According to the regional Rospotrebnadzor, since the beginning of the season, more than 19 thousand Sverdlovsk residents have been attacked by ticks. That's 13 percent lower similar period 2015 and 25 percent below the long-term average. With a preliminary diagnosis of tick-borne viral encephalitis, 153 people were hospitalized, but only ten of them had the diagnosis confirmed. There were 209 people diagnosed with tick-borne ixodic borreliosis, and in 56 of them it was confirmed. It turns out that the danger of ticks is greatly exaggerated - if bitten, the risk of getting sick tick-borne encephalitis equal to 0.05 percent, tick-borne borreliosis - 0.29 percent. For a region with a population of 4.5 million people, these numbers are not so scary.

Comment

Evgenia Katasonova, head of emergency room No. 2 of city hospital No. 36 of Yekaterinburg:

— The peak of tick bites among Sverdlovsk residents occurs in mid-May - mid-June. Now their activity is declining, and in a couple of weeks it will practically stop; until the end of summer there will be only isolated requests. Moreover, most of the victims were not vaccinated in advance. The number of people bitten in recent years has been approximately the same; there have been no sharp spikes.

A leading researcher at the Research Institute of Disinfectology of Rospotrebnadzor answered OG’s questions about where ticks came from in Russia and how to fight them. Doctor of Biological Sciences Natalia Shashina(Moscow).

— Natalia Igorevna, where did ticks come from in Russia?

— Scientists agree that they have always lived here and gradually evolved, like other animals. It’s just that their impact was not known before; people got sick in villages, but no one knew why. Only in 1937-1938, when soldiers began to fall ill en masse military units on Far East, doctors have discovered that ticks carry the tick-borne encephalitis virus.

— Does climate affect their distribution?

— It has an impact, both global and local. In addition, they influence social factors. For example, at the end of the last century more people began to engage in homestead farming around cities, and ticks moved to the suburbs and cities. Because of global warming ticks are gradually moving north. A taiga tick, which is widespread in the Sverdlovsk region, is now moving slightly to the west and is crowding out the European forest tick. In the Moscow area and Leningrad region both of these species overlap, but they get along well, are similar in appearance and carry the same infections - tick-borne encephalitis and tick-borne borreliosis.

- But you can’t say that after a while they will completely leave some territory?

- No, they won’t disappear completely. In the process of evolution, they have adapted to even the harshest climates. Ticks are very fertile; they feed on the blood of many animals - birds, livestock, mice, and so on. It is impossible to deprive them of “objects” of nutrition. Ticks have always been and will be, we must learn to live with them.

— Does treating forests and parks help?

- It helps, but only for a short time. In the 1980s, the pesticide DDT was widely used. Later it was banned due to its high accumulative properties - this poison accumulated in environment for several years. I believe that it should not have been banned everywhere, in agriculture - yes, but to protect against ticks it should still have been left. But its production has stopped, so now compounds with a very short period of action have to be used to treat parks. After a month, they already disintegrate and do not “hit” ticks. In addition, there are no poisons that would act only on ticks and leave other organisms untouched, so they must be used with caution.

— Has medicine learned to cope with the consequences of tick bites?

— Tick-borne viral encephalitis is a serious infection that can lead to disability or even death. However, there is a vaccine for it, and doctors can treat encephalitis if the diagnosis is made on time. Therefore, if you live in an area where ticks are found and are in the forest, then it is advisable for you to get vaccinated. There are no vaccines for other infections that ticks can infect, but they are more easily tolerated by humans.

By the way

Last week, the Rospotrebnadzor office for the Sverdlovsk region announced that visiting the Oleniy Ruchi natural park is dangerous to health because it was not treated against ticks. In April-May 2016, specialists caught up to 40 ticks within one kilometer of this park. However, according to the law on specially protected natural areas“Oleniye Streams” should not be treated with any pesticides.

“The tick is a member of the general ecosystem, which we must preserve safe and sound,” said “OG” Chief Engineer of the Oleniy Ruchi Park Sergei Smolnikov.— We carry out processing only on the territory of children's camps. Visitors are warned that ticks live in the rest of the territory; notices are posted everywhere. In addition, to cultivate 12 thousand hectares of forest, we need half the district budget; no one will allocate that kind of money to us.

Does it seem to you that there are more and more ticks every year? You didn't think so! Three years ago, regarding tick bites in medical organizations 410 thousand victims contacted the country, 440 thousand the year before last; and in the past - 530 thousand people. How many didn’t apply? Two million? Three?

About 2000-3700 people every year become infected with tick-borne encephalitis from these arachnids, 25-37 of them die. A little? Don't rush to breathe a sigh of relief. Cases of infection with Lyme disease (borreliosis) are detected up to 9900 per year, and this disease is not always detected. In total, ixodid ticks carry 300 types of pathogens (at least three viral, 22 bacterial and several protozoal infections are transmitted to humans) and, according to some data, infect ticks with them in every twentieth donor.

Why is the tick population growing so rapidly? is it possible to destroy them completely, how to protect yourself from ticks, what to do after a bite, why it’s dangerous not to go to the laboratory, where the situation is worst and how to treat a summer cottage - Lenta.ru was looking for answers to all these questions.

Like raisins from compote

“At the May parades we brought a horse from near Rzhev,” oh personal experience Deputy editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru Petr Kamenchenko talks about communicating with ticks. — In the Staritsky district of the Tver region, I still have a house left by my grandfather. We bought a nice 11 month old foal. He raised his mane, and there was horror! Hundreds of sucked ticks look like raisins from yesterday’s compote! We called horse owners we know - they say it’s the same everywhere and no repellents help, just comb it out and pick it out with your hands... We decided to go to the neighboring village for a visit, dressed according to science: in everything light, tucked everything in, laced it up, sprayed ourselves with chemicals... We walked through an abandoned field , I looked, and the child had seven pieces running up his jeans, he shook them off. Thirty meters later - five more... I spent my entire childhood in these places and then - in the 1970s - 1980s - I only heard stories about ticks. And now something unreal is happening!

Here's another example. A friend of mine bought a Boerboel puppy and in early June took him to a dacha near Moscow, where he left him with his old mother until the next weekend. Run freely. And when I returned, internal sides the dewlaps of the dog's ears were covered with clusters of sucking mites so that free space there are none left. The dog won't go to the dacha anymore.

Personally, on weekends I walk with my dog ​​in Moscow’s Serebryany Bor park. Despite the anti-tick collar and treating the dog with a special spray, after each walk I remove about five running ticks and a couple of attached ones.

What's happened? After all, fifteen years ago in Moscow and the surrounding regions, ixodid ticks, or, as they are more often called by people, encephalitis ticks, were exotic, and no one in the city had ever heard of their bites. And what’s going on in Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kirov, Perm, Sverdlovsk regions, Komi-Permyatsky Autonomous Okrug, Republic of Mari El, Udmurt Republic— historically abundant in ticks? Not to mention the Tomsk region - the absolute champion in the number of ticks and diseases transmitted by them? The answer is hell.

In the Tomsk region, even 20 years ago, ticks attacked people twice as often as anywhere else in Russia (a thousand people fell ill with Lyme disease in 1996), but this year the number of attacks has at least tripled. According to Rospotrebnadzor of the Tomsk Region, on May 4, 2016, 1,902 people came to seroprophylaxis centers with complaints of a tick bite. For comparison, on the same day - May 4, but a year earlier - only 610 people who had been bitten applied to the same medical institutions. And this is not a record. On May 20, 2016, 4,203 tick victims contacted Tomsk prevention centers. Can you imagine what happens to the dogs and horses there?

DDT

The exact cause of the tick invasion is unknown to scientists. Two working versions failed the test. According to experts, the increase in the population of ixodid ticks was not affected in any way by a decrease in the intensity of agriculture and corresponding interruption of regular input into the ecosystem mineral fertilizers, as well as a ban on burning last year’s grass in fields and around populated areas.

At certain temperature and humidity, the malicious insects show such endurance and will to win that even the “strangers” from horror films could not even dream of it. An adult tick can live in an active state and without food for more than nine months. Although standard life cycle ixodid life is at least two years; in the absence of food or warmth, ticks enter diapause and can remain viable for up to seven or even 10 years. Eggs and adults are able to survive both drought and winter frosts.

More than 200 species of wild animals, birds, livestock, domestic animals and, much less frequently, humans. Under diapause conditions, ticks are practically invulnerable to special anti-tick poisons (acaricides).

Studying ticks is not easy. In laboratory conditions, they usually show unusual lethargy, depriving the credibility of research on the effect of protective equipment. Attempts to create specialized bacterial preparations that destroy tick larvae ended in failure. A female tick, sucked on blood, lays thousands of eggs, each of which, if it manages to go through the larval and nymph stages, can turn into an adult.

The only poison that can stop ticks on a regional or national scale is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as dust or DDT. 30 years ago, the drug was banned in most countries of the world, as it decomposes very poorly and accumulates in plants and organisms.

Perhaps it was the refusal to treat natural breeding grounds of ixodid ticks with DDT that led to their current invasion.

Interesting fact. South Africa banned DDT later than other countries - in 1996. After this, the incidence of malaria immediately increased by 6.5 times. In 2001, South Africa ended its ban on DDT, choosing the lesser of two evils.

Image: Research Institute of Disinfectology of Rospotrebnadzor

How dangerous is a bloodsucker?

The most common disease transmitted through tick bites is borreliosis, or Lyme disease. In half of the cases, the bite site turns red, the spot expands, reaching a significant size in diameter. In some cases, borreliosis is initially asymptomatic or disguised as other diseases, for which it is called invisible. On late stages the disease leads to damage to the joints, heart and nervous system. Borreliosis does not apply to pets.

The most dangerous tick-borne infections for humans are encephalitis (for last year incidence in Russia increased by 16 percent) and Crimean hemorrhagic fever(139 cases per year).

Well, ours best friends- dogs, if they are small, old or weakened, easily die from babesiosis (piroplasmosis), which destroys red blood cells. Unfortunately, there are no statistics on dogs dying from ticks.

All tick-borne infections are treated with early stages, and here the only way not catching borreliosis means not allowing ticks to bite.

Where does the tick feast?

Ticks love deciduous and mixed forests with thick, moderately moist litter. In dry coniferous forests are ten times less common. There are none in the swamps either.

They begin to attack at 4-5 degrees Celsius, in the second ten days of April, and reach their peak of activity in the first half of June. In autumn, a second peak of activity is observed for some species.

“Contrary to popular belief, ticks do not fall from trees or jump,” says Olga Germant, senior researcher at the Research Institute of Disinfectology of Rospotrebnadzor. — They hunt from the grass or from the bushes. Both larvae, nymphs, and adults hunt, but it is mainly the latter that attach themselves to humans. The tick climbs onto a blade of grass, holds on to it with three pairs of paws, and raises its front paws upward, as if praying. At the tips of the front paws there is a whole mechanism for capturing the victim: a set of hooks and suction cups. Ticks are not at all picky when choosing a host. They react to heat. Having moved onto a potential donor, the ticks crawl upward and try to find a secluded place. About 30 minutes pass before the moment of suction - this is the head start that is given to a person to remove the tick. In hazardous areas, mutual and self-inspections must be constantly performed.

Under no circumstances should a removed tick be crushed with your hands. It is necessary to put the tick in glass container and deliver it to the nearest tick research laboratory, where the arthropod will be tested for encephalitis, borrelia, and so on. It is best to deliver the tick alive.

How to escape

Ixodid ticks are only conditionally afraid of repellents. If you still use repellents, you need to make sure that they contain at least 25-30 percent diethyltoluamide (DEET). But ticks are very afraid of special poisons - acaricides. The difficulty is that applying acaricides to the skin is strictly prohibited. They are sprayed on clothes outside living areas. Be sure to follow the method of use and safety precautions indicated on the label.

You can also purchase special clothing that has already been treated with an acaricidal composition. Clothing should be light and plain so that the tick is visible on it. If you are going into an area where ticks are active, your pants should be tucked into your socks, your shirt should be zipped up and tucked into your pants, and the cuffs should fit around your wrists. A tick cannot bite through clothing. Proper clothing treated with an acaricidal composition provides a 100% guarantee against tick bites.

If ticks appear on your summer cottage, they can be processed special composition, and they will disappear for a month and a half. It is necessary to either order professional treatment of the area with acaricides, or carry out such treatment yourself. The Research Institute of Disinfectology recommends such products as Alpicid, Breeze 25% e. k.”, “Gardex Extreme”, “Concentrate for protecting the territory from ticks”, “MEDILIS-tsiper”, “Kleschevit super” and “Tsifoks”. The processing method is indicated on the package insert (on the website of the FBUN Research Institute of Disinfectology of Rospotrebnadzor full information about all the means approved for use for this purpose).

The vaccine exists only for tick-borne viral encephalitis and tularemia.

A weak, but still consolation can be the fact that not only Russia suffers from ixodid ticks and the diseases they carry. This problem is extremely serious in Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, China, the USA and many other countries.

Ticks in the garden can appear among bushes, dense thickets, and even in grass. Although the problem with ticks is mainly associated with trips to the forest, we can often become a victim of a tick in the garden. Find out how to combat ticks in the garden, what types exist effective drugs and spraying.

Every year, with the onset summer holidays and the holiday season, the topic of ticks comes up. The most dangerous complications after a bite are: Tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease) And Tick-borne encephalitis. Until recently, it was believed that ticks were a subject of attention only to those people who spend their holidays in forested areas and break through dense thickets and swampy meadows during hikes. Unfortunately, We can increasingly become a victim of a tick in city parks, and even find a tick on personal plot . To prevent thoughts about ticks from disturbing your vacation in the lap of nature, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the basic principles of prevention that protect us from contact with them, finding out what medications are available, and the basic rules of behavior after discovering a tick.

Where do mites come from in the garden?

Ticks belong to the arachnid class. The most common common Dog tick (lat. Ixodes ricinus ) . The female is light brown in color and grows 2.5-4mm in length. When saturated with blood, it can swell up to 14mm. Increasing in size, the color also changes to red-brown. Males are much smaller. They reach sizes of 1.5-2.5 mm.

The cause of the spread of ticks, in addition to their typical wet forest areas, is considered to be climate change(less cold winters), as well as human activities. For example, when taking a dog for a walk in the forest, we can easily introduce ticks into our garden plot.

In search of carriers, ticks migrate up the branches of bushes or grass stems. But usually they do not rise higher than a few tens of centimeters. They most often attack in the spring (late April - early May) and autumn (from late August to early October). During hot and dry summers, their activity decreases because they then descend lower, seeking moisture on the surface of the earth. However, a decrease in activity does not mean that they become safe. Protection against ticks must be remembered throughout the season - from spring to autumn.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

Of course, it is better to avoid traveling to their habitats. On the other hand, this is not a way to refuse a vacation fresh air or hiking in the forest. When going on an excursion or walk, refrain from walking on paths overgrown with grass, low bushes, ferns. Never sit directly on the grass without first covering it. Remember to wear appropriate clothing. The important elements are high shoes, close-fitting clothing for the body with long sleeves and trouser legs (pants legs should be tucked into socks) and preferably in light colors(then it is easier to detect ticks on our clothes). You should also treat clothing and uncovered areas of the body with repellents, i.e. medications that repel ticks. After spraying the body and smearing, the preparations, as a rule, protect against mosquitoes for 7 hours and against ticks for 4 hours.

Fighting ticks in the garden

You can increasingly hear that ticks have appeared on plots and gardens. If ticks are a problem in our garden, then let's not create places suitable for them to live. We do not plant the bushes too densely, we do not create wet and shady places, regularly, also systematically and low. Before each visit to the garden, and especially before such work as pruning bushes, weeding and mowing grass, we apply tick repellent preparations to the skin.

In case of numerous ticks, spraying can be used. However, we should remember that spraying the entire area may not be to our benefit. Especially if we grow vegetables or fruit trees, shrubs. You shouldn’t overuse chemicals; in addition to mites, we can also destroy plants that pollinate flowers or feed on pests.

If it is necessary to spray against ticks in the garden, we choose a proven and safe method to use. An example of such a drug is Aspermet 200EC. Suitable for both garden and indoor spraying, e.g. gazebos or garden houses. You can stay in the treated areas as soon as the fog settles after spraying. In addition, the drug allows you to get rid of mosquitoes. This solution is effective, safe and comprehensive.

All precautions significantly reduce the likelihood of tick bites in the garden, but we can never be 100% sure that ticks will not be interested in us. That's why upon returning home, you need to carefully examine the surface of the body. Ticks, before they gain a foothold in human skin, look for a suitable place to feed. In children, they are most often located on the head, usually at the border of the hair and behind the ears. In adults - in places where the skin is tender (for example, under the knees, in the groin, on the stomach). It's good to take a shower. This will wash away small tick nymphs, which are difficult to detect with the naked eye.

What to do after a tick bite?

If we find a tick that has already established itself in the skin, it should be removed as quickly as possible. The faster we do this, the less likely it will be to infect us. Tweezers are useful when removing a tick.. With its help, we grab the tick directly on the surface of our skin and pull it out with a decisive, quick half-turn movement. If we establish that the parts oral apparatus mites remain in the skin, a visit to the surgeon will be required.

In pharmacies you can purchase special devices for removing ticks that work on the principle of pump suction. The tick is sucked off the skin, making it more likely that it will be removed completely and safely.

Attention!Do not try to crush the tick, burn it with a cigarette, or lubricate it with grease or gasoline. Such actions lead to the fact that the tick can return the contents inside or produce more saliva, which increases the risk of transmitting pathogens into the body.

After removing the tick, the skin is disinfected, for example, with hydrogen peroxide.

The area from which the tick was removed must be observed for several more weeks.. If you notice a red spot or a slowly growing lump on the skin, this may indicate an infection borreliosis(the change is mainly visible up to 30 days after infection). IN further development This disease is accompanied by severe headaches, fever, chills, muscle and joint pain, general malaise, fatigue and drowsiness. It happens, however, that the symptoms of the disease appear after many months, or even years, and are chronic. So let's not wait for these symptoms. As soon as we notice the first changes in the form of red erythema at the site where the tick was found, we consult a doctor. Antibiotics may be required. Borreliosis – bacterial disease . There is no vaccine against it, but treatment with antibiotics is effective.

Another serious consequence of tick activity on our body may be viral tick-borne encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). Incubation period This disease takes up to 28 days and occurs in two phases. In the first phase of the disease, flu-like symptoms occur, such as fever, muscle and joint pain, and catarrh of the upper respiratory tract. They pass after a few days in order to manifest themselves with greater force in the next phase. Then an even higher temperature appears, neck stiffness, sleep disturbance, disturbance of consciousness, nystagmus, photophobia, headache, dizziness, vomiting and other disorders. In severe cases, symptoms of inflammation of the meninges and brain appear, and the disease can result in death. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease. Only its symptoms are relieved pharmacologically. Most patients recover, but severe complications often remain. That's why, People exposed to frequent contact with ticks should be vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis.

The end of April - the beginning of July is not only a time of beautiful flowering of nature, the beginning summer season and long-awaited holidays, but also a dangerous period for human health. It is during these months that the number of ticks increases many times over. At the same time, the risk of contracting tick-borne encephalitis also increases. So where did ticks come from? We will try to explain this to you.

There are several thousand species of these arachnids. For humans, the threat is mainly posed by the Ixodes tick, the very carrier of diseases. One of the features of this “beast” is its incredibly light weight, due to which it is able to move around the victim’s body almost imperceptibly.

Forest ticks love moisture and moderate shade. IN large quantities they can be found in mixed and deciduous forests with abundant grass and dense undergrowth. Forest paths and ravines overgrown with grass, forest edges, willow thickets in the forest - all these picturesque natural places can be fraught with a hidden threat. Despite the scientifically proven facts that ticks live in these areas, the myth that ticks fall from trees still dominates the minds of citizens. The point is that by acting in accordance with your natural mechanisms, ticks tend to move upward, trying to land on a bare area of ​​the body. They are attracted to the smell of a person or other warm-blooded animal. Ticks, due to the structure of their body, cannot feed on anything other than blood. Therefore, they would not physically have the strength to climb to the top of the trees!

Many legends can be heard about the origin of the tick. The popular question is “where did forest ticks come from?” finds many interesting answers, among which you can even hear a fascinating story about how ticks were brought to Siberia by the Japanese.

In fact, ticks have always existed. These creatures arose in the same distant eras as the first forests and animals of our planet. Humanity has always suffered from their bites, it’s just that several centuries ago medicine did not reach such a level as to quickly diagnose infection with encephalitis: the patient’s body was instantly paralyzed, and a disease known at that time was indicated as the cause of death.

Large-scale measures to bait forest ticks are dangerous for the natural balance. It is much less labor-intensive to follow basic safety rules and timely vaccination. In the city park area, work must be carried out to thin out bushes, clear the area of ​​fallen branches and leaves, and control activities by the number of stray dogs.

With the coming spring warmth Pleasant walks in a park or forest can be marred by a tick bite, not only by the person himself, but also by the pet walking with him. To protect yourself and your animals from tick attacks, it is better to have an idea of ​​where ticks live and how they reproduce.

What are ticks

Ticks are just small arachnid arthropods that have lived for millions of years and inhabited the Earth long before humans appeared on it. Therefore, it can be argued that as long as a person lives, he is accompanied by bites from representatives of this family.

Ticks can rightly be classified as faithful and constant companions of all living things - for millions of years, where there is vegetation or living creatures, these spiders can be found from hot Africa to the harsh taiga of the Eurasian continent, from deserts to rain forests. That is, it is difficult to find a place on the planet where ticks do not live.

The rest of the ticks live in various types of vegetation, feed on plant components, organic matter, their relatives or their remains, posing no threat to humans.

Which ticks are dangerous to humans and pets?

• ear mites affecting the outer ear and ear canal;
• scabies that affect the subcutaneous layers;
• demodicosis, when the face and the area around it are mainly affected.

Prevention consists of strict adherence to hygiene rules, especially where such ticks and their carriers live.

Argasid and ixodid ticks

It is their accidental bites, possible during walks and trips into nature, that people rightly fear, wanting to avoid the following unpleasant and sometimes dangerous moments:

• infection of the bitten person with pathogens of dangerous diseases;
• itching and allergic reactions;
• dermatitis and other skin lesions.

Argasid mites

Not all representatives of argasid mites are capable of causing harm with their attacks in our region; residents of South America suffer from the majority of them.

In our latitudes, the most likely danger from this family is the following representatives:

Where do ixodid ticks live and how do they get on victims?

As soon as the ground cover warms up above 5 degrees, bloodsuckers crawl out of last year's grass deposits on their patient hunt, waiting for a likely suitable victim from representatives of warm-blooded animals to pass by.

Ticks do not live on trees, as many people think, preferring moist grass cover. Climbing onto a blade of grass, a branch of a bush, a twig, bloodsuckers can wait as long as they want, sometimes for months, for a source of food in order to use the claws on their paws to cling to fur or clothing, and when they reach the skin, use special suction cups to attach themselves to it and bite.

How far a tick can climb when climbing depends on the stage of maturation - it is a larva, a nymph or an adult spider.

• The larva of an ixodid tick above 30 cm is not able to climb, so it feeds on the blood of small animals and birds. One “feast” is enough, which can last for several days, and the larva falls into the grass to continue the transformation. For humans it poses an unlikely threat of attachment.
• The nymph can already afford to climb higher in order to increase the chance of meeting a potential warm-blooded victim. But still, she rarely manages to overcome more than a meter. A one-time saturation is also enough for a nymph, and a person may well become her probable accidental “breadwinner.”
• It is difficult to find an adult tick taller than one and a half meters. This is the maximum height from which it can reach the body of its victim. It is adult bloodsuckers that actively attack people and animals, including large ones.

Therefore, it is wrong to avoid places where trees grow. In fact, you need to be wary of thickets of grass and bushes, try not to walk near the edges of paths, and do not choose wild grassy meadows for an overnight stay or a picnic. It is better to prefer “bald” clearings, and in a pine forest on a dry layer of fallen pine needles, where there is no grass, it is completely unrealistic to encounter a tick.

Why are ixodid ticks dangerous?

The highest danger from a tick bite is the transmission of the causative agent of encephalitis to the victim.

• If not treated in a timely manner, a person faces death. Statistics for Russia indicate 2,300 cases of infection with tick-borne encephalitis in 2015, 24 people died. The only protective effective measure is vaccination against encephalitis.
• The second danger is the transmission of Lyme disease, or borreliosis, through the bite of a bloodsucker, which, if treatment is inadequate or not prescribed in a timely manner, leads to severe disability and even death.
• For pets, there is an increased risk of contracting piroplasmosis after a tick attack, as a result of which the animal will die if therapy is not started immediately after a tick attack.

The carriers of these diseases in the northern hemisphere in most cases are 2 types of ixodid ticks - taiga and dog.

How do Ixodid ticks reproduce?

• A sexually mature female, drinking a lot of blood, lays a huge number of eggs, more than 15,000, in the grass. But how many of them will survive to the adult stage depends largely on environmental conditions. Usually several dozen spiders become such lucky ones. The masonry maturation process lasts several weeks.
• The hatched larva feeds on blood once. Since heights are not available to her, she is forced to attack small warm-blooded animals. The “feast” can last for several days, after which she falls into the grass and, digesting the sucked blood, transforms into the next stage of the nymph. This process often extends until autumn, and the nymphs remain overwintering at this stage.
• In the spring, with the first warmth, the nymph is already ready to hunt. She is already able to climb larger animals. Having eaten once, she will ripen to adulthood for about a year.
• A male mature tick sucks blood from half an hour to several hours, which is necessary for him to mate.

When ixodid ticks bite through the skin, they inject an enzyme with an analgesic.

Measures to protect against tick attacks

When going to a park, forest, or planting, use any form of repellent, wear closed clothing, and protect your pet with drops, spray, or a collar. When you return, carefully examine the body and, if you find a tick, remove it correctly.

If you live in danger zone, infested with ticks, or are planning a trip there, the best preventive measure will be vaccination.