The tick is a subclass of arthropods from the class of arachnids, the body length of a medium-sized individual is 0.5 mm.

Insect activity begins in spring and early summer, the risk of being bitten increases in warm, dry weather. When bitten through the wound, an anesthetic is injected into the body, as a result of which the insect's attacks pass completely unnoticed for a person.

Ticks are known to carry tick-borne encephalitis, borreliosis and others. dangerous diseases... If a person is bitten by an infected tick, then the virus quickly enters the bloodstream and infects the entire body.

Preventive examination

After a walk, examine the body for ticks:

• the area behind a person's ears;
• neck, rib cage and armpits;
• groin and genitals;
• small of the back;
• scalp.

The main danger to humans is infection with diseases, carried by a tick:

• tick-borne typhus;
• tularemia;
• ehrlichiosis;
• tick-borne encephalitis;
• q fever;
• Lyme disease.

At the site of the bite, redness and swelling occurs in some cases, allergic reactions may occur.

Symptoms of a tick bite in humans

The tick has a peculiar organ - a hypostome (proboscis), with which it pierces the victim's skin and is attached inside the wound with the help of special saliva, it simultaneously anesthetizes (which is why a person does not feel the moment of the bite) and fixes the proboscis in the wound. The size of the tick is about 0.3-0.4 mm, the females are 1 mm larger. Sucking blood, the tick increases in size by 2-3 times.

It is possible to identify the main symptoms in humans associated with a tick bite, they can appear after 2-3 hours, namely:

• chills;
• redness of the place where the bite is;
• fear of light;
• headache;
• increased weakness and drowsiness;
• painful sensations in the joints of a person.

The following symptoms of a tick bite in humans may include the following factors:

• skin rashes;
• severe itching;
• an increase in human body temperature to 39-40 degrees Celsius;
• there is a decrease in blood pressure;
• there is a clear;
• you can observe an increase in lymph nodes, namely regional.

In addition to these symptoms, it is necessary to take into account the presence of secondary signs that provoked the tick with its bite, namely:

• nausea;
• profuse vomiting;
• hoarse voice;
• heavy breathing and shortness of breath;
• severe headache accompanied by dizziness;
• the presence of peculiar nervous disorders, for example: hallucinations.

Ticks are carriers of many diseases, including tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), rickettsioses and other infections. When you find a sucked tick - remove it as soon as possible! It is impossible to delay the removal. The longer the tick drinks blood, the more infection will enter the body.

The first signs of borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis

Lyme disease (borreliosis):

Tick-borne encephalitis:

• general and muscle weakness in the neck, arms and legs;
• feeling of numbness in the neck and face;
• chills, increased body temperature;
• nausea, vomiting;
• severe headache;
• staining the skin of the face, neck, oral mucosa and eyes red.

When these symptoms appear, you urgently need to consult an infectious disease doctor or a polyclinic therapist, to the emergency department of an infectious diseases hospital, and in a serious condition - to an ambulance.

What does a tick bite look like in humans: photo

The area around the bite is pink to reddish, depending on the reaction of the body. In the center there will be a noticeable deepening deep into the skin.

What to do with a tick bite?

Since the tick is a carrier serious illnesses, then after returning home after a hike in the park or forest, you should not immediately lie down on the sofa. It is important to carefully examine yourself and your loved ones for the presence of a tick on the body.

If a tick was found, then it is necessary to remove it from the human body as soon as possible. There are several ways to do this at home.

1. You can try to "twist" the insect out of the skin... In this case, the movements must be made counterclockwise. Keep the tick as close to the skin as possible to prevent rupture of the abdomen. At the same time, wrap your fingers with a bandage or gauze.
2. Another variant - using improvised means, such as thread from clothes... She needs to fit the proboscis as close to skin distance and, performing rocking movements, slowly remove the tick. Some remove the tick with fingernails or matches.

If you have not had the opportunity to go to a medical institution and conduct a tick analysis, then it is advisable to observe the affected person for a month.

It is also worth knowing that the incubation period in Lyme disease from the onset of infection to the onset of symptoms is usually 1 to 2 weeks, but it can be much shorter (several days) or longer (from months to years). In the case of tick-borne encephalitis, it is generally accepted that from the moment the virus enters the bloodstream to the onset of the first manifestations of the disease, it takes from 1 day to a month. On average, the period is 1-3 weeks, since the forms of development of the disease are different.

The consequences of a tick bite for humans

The tick bite itself is not dangerous to humans. Serious consequences after a bite can occur only if the insect has been infected.

The mite can be a source of quite a large number diseases, therefore, after removing the tick, save it for research on infection tick-borne infections(tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), if there is a possibility for other infections), this can usually be done in an infectious diseases hospital. You need to understand that the presence of an infection in a tick does not mean that a person will get sick. The analysis of a tick is needed for calmness in case of a negative result and vigilance - in case of a positive one.

Here is a list of diseases that a tick can transmit:

• Lyme borreliosis;
• Tick-borne hemorrhagic fever;
• Ehrlichiosis;
• Anaplasmosis;
• Tick-borne typhus;
• Smallpox rickettsiosis;
• Tsutsugamushi fever;
• Q fever;
• Tick-borne paroxysmal rickettsiosis;
• Human babesiosis.

Most often found on the territory of Russia and pose a serious danger to human health - tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis. Of course, the chances of getting infected by a tick bite is not too high, because 90% of ticks, according to research, are sterile. However, it is present.

Consequences of an encephalitis tick bite

Unfavorable outcome:

• A persistent decrease in the quality of life with the progression of symptoms (continuous progression, abortive - recurrent).
• Persistent organic syndrome with a significant decrease in quality of life in the form of a defect motor functions without progression of symptoms.
• Contribute to the progression of symptoms: drinking, stress, overwork, pregnancy, etc.). Long-term persistent changes in the form of epilepsy, hyperkinesis are the reason for determining the III, II, I group of disability.

Favorable outcome:

• Chronic weakness lasting up to 2 months followed by full recovery body functions.
• Moderate infection with recovery up to 6 months.
• Infection in severe form with a recovery period of up to 2 years without paresis and paralysis.

Useful information

• If you have kept a live tick for analysis, it will be accepted in a laboratory at an infectious diseases hospital or at a sanitary and epidemiological station.
• If you are vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis, then this gives you protection against contracting the virus.
• 10 days after the bite, you can test the blood by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis.
• After 14 days, the blood is examined for antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis.
• Borreliosis antibodies can only be detected in the blood 30 days after infection.

Prophylaxis

Of course, you should not deprive yourself of the pleasure of walking outside the city under the shade of trees, because ticks can overtake in the city. Just going to the woods you have to stick to certain rules prevention, in order to maximize the protection of yourself from these blood-sucking insects:

1. Avoiding places where mites accumulate, which prefer to live in wet thickets of plants.
2. Exercise extreme caution during the maximum activity of such dangerous insects, this is the period from early May to mid-September.
3. Wearing closed clothing while open areas body - rubbing with special creams and anti-tick bites, which will prevent insects from having access to an open human body.

Prevention of the consequences associated with a tick bite is based on:

1. Vaccinations ( preventive measure), if a person is infected, it cannot be used.
2. Specific immunotherapy is a therapeutic measure (the introduction of immunoglobulin only when infected or suspected of being infected after a bite).
3. The use of special clothing and devices to prevent ticks from entering the body.
4. The use of agents for scaring away, killing ticks.
5. Health insurance for the purpose of paying for possible treatment.

Also remember that a bite does not usually spread the infection immediately. The longer the tick stays on the body, the greater the chances of contracting encephalitis or borreliosis.

Sarcoptes could be closest to the definition of subcutaneous mites, but the people are so called Demodexes, and our further narration will be devoted to them. And you can not see either one or the other, these are microscopic living beings.

Who is a subcutaneous tick?

Both human species have a cigar-like shape with eight short legs grouped in the front third of the body. A third of a millimeter longer, D. folliculorum is one of the largest members of the entire species. It was discovered back in 1841 independently by two scientists, but only correctly described them, a year later, by Gustav Simon, a German dermatologist.

He was examining acne spots under a microscope when he noticed that a "worm-like object" with head and legs was showing signs of life right in the center of the eel. A year later, Richard Owen gave the tick its name, which is derived from the Greek words "Demo", which means "lard" and "Dex" - "sluggish worm." As for D. brevis, it was identified as a separate species much later, in the 1960s, by Soviet researchers. Prior to this, both representatives were ranked as the same old species.

It is difficult to say exactly how common demodectic mites are. The first estimate came from a study from 1903, when 49 out of 100 French soldiers were found to have these ticks. The next count of 1908 shows an even sadder picture - in 97 out of 100 patients, demodex was found. Since then, it is generally accepted that each of us has demodectic mites.

A 1972 French study says that this age group only 4% have demodectic mites. As for those who are over 50 years old, this figure rises to 98%, because in the process of life there are many conditions and situations when you can become infected with these ticks.

Until now, it was believed, and many researchers continue to adhere to this theory that demodectic mites feed exclusively on sebum. One of the most recent studies in the field claims that, in addition, Demodexes ingest the cells lining the follicle by sucking out their insides with a retractable needle-like organ in the middle of the round mouth. On either side of the mouth, D. folliculorum has seven clawed organs, or palps, with which it grabs particles of its food, like a cancer with claws. By the way, only five of the same palps were found in D. brevis.

Subcutaneous mites sometimes crawl out of the follicles and move, but they do this only in the dark and literally freeze under the influence of bright light. The fact that mites were found on the surface of the skin suggests that they only leave the follicles at night to find a mate for copulation. By the way, their speed is rather low. Conventionally, the tick will need almost half a day to cover the distance from ear to nose.

The demodectic mite does not have an anal opening, so it stores its waste in large cells within its intestines. When a tick dies, its body disintegrates and all residual products are released into the follicle.

The number of males exceeds females from three to five times, but this does not prevent ticks from being quite fertile. Despite its primitiveness, this species has developed some sexual characteristics that even more advanced insects do not have. For example, the female has developed genitals, however, like the male, which are located in the back of the chest region. Therefore, traumatic insemination is alien to demodexes. In addition, they have cannibalism, which is also a rather unique feature within the arachnid class.

After fertilization, the female burrows into the follicle, if it is D. folliculorum, or into the adjacent sebaceous gland, if it is D. brevis. Half a day later, she lays eggs, two and a half days later, they break open and an immature young form emerges from them. Young ticks mature for six days and are then ready to mate. As noted above, their total life span is no more than two weeks.

The link between ticks and disease

However, like many of the microscopic inhabitants of our body, Demodexes can be considered opportunists. Their population blooms to harmful volumes when human immunity is significantly weakened. Several studies, for example, have found that ticks are more common in people with HIV, children with leukemia, or patients under constant action immunosuppressants. Possibly changes in environment skin also allows mites to reproduce beyond their normal levels.

In dogs, excess D. canis can cause a potentially fatal condition called demodicosis. As for humans, the situation associated with the increase in the population of ticks is much milder - skin diseases such as acne, rosacea and blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids) often develop. Although the connection between rosacea and demodectic mites was first discussed in 1925, there is still no exact scientific confirmation of such a relationship.

Dermatologists have since repeatedly discovered that demodex on the human body is more prevalent in the cheek follicles of people with rosacea.

In one study, these patients had an average of 12.8 ticks per square centimeter skin, including on the back, compared with 1-2 in healthy people. Results from 48 separate studies have shown that people with rosacea are eight times more likely to develop demodex infestation. Obviously, correlation is not a causal relationship, nevertheless, such a fact exists.

In addition, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence about options for targeting ticks and their dependence on clinical improvements in disease signs, as there is very little rigorous clinical trials in this area. For example, metronidazole is sometimes used to treat demodex infestation, and there is even practical evidence from several dozen clinical trials, such as proving the effectiveness of this agent in the treatment of rosacea. However, a tick of the genus Demodex can survive high concentrations of metronidazole in laboratory conditions, therefore, it has not yet been possible to prove that this drug is really effective against ticks and the disease itself.

We told in one of our articles that Irish scientists suggested that rosacea may not be caused directly by ticks, but by bacteria in their feces. This may explain why antibiotics that kill bacteria but are harmless to ticks can sometimes successfully treat rosacea. But this approach still has many practical tests ahead. Be that as it may, the nature of the relationship between the presence of a demodectic mite and some diseases has not yet been scientifically proven.

Symptoms that may be associated with subcutaneous mites

In one of our previous articles, we dwelt in detail on the symptoms of a disease such as rosacea, or rosacea, at the origins of which the demodectic mite may be. However, it is worth emphasizing once again that all possible signs of diseases are just a theory, for which there is no scientific and practical substantiation yet. Higher concentrations of mites can be found in people with rosacea, but it is not a fact that they are the cause of the disease.

Another thing is that some symptoms of the condition may be present, which I call rosacea - the appearance different shades red bumps on the skin, total amount which develops against the general background of diffuse reddening of the skin. Separate small blood vessels may also appear, which become visible, thereby violating the cosmetic condition of the facial skin.

Spring brings with it not only spring mood but also aggressive under human skin? What danger do they carry in themselves? We will answer these and other questions in our article.

Where are they found?

Where do ticks bite?

Before we know what ticks look like under the skin, let's figure out where they bite us. In principle, these creatures can suck anywhere, but the most favorite places are:

• armpits;
• inguinal folds;
• and other places with and abundant blood supply.

How do they bite?

If the tick was not detected in a timely manner, then it proceeds to the main process for itself. It bites through human skin in such a way that we don't even feel it. Then he simply bites into the resulting wound.

Outwardly, the sucked tick becomes like a large mole with protruding legs. If you suddenly feel that a new mole has suddenly appeared on your body, be alert! Sometimes such a mole can pose a significant danger to you! This is what mites look like under the skin!

How long can they be on our body?

A sucked tick can hang on our body for several days! Further, there are two options for the development of the situation.

The traditional habitats of the tick are river valleys, forests, pine forests, where they stuck to humans. However, today the pest has adapted to life in the city, adapting to dry areas. Therefore, you should be very careful while walking in the park: the tick can suck even there.

Ixodid ticks

The size of the pest is significant - 2.5 centimeters. The transition from one stage of development to another is impossible without saturation with blood. Fertilization usually takes place on the body of the feeder. Several females are fertilized by one male. After 5 days, the blood-drunk tick falls off and sheds, after which it becomes a nymph.

The chitinous cover of this pest is very durable, so it cannot be broken, crushed or torn apart. When ixodid ticks drink blood, their body stretches and turns gray or yellow. The female has a shorter scutellum than the male, which is associated with physiological processes.

The main danger of a sucked ixodid tick is that it is capable of infecting people or animals with various ailments. They most often carry encephalitis. This group includes taiga and dog ticks.

Argas mites

Insects are most active in warmth. They are on the body of the host until they are drunk with blood. Usually half an hour is enough for them. The bite is usually accompanied by prolonged severe itching and purple skin discoloration.

The most dangerous are such representatives: Persian and Kosher.

Subcutaneous mite

What does a tick on the human body look like?

The bite of the arachnid is painless, so it is not easy to find an insect on the body. It is highly likely that a small pest has nevertheless attacked you if the following symptoms are observed: weakness, chills, drowsiness, photophobia, discomfort in the joints.

How do you know if a mite is digging into your skin? First of all, after a walk or outdoor recreation, it is worth examining all parts of the body where the tick is usually attached: armpits, abdomen, neck, head.

In this video, you will learn about the most dangerous types of ticks that carry various diseases.

Ticks belong to the spider family and have more than 850 species. Ticks pose the greatest danger as carriers of various infectious and viral diseases.

What do ticks look like?

Ticks use not the mouth apparatus for breathing, but special spiracles located in the area of ​​the hind legs, they look like tubes.

In saturated ticks, the body becomes light gray, as can be seen in the photo.

Varieties of ticks

Ixodid ticks

Ticks of this species are the most common bloodsuckers in our area, they can often be found in mixed forests, fields, bushes and grass, they can hide on the bark of trees or just on the ground. Ixodid ticks carry diseases such as tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), encephalitis, typhus and other unpleasant diseases. Ticks prefer humid and warm climates, so they are often found in shaded areas near rivers and lakes.

Argas mites

This type of mite differs from others in its soft black body with a brown rim. Argas mites attack their victims at night. These ticks are found in caves, catacombs, burrows, large cracks. Ticks of this species can live up to 14 years in the absence of food, and individual individuals can live up to 25 years, which significantly exceeds life cycle other types of ticks. For full saturation, argas mites only need 30-50 minutes, and ixodids can suck blood for up to 8 days. The sizes of these ticks reach up to 1 cm.

Subcutaneous mite

Tick ​​bites

If not at hand necessary fixtures, you can use a thread tied in a loop. The loop is thrown over the tick's head and pulled together with a neat movement, after which the tick is gradually pulled and loosened until it comes out.

• Lyme disease;
• Tick-borne typhus;
• Tick-borne encyphalitis;
• Tularemia;
• Babesiosis;
• Tick-borne rickettsiosis.

Some of these diseases are difficult to cure and can damage nervous system organism, which in the absence of proper treatment can lead to death.