off its body, and the head with the proboscis will remain in the layers of skin. The tick must be gently shaken or twisted out of the wound.
• You must not press on the tick, pierce it, burn it with matches or cigarettes - this increases the risk of infection, even if the skin is not damaged. And removing a crushed insect will be much more difficult.
• After removing a tick, you cannot leave the wound untreated – use any disinfectants you have on hand – iodine, alcohol, vodka, alcohol solutions, brilliant green, etc.
• After a tick bite, you should not ignore symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle weakness, reddened skin, vomiting, etc. Be sure to immediately contact a medical specialist!

If you have been bitten by a tick and you have not been previously vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis, you can take urgent preventive measures using immunoglobulin - a medical specialist administers prepared antibodies obtained from human blood serum. Such antibodies can suppress the development of tick-borne encephalitis in the body. Immunoglobulin is administered during the first 96 hours that have passed since the time of the insect bite. Important: the calculation is based on the time of the bite, and not on when the tick was discovered. Immunoglobulin vaccination can also be carried out in childhood.

If the tick turns out to be infected and the victim develops suspicious symptoms, he is immediately sent to the hospital. He will be prescribed the strictest bed rest and a fairly long course of treatment in the infectious diseases department of the hospital.

Fortunately, not all ticks are infected. The danger is posed by the encephalitis tick, which is outwardly no different from the usual representative. For this reason, any bite should be treated with caution, as it can have extremely unfavorable consequences.

What to do after a tick bite? Of course, it is better to seek medical help without delay. However, this ideal option does not always work, because where ticks live, the doctor is usually far away. Therefore, the recommendations we have listed can help in organizing first aid for the victim, and also direct you to competent further actions.