Features of vaccination against borreliosis. Tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease) Will vaccination help with Lyme disease

Migrant ticks: in Russia it is easier to catch borreliosis than encephalitis.

Every year, several thousand cases of borreliosis infection are registered in Russia. This infection, like encephalitis, is carried by forest ticks. There is no vaccine against it. What causes the disease and why it is dangerous - in the material of RIA Novosti.

The causative agent of borreliosis is Borrelia bacteria related to spirochetes, which live in the body of ordinary forest ticks of the Ixodes family. They do not cause any trouble to arthropods, but the immunity of mammals is powerless against them. Having stuck to the skin of a person or animal, the tick injects saliva to anesthetize the bite site. With it, microbes and penetrate into the blood.

If a domestic goat or cow is infected with borreliosis, the infection can enter the human body with raw milk.

From chills to disability

First symptoms - heat, chills, weakness, muscle aches - appear on the fifth or seventh day after infection. The bite site swells, a pink or bluish rash forms on the skin - erythema. However, sometimes at this stage the disease is almost asymptomatic. According to a recent study, pathogenic bacteria have learned to trick our immune system by producing a protein that suppresses the body's initial immune response.

The disease is stopped if you consult a doctor in time and take a course of antibiotics. Otherwise, it passes into the second phase: borrelia with blood and lymph flow are carried throughout the body, affecting the brain. Fever and rash alternate neurological symptoms: headache, numbness of the extremities, inflammation of the trigeminal or facial nerve, meningitis and meningoencephalitis are not uncommon. After two or three months, borreliosis reaches the joints, causing infectious arthritis, which is fraught with disability.

The causative agent of borreliosis is Borrelia burgdorferi. One of three pathogenic bacteria of this kind.

Prevention instead of vaccination

For the first time, doctors paid attention to borreliosis in 1975 in the USA, in the city of Lyme. Hence the second name of the infection is Lyme disease. A few years ago in Russia it was considered exotic. In Moscow, the first case of infection was recorded only in 1985 at the N. F. Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

In the last 15-20 years, due to climate change and human economic activity, tick-carriers migrate to Russia from Asia. Moscow and the Moscow region suffer the most. According to Rospotrebnadzor, in the capital region, borreliosis accounts for up to 58% of all infections carried by ticks. Last year, 862 cases of Lyme disease were registered in Moscow.

In the whole country, borreliosis is infected three times more often than viral tick-borne encephalitis. In 2017, 6717 Russians (4.59 per 100 thousand of the population) fell ill from the bite of forest ticks with borreliosis, and 1943 people fell ill with tick-borne encephalitis (1.33 per 100 thousand).

Thanks to mass vaccination in high-risk areas, the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis can be controlled. According to Rospotrebnadzor, 2.7 million Russians were vaccinated against encephalitis in 2017 alone. By April 6, this figure exceeded 700 thousand people. There is no vaccine against borreliosis in the world yet, although they tried to develop and apply it.

The first recombinant Lymerix (LYMErix) vaccine against borreliosis, created in 1998 in the USA, contained the Osp A protein isolated from the shell of pathogenic bacteria. Once in human blood, he provoked the production of antibodies capable of destroying Borrelia. The vaccine has shown its effectiveness in 76% of adults and 100% of children (a total of ten thousand people took part in clinical trials). However, Lymerix was too expensive and some patients complained of side effects, so the vaccine was not widely used and was discontinued in 2002.

Scientists find 'Dracula' tick imprisoned in amber 100 million years ago

In 2016, scientists from the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine (USA) announced the creation of a vaccine against borreliosis that does not cause unwanted side effects. The drug "Lymprep" (Lyme PReP), containing specific antibodies to the pathogen bacteria, is currently being tested on animals, but even if everything goes well, it will not be available to the public until five to seven years later. Therefore, while the emphasis is on prevention.

Scientists warn that from ten to twenty percent of ticks carry Borrelia, therefore, when poisoning yourself in nature, wear closed clothes with elastic cuffs, preferably in light colors (you can see it better), use repellents. After long walks in the forest or park, be sure to check yourself for ticks. Having found a bloodsucker, you need to take it for analysis to an epidemiological laboratory, even if there are no signs of malaise.

Tsifox - means of destructionixodid (encephalitic) ticks, bedbugs, cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, ants and other harmful insects!

Is there a vaccination against borreliosis - specific protection against this tick-borne infection? Is it possible to get a guarantee that a person will not get sick with either borreliosis or tick-borne encephalitis, which often occurs along with the first infection? What kind preventive actions What should a person do to avoid getting infected?

The concept of tick-borne infections

The name tick-borne infections combines a group of infectious diseases that occur after the bite of ticks containing pathogens. The causative agent is not the tick itself, but the viruses and bacteria that live and multiply in it. These diseases are classified as endemic, that is, they are not common everywhere, but in certain regions.

Are all insects dangerous to humans? Only a part of ticks are infected with infectious agents, therefore, the disease after a bite may not develop. However, to determine if a tick is infected, by appearance insect is impossible.

In particular, tick-borne infections include borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis. These diseases often occur together, in the form of mixed infection. If we consider infections separately, then borreliosis occurs several times more often than tick-borne encephalitis.

Insects love relatively cool weather and dark places. Therefore, they are more common in the north of the country.

ARVE Error:

The essence of borreliosis

Ixodid tick-borne borreliosis is one of the most common diseases that develop after a tick bite. The borrelia that causes this disease is not a virus, but a special bacterium that lives in ticks. In its morphological properties, it occupies an intermediate position between viruses and bacteria.

Its presence in the insect is determined in a special laboratory dealing with tick-borne infections. An important condition for the definition of a microorganism is that the insect must be alive. Otherwise, the bacterium dies along with the tick, and it becomes impossible to determine its presence.

Unlike tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease, as borreliosis is also called, occurs with other symptoms. During borreliosis, acute and chronic forms are distinguished.

First, nonspecific symptoms are observed in the form of fever up to 38 ° C, general malaise, moderate headache.

The acute form is characterized by two options:

The disease is accompanied by a characteristic reddening of the skin at the site of insect suction - an erythemal form.
This redness may not be - in this case, there is an erythema-free form.

With a chronic process, symptoms of damage to the skin, bones and joints develop, nervous system.

Specific erythema, which occurs in some cases at the site of tick suction, is as follows:

The site of hyperemia has a rounded shape and clear boundaries.
The size of hyperemia can be different - from a few millimeters to several centimeters.
Erythema quickly becomes bright, and in the center of it there is an area of enlightenment.
Gradually, the size of hyperemia decreases, and she turns pale.

What are the consequences of pathology?

Residual effects accompanying borreliosis mainly affect the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system. The appearance of these symptoms is observed after an acute period, when the process acquires chronic course.

The defeat of the osteoarticular system occurs in the form of pain in the muscles and joints, aggravated by changing weather. They can bother a person for several years, sometimes for life.

The pathology of the nervous system develops 5-7 years after the chronicity of the disease. There are phenomena of encephalopathy, radicular lesions. In some cases, paresis and paralysis of the limbs may develop.

Sometimes there is a chronic skin lesion in the form of areas of compaction and peeling. Periodically, redness may occur, resembling primary erythema.

Why is vaccination needed?

You need to get vaccinated against tick-borne infections for several reasons:

In order not to get sick with encephalitis and borreliosis.
If the disease nevertheless developed, the vaccination gives the course of the disease in a milder form.
To avoid serious complications.
To keep the process from going to chronic form.

However, many people underestimate the importance of vaccination and refuse to carry out preventive vaccinations.

Who is at risk of contracting tick-borne infections?

When visiting the forest zone, you must wear special protective clothing. It should cover the body as much as possible, have cuffs on the sleeves and legs. Pants must be tucked into boots, and hair must be completely removed in a headdress.

It is important to know that ticks are most active in the short period from late April to early June. At this time, it is better to refrain from visiting the forest belt. If this is still necessary, you need to use special repellents that repel insects.

After returning from the forest, you need to examine yourself well for the presence of a tick. These insects contain an anesthetic in their saliva, so a person does not even notice that he has been bitten. A tick can stay on the human body for several days and all this time secrete borreliae into the blood.

Preventive actions

At the moment, a specific protective vaccine against ixodid borreliosis has not been created. There is only specific prevention of tick-borne encephalitis. A person can protect himself from borreliosis only by non-specific measures. They include:

Measures to protect against insect attacks - protective clothing and repellents.
Treatment of the bite site with antiseptics.
The study of the tick in a special laboratory.
ELISA blood test for the detection of specific antibodies.
Taking doxycycline for several days.

Who should be vaccinated:

Anyone can receive a vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis at will.
Mandatory vaccination is carried out for children and people from risk groups.

The vaccine is called Encevir and Encepur. Vaccination begins in a child from the age of one. It consists of two stages, between which at least a month must pass. After a year, the first revaccination is carried out. Subsequent revaccination is carried out with a three-year interval.

Security measures

Since tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis often occur together, the same preventive measures can be used to protect against borreliosis as for encephalitis.

If you find a stuck tick, you need to carefully remove the insect so as not to damage it. The bite site is treated with an antiseptic. Ticks are examined in the laboratory to detect the causative agent of infections.

Sometimes the manifestations of the disease do not occur immediately, but several weeks after infection. To find out if there is an infection, you need to donate blood to detect specific antibodies - class M immunoglobulins. Their presence indicates an acute tick-borne infection in the body. If antibodies are detected, this is an indication for a course of anti-borreliosis treatment in an infectious diseases hospital.

After an insect bite, intramuscular injection anti-encephalitis human immunoglobulin. To prevent the development of borreliosis, Doxycycline is prescribed for several days.

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url

Although there is no specific prevention of borreliosis, vaccination against endemic infectious diseases is still necessary.

Lyme disease got its name from the city of Lyme in Connecticut (USA). There, for the first time, the pathogen was isolated - the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which gave the disease a second name. The reservoir of infection are infected birds and mammals. The transmission of Borrelia is provided by ticks from the genus Ixodes - they also carry tick-borne encephalitis and can transmit both diseases in one bite at the same time.

It is known that Borrelia can be transmitted during pregnancy from mother to fetus. However, the manifestations of Lyme disease in infants infected before birth have not been recorded.

Tick-borne borreliosis. Can you protect yourself from it?

In the spring and summer months, the risk of contracting tick-borne infections increases dramatically. This is one of the myths. In practice, a tick bite is also possible at other times of the year, in the fall. This happened to my friend at the very beginning of September, at a dacha in Finland. Even on the way home, to Russia, he felt “pricks” on inside hips. Having reached the house and inspected the place, he found a “sucking” tick.

Let's dispel another misconception. The tick does not rise above one and a half meters (from the ground), so it does not fall from trees on a person’s head. But there is a high probability of picking it up on clothes from the grass, from the ground or from a branch of a bush. Getting on a part of the human body that is not covered by clothes, the tick almost immediately sticks.

The second case, when a tick clings to outer clothing, and then for a long time (day) can crawl onto a human body, is also not rare.

Attack (bite) of a tick;

Crushing an infected tick on a human body (for example, in an unsuccessful attempt to extract or by accident);

eating raw (not boiled) cow or goat milk.

Nevertheless, such situations happen quite often. For example, the bill for ticks removed from medical institutions in St. Petersburg runs into the thousands a year. Often such information can be seen on the website of the SES (Rospotrebnadzor) of the region, along with recommendations for citizens on what to do in a particular situation of a tick attack or diagnosing a disease.

Forest and forest clearings; garden plots; roadsides; paths (not only in the forest or park, but also in the summer cottage); ravines;

Banks of rivers and reservoirs.

So, if a tick is found on the body, it must be removed. It is advisable to do this without delay in conditions medical institution, emergency rooms are quite suitable (working in megacities around the clock), and here's why: self-deletion tick is fraught with its rupture, crushing or leaving part of it in the wound. All these unpleasant cases can be a harbinger of future health complications.

Of course, there are recommendations on exactly how and with what devices to rotate the tick in order to pull it out of the body. But in this article I would like to bypass them, so as not to popularize self-medication. Instead, I will return to real history, which can teach without teaching: my friend, having examined the bite site, tore out the tick on his own, clumsily, and ... left the proboscis of the insect in his body.

According to the rules, the tick is taken to a medical laboratory, where within a few days (the first result is obtained within one day) an analysis is carried out for infections (encephalitis and borreliosis). Which is what was done. The result of the study comes back to the medical facility, but you can also get it yourself by contacting the laboratory.

Therefore, with negative results of a laboratory test for a tick, you can “breathe calmly”, however, even in this case, it is necessary to be observed by an infectious disease specialist (at the place of residence) and independently monitor your condition, since the first symptoms of the disease may appear up to 21 days, counting from bite day.

These symptoms may include: fever, vomiting, headache, aching joints, photophobia, feeling of pain in eyeballs, and also, in addition to those listed, symptoms characteristic of acute respiratory and viral diseases(runny nose, increased lymph nodes, including in the groin). Self-monitoring of health comes down to temperature control and inspection of the bite site.

The most typical sign of tick-borne borreliosis, which can be determined visually, is tick-borne erythema at the site of the bite. Redness around the epicenter of the bite can increase in diameter to four or more centimeters; directly at the bite site - white coating, around it - a noticeable reddening of the skin.

What do they do in this case? Spend new laboratory research on PCR, a blood test of a person whose diagnosis is assumed and established (specified). The result of this analysis (blood sampling in the direction of an infectious disease specialist can be done free of charge at a medical facility at the place of residence) already makes it possible to establish with greater accuracy what is the reason for the deterioration in human health.

This method justifies itself because in the first case, the tick itself (its body) was examined in the laboratory, and in the second, the blood of the patient who was attacked. The incorrectness of the first analysis depends on a number of factors (late delivery of the tick to the laboratory, its unsuitability for research, accidental risks), and a more accurate result of a blood test, which medical professionals recommend to carry out with a clear deterioration in health and no earlier than two weeks after the bite, indicates and whether there were any bites from other ticks that were not subsequently found on the body.

Immunologists say that the vast majority - 80% of the sick - are not vaccinated citizens. However, in all informational messages and medical "leaflets" the fact is intentionally or accidentally concealed that the effect of vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (which is done in three doses) does not apply to carriers of borreliosis infection. Therefore, confirmed in consultation with medical workers the fact indicates that there is no vaccination against borreliosis.

And at the same time, this dangerous disease, which, however, does not lead to death, has serious consequences for the human body, in particular its nervous system, and ability to work. Running cases of tick-borne borreliosis quite realistically lead to disability. Borreliosis is treated on an outpatient basis - with the help of therapy in which the antibiotic doxycycline is involved. Of course, everything diagnostic procedures and treatment is prescribed only by a certified doctor of a medical institution.

Be healthy and do not skimp on vaccinations against tick-borne encephalitis. But at the same time, remember that there are no vaccinations against tick-borne borreliosis in Russia. Tags: insect bite, vaccinations, disease, tick, health

Symptoms of borreliosis

Incubation period Lyme disease is 3 to 32 days. One of the first signs is ring-shaped redness at the site of the bite (erythema annulare migrans). It gradually increases in size, the patient may experience pain and itching in this area, general weakness, headache. The temperature rises.

If left untreated, from the 4-5th week of the disease, vomiting develops, increased light and sound sensitivity, symptoms of damage to the nervous system appear: para- and tetraparesis (impaired ability to move arms and legs normally, respectively), paresis facial nerves(the patient loses the ability to control the muscles of the face: speech becomes slurred, there are problems with chewing, cannot close his eyes, etc.). The pathogen also affects the heart muscle and joints. A person experiences pain in the eyes - iritis or iridocyclitis may develop.

In the later stages of the disease, pain and swelling in the joints are accompanied by memory and speech disorders, visual and hearing impairments, pain in the hands and feet. Atrophic acrodermatitis can develop on the skin in the form of blue-red spots on the limbs. The spots merge and become inflamed. The skin at the site of the spots atrophies and becomes like tissue paper.

To diagnose borreliosis, a search for borrelias is carried out PCR method in blood, skin, cerebrospinal and joint fluid. In its external manifestations, Lyme disease is similar to allergic dermatitis, tick-borne encephalitis (and it is very important to accurately establish the absence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in the blood), cardiomyopathy and a number of systemic diseases ( rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's disease), etc.

Is there a vaccine for borreliosis? Vaccinations for everyone. sovetylechenija.ru

1. There are a lot of tick-borne infections. In addition to encephalitis and borreliosis, which are more or less well known, it is also babesiosis, rickettsiosis, granulocytic anaplasmosis, monocytic ehrlichiosis, etc. You get all this happiness as soon as a tick bites you - the causative agents of all this muck live in his saliva. But not every tick, and not a complete set.

2. Encephalitis. With an excellent scenario, you will get off with a slight fright, with a good one, you will die. But most likely you will be paralyzed. Most likely hands, or one of them. It's forever and doesn't work. In addition, you may become blind and/or deaf.

Keep in mind the following: if you are bitten by a tick in European regions, most likely, it will cost. In our country, ticks are not particularly infected - according to various sources, from a few percent to a few tenths of a percent, and 2 people out of 1000 die from tick-borne encephalitis. But this does not mean that you are lucky.

If you were bitten by a tick in Siberia or on Far East, much sadder. You can get Far Eastern encephalitis, and out of 100 cases, 80 die from it. Perhaps this figure would be somewhat lower if it were not for the level of funding for medicine and the “ease” of getting to hospitals in these parts, but even taking into account these factors, it is frightening.

3. Borreliosis. It all starts with a high temperature and red rings at the site of the bite (scientifically - erythema). Then our favorite paralysis, only this time the problems are not with the hands, but with the face. Then problems with the joints (for example, wild pains in them, to such an extent that it is impossible to move), with the heart, vision, hearing. Then the skin becomes thinner, becomes dry like parchment paper, and goes bluish spots. In general, there are many problems, and yet they are different.

4. What to do before you get bitten: vaccination against encephalitis. Right now it’s too late to do it, but if you remember about it next February, then you’ll just swing by the season to do it. Keep in mind that it is a three-stage one - they will prick three times, at a certain interval. If you have already had encephalitis, then you have lifelong immunity. Well, or if you get sick again, you will be a new word in medicine. Vaccination is considered the most effective thing you can think of.

It is impossible to vaccinate against borreliosis. Again, even if you've already been sick, there's nothing stopping you from picking it up again.

5. What to do if you are bitten. First - carefully pull out the tick either with a loop of thread or with the help of oil to facilitate the exit of the tick's head. If, nevertheless, the head was torn off, pick it out now, like a splinter, with a needle. Don't forget to burn the needle in the flame of the lighter.

The second - we put the tick in a jar, a bottle, in short, anywhere, just to take it to the laboratory. We do not crush the tick.

Third - we hand over the tick for analysis at the SES. Just because a tick is sick doesn't mean you are 100% sick. But they will feed you prophylactically with pills.

Fourth - 10 days after the bite, they donate blood for borreliosis and encephalitis. Research method - PCR. After 2 weeks - for immunoglobulins M to encephalitis, after 3 weeks - for immunoglobulins M to borreliosis. In general, ideally, the doctor should tell you all this, but the ideal is not always the case. With results of analyzes (positive) we go to the doctor. And we do not pull with a hike. The same borreliosis is very well treated if treated in the early stages.

Ticks don't jump on you from trees. They don't jump at all. They crawl from the grass or from bushes (a tick usually does not rise above 1–1.5 m on a bush).

If you have encephalitis / borreliosis, it is not contagious to others - you can sneeze on them as much as you want. But if you have encephalitis and you are a breastfeeding mother, there is a chance you can pass it on to your baby through your milk. By the way, encephalitis can be earned by drinking cow's and goat's milk (unboiled).

7. There are tick-borne infections that are not as terrible as encephalitis with borreliosis, and they were discovered only a couple of decades ago. Accordingly, not every laboratory will check you for them. So, if after a tick bite the results for borreliosis with encephalitis are negative, but you have been lying in the hospital for the second month with fever, pain all over your body, diarrhea and a diagnosis of SARS in question - look for a good infectious disease specialist.

Borreliosis, or Lyme disease, transmitted by ixodid ticks, is a serious infectious disease. The disease affects the nervous system, skin, heart, musculoskeletal system. Great importance has the prevention of borreliosis. since any disease, and even more so having serious consequences, is better to prevent than to treat.

Unlike encephalitis, the main preventive measure for which in dangerous areas is vaccination, there is no vaccination against Lyme disease. The carrier of these two diseases is one - ixodid ticks, therefore, a mixed infection is sometimes observed.

Cases of borreliosis occur on all continents (with the exception of Antarctica). In Russia, many regions are considered endemic, that is, cases of the disease are constantly recorded in these areas. The existence of a vaccination against borreliosis could significantly reduce the incidence in dangerous regions.

Prevention of infections transmitted by tick bites

In connection with the restoration of warm weather, there is a seasonal increase in the number and activity of ticks, which, when bloodsucking, can transmit pathogens of various infectious diseases. Tick-borne viral encephalitis and tick-borne borreliosis are the most common diseases that can be obtained from a tick bite.

In nature, many ixodid ticks passively lie in wait for their hosts, localizing in places where a meeting with a host is most likely. Usually they are located near the paths along which animals move, at the ends of twigs and leaves of shrubs. Some species make active search movements.

Hungry active ticks climb plants (most often to a height of up to 1 m from the ground) and take a stalking posture, they attack a moving animal, a passing person, clinging to his clothes. This can happen both during the day and at night, and not only in clear, but also in rainy weather. Therefore, when hiking in the forest, try

Wear light-colored clothing that is easy to spot for ticks. Clothing should, if possible, cover the surface of the body as much as possible, it is advisable to wear a shirt with cuffs and tuck into trousers, trousers - into socks. It is recommended to wear closed shoes.

The effectiveness of protection is greatly increased when clothing is treated with special aerosol chemicals - acaricidal (killing ticks), repellent (repelling ticks) or acaricidal-repellent (repelling and killing at the same time). Be sure to read the instructions for the tool!

Self- and mutual examinations for the detection of ticks should be carried out every 15-20 minutes.

Attacked ticks usually crawl up and tend to get under clothing. They can attach to any part of the body, but most often ticks stick on the neck, in the folds of the skin in the belt area, in hairy parts body, in the groin. From the moment the ticks attack until they are sucked, it usually takes about 1-2 hours.

After visiting the forest, you should carefully examine the clothes, remove the ticks, if any, be sure to wash it, which will remove the ticks from the seams and folds of the clothes.

Ticks attack not only directly in the forest. If they remain on clothes or things, they can stick on the road from the forest, in transport or already at home, when the attention and alertness of people weaken. There are frequent cases of ticks sticking to sleeping people, while the attached ticks are usually not detected for a long time.

The moment of attachment (bite) of the tick is not always felt. This is due both to the different individual sensitivity of people, and to the localization of the bite. In general, the tick bite is insensitive and often goes unnoticed. On the 2-3rd day, reddening and painful sensations appear on the surface of the body around the sucked tick in most cases (local reaction to a bite).

Attached ticks are usually found during this period. Fully fed individuals fall off on their own. When removing a tick or when scratching the bite site, people can also become infected with TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) as a result of rubbing the infectious agent into the skin with saliva or tissues of the tick.

If there were pets in the forest, they should also be carefully inspected to prevent the introduction of ticks into the house.

Before the season of tick activity, many vaccinate, which only work against encephalitis. There is no vaccine against borreliosis. In order not to get sick with this unpleasant ailment, it is better to take measures in advance that can prevent insect bites.

Prevention of tick-borne borreliosis

The vaccine against this disease given time not issued. Therefore, a person should take care of protective measures himself before visiting places where ticks can live.

The greatest tick activity occurs in May and June. But in the period from April to October, when the soil temperature is within 5 °, bites of these insects are also possible. Mostly ticks crawl on the ground or live in the grass. They do not bite their potential victims immediately. First they cling to clothes, then for several hours they look for a place to bite.

Ticks live not only in forests, but also in garden plots, on city lawns, in parks and in other places with grass cover. Pets after a walk can bring them to their apartment. Therefore, you need to carefully examine dogs and cats after returning home.

To prepare for visiting insect habitats, you need to do the following:

shoes should be as closed as possible;
trousers are tucked into shoes;
the jacket should be with tight-fitting sleeves;
it is necessary to use various repellents that repel ticks;
it is better to vaccinate against encephalitis in advance, even if there is no way to protect yourself from borreliosis.

Shops offer anti-encephalitis suits. This is good clothing for visiting the forest, it protects against insects. You can treat the suit with anti-tick agents from above.

The tick does not immediately dig into the body, but looks for a place for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly examine yourself and your companions. If the clothes are light, then all insects are better visible on it.

Returning home, you need to carefully examine yourself again. After taking a shower, you can get rid of unattached ticks - the water will wash them away. You can’t crush them with your hands - you can get infected.

If the area is endemic for borreliosis, then prophylaxis with antibiotics is carried out. But this does not guarantee that a person will not get sick. A person bitten by a tick should monitor his well-being, even if he was previously given medication. If the symptoms of tick-borne borreliosis are not observed, then it is better to play it safe and get tested after 6 weeks. If the result is negative, the test is repeated after another month, and then after six months, since antibodies can appear with a delay.

Back to index

How to remove a stuck tick?

If the tick has stuck, then it is important to get rid of it correctly in the shortest possible time. In no case do not smear it with oil - the risk of contracting borreliosis increases.

To remove, you can use tweezers, which you need to capture the body of the insect closer to the proboscis. Rotating around the axis, slowly sip. After a couple of turns, the tick is well removed.

After removing the harmful creature, the wound must be smeared with iodine or any antiseptic. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and disinfect tools.

If the proboscis remains, then there is nothing to worry about. A slight suppuration forms at this place, gradually everything will come out with pus.

There are a few rules to remember to get rid of a tick:

caustic solutions (ammonia, gasoline, etc.) should not be applied to the bitten place;
do not cauterize the tick with improvised means (for example, with a cigarette);
when extracting, do not pull sharply to prevent rupture;
do not pick something in the wound;
in no case do not crush the tick.

The extracted insect must be taken to the laboratory for analysis. This will help to understand if the bitten person has a disease. In the sanitary and epidemiological station, the tick is examined for 3 days.

You can check the tick yourself, with a special rapid test at hand.

Back to index

A little about Lyme disease

Tick-borne borreliosis also has such a name. The disease was first diagnosed in 1975 in the USA, in the city of Lyme. At the same time, several people were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. After 2 years, the pathogen was established - it turned out to be an ixodid tick infected with the Borrelia microbe.

The study of the disease began, which led to the possibility of treating the disease. But it has not yet been possible to prevent infection: an effective vaccine against the disease has not been found.

The incubation period lasts about two weeks, sometimes up to a month. Where the tick has stuck, the skin turns red - this is the first sign of the disease. Gradually, the red spot increases. Its size is up to 10 cm. There are cases of a much larger spot - up to 60 cm. The shape of the spot is round, the outer layer is more red and convex. Gradually, the central part of the spot turns pale and may even acquire a bluish tint. A crust appears at the site of the bite, turning into a scar. If treatment is not performed, the stain disappears after 2-3 weeks.

The following symptoms appear on average after a month: lesions of the heart, nervous system, joints.

Lyme disease is divided into 3 stages of development:

The first stage lasts about a month. The bite site turns red. Possible necrosis. Gradually there are secondary spots, rashes on the face in the form of rings, conjunctivitis.
In the second stage, the pathogen penetrates into other organs. The nervous system is affected. At the same time, the liver, kidneys, eyes, and also the skin can be affected.
After 3 months, the third stage begins. The disease becomes chronic. The patient becomes very tired, sleep is disturbed, depression appears. Many organs begin to work poorly.

The disease is not transmitted healthy person from the infected. But during pregnancy, a woman can infect the fetus with borreliosis.

In general, the incidence of tick-borne borreliosis is very high. Immunity against the disease is developed for a short time, so re-infection is possible after 5 years from the date of treatment.