Do all people get bitten by ticks? Why do ticks attack people and drink blood and how dangerous is this for human health?

Ticks need blood to reproduce and grow. He feeds only three times in his life. But how!

Both males and females bite people (and other mammals that fall under the “hot paw”). But females can hang on their prey for 3 to 10 days, and males only have a snack and go looking for feeding females to mate with them. Considering the global task of reproduction facing the female, she needs to drink hundreds of times more blood than herself.

A fertilized female, engorged with blood, lays approximately a thousand eggs towards the end of the spring season, that is, in May-June. In mid-summer, tiny larvae with three pairs of legs emerge from them. Their goal is small birds and forest animals. Such a tick-biting little thing doesn’t even consider people as victims.

The following spring, the nymphs begin hunting for hedgehogs, hares, squirrels and other mammals. The man is still too big for them. The nymph, engorged with blood, becomes a male or female, only to retire again and go on another hunt a year later. So, a tick that bites a person is no longer a young, inexperienced arthropod.

Biting species include ixodids, gamasids, argasids and velvets (red heifers). Most of them successfully transmit pathogens of various infectious diseases to people and animals. Diseases may differ depending on where they live and the type.

There are some ticks that have switched to constantly feeding on just one type of animal. Some do not attack people at all, others use this method when there is no main donor, and some prefer humans. Mostly females bite in order to lay eggs. Blood also becomes their diet for transformation into larvae.

How does a tick bite occur?

A tick bite is an event honed to perfection by evolution. The female needs a huge volume of blood compared to herself. This means that she needs to cling tightly enough to stay on the victim for several days. She also needs that the animal or person does not feel the bite, and that after a few days of feeding the victim’s body does not react to an attack from the outside.

All these problems are solved with the help of the salivary glands, which occupy significant part tick bodies. His saliva is a unique mixture of more than 30 biologically active substances. The very first portion contains a special “cement secretion”, with the help of which the tick “sticks” to the skin. When bitten, painkillers immediately enter the wound, so the victim does not feel that he has been eaten. In addition, saliva contains:

• compounds that suppress the immune response of the victim's body so that a rejection reaction does not occur;
• substances that prevent blood from clotting;
• substances to increase the permeability of blood vessel walls.

The tick feeds by either injecting saliva into the wound or sucking out the resulting product - a mixture of blood, lymph, saliva and the remains of destroyed tissue.

If the arthropod is infected tick-borne encephalitis, then almost half of the viruses in his body are located in the salivary glands. That is why, when you find a tick, you need to remove it immediately. You can’t wait for him to eat and fall off on his own, or go with him, dangling on his skin, to a distant hospital.

Every minute while the infected tick hangs on its victim, more and more new portions of the virus enter the body. And this increases the risk of developing the disease. And for the same reason, you should not crush a tick between your fingers - the virus can penetrate inside through microdamages on the skin. When pulling out a tick with your fingers, you should not immediately rub your eyes and other mucous membranes with them - for the same reason: there is a risk of introducing a virus.

Even if the tick had just attached itself (and this can be seen from its emaciated body) and was immediately removed, it should be remembered that the cementing substance remained in the human skin, and with it viruses or bacteria that could be in the arthropod’s saliva. And this also explains the need to carefully twist the tick so as not to tear off its head. If the head remains in the human body, it will still be a source of infection.

Do not drown a tick in alcohol, oil or other liquids. Firstly, this is a completely meaningless action - he will not come out to see who is pouring oil on him. Secondly, there is a high probability that he will inject an additional portion of saliva into the skin - with infection, of course.

Ticks have a special organ, the hypostome, which allows them to cling to humans. It functions as a sensory organ, as well as attachment and blood sucking. Most often they stick to areas of the body such as the groin, abdomen, chest, armpits, neck and ears. The bitten areas become inflamed and local allergic reactions appear.

Signs of a bite appear after 2-3 hours:

• weakness and drowsiness appear;
• chills occur;
• bothered by aches in the joints;
• manifestations of photophobia are possible.

• headache;
• nausea and vomiting;
• difficult, hoarse breathing;
• nervous manifestations, hallucinations, etc.

A red inflammation forms at the site of suction small sizes. The spot has a slightly different appearance when the bite was made by a Borrelosis carrier. It has a circle with a diameter of 10-60 cm. A small red elevation in the shape of a donut is formed in it. The spot in the center becomes bluish or white. The framing is taken with a crust, a kind of scar is obtained, which disappears after two weeks.

How to get a tick

If the “insidious” animal still latches on, what should you do, how to remove the tick correctly? The individual attaches itself to the body and only then attaches itself, which takes some time. Blood is also not absorbed at lightning speed, but only after 2 hours or even several days. It attaches imperceptibly to humans. A well-fed pest becomes round and gray.

Removing a tick that has attached itself must be urgent and careful. You need to protect his abdomen from damage and make sure that the blood he drank does not leak out. After this, the hands and the bite site must be treated with a solution containing alcohol. Most often this is done with vodka, cologne, a damp disinfectant wipe, iodine or a solution of brilliant green.

The best solution in nature, it can become a thread pulled out of clothing. A loop is made from it and placed around the proboscis, very close to the skin. Then they tighten it and tear it off with gentle rocking movements. But it is not always possible to use thread. How to remove a tick from a person in other ways?

But it is better to consult a doctor, who will not only remove the tick, but also give a referral to a laboratory to check it. You need to seek the help of a specialist as soon as possible, do not go to your clinic, but go to the nearest trauma center.

How to avoid picking up a tick in the forest?

Ticks are leisurely creatures that do not have wings or other devices for quickly attacking a victim. Therefore, all they can do is sit on bushes and grass, waving their outstretched front legs in the hope of a prey passing or running past. Their goal is to grab onto the wool or clothing and begin their upward journey in search of best place for a bite.

In principle, ticks are able to sense animal and human trails - by the smell of sweat in the air. And the sucked ticks fall from the animal running along the path, and, without crawling far from this place, they continue their life cycle. In a month, such a tick can move no more than 5-10 meters from the place where it fell from the victim.

Modern means protection against ticks is not effective enough to guarantee the integrity of the body of a person walking in the bushes. How the drug is more effective, the more poisonous it is. Therefore the most effective means Do not apply to skin - only to clothing. But their effect lasts literally for 3-4 hours, provided the weather is dry. If the walk takes place in the rain or is accompanied by crossing rivers in ankle-deep water, then the product must be reapplied.

Therefore, the most reliable means of protection against ticks in the forest is clothing. The best option- Clothing with cuffs that can be tightened or tight elastic bands that fit close to the body at the wrists and ankles.

Another one characteristic feature anti-tick clothing - trap folds: stitched protrusions of fabric directed downwards. In Russia, ticks do not climb higher than 1 meter on grass and bushes (and do not jump onto their heads from trees!). This means that by clinging to clothing at knee level, for example, they will crawl upward to reach the body. Having stumbled upon a trap fold, the tick will remain there.

How not to miss a tick on your body?

Even if a person is dressed in the right clothes and doused with the most toxic drug, there is no guarantee that the tick will not reach his body. And in this case, the most important thing is to find it as quickly as possible.

A person does not notice the tick bite itself. Moreover, surveys show that half of people who contract a tick-borne infection and go to the doctor cannot remember ever encountering a tick. So don’t neglect easy-to-follow advice. All of them have been tested by life and have a logical basis.

• Choose light-colored clothes.

Clinging ticks are clearly visible on light-colored clothing. Since they cannot bite through fabric, there is no need to be afraid of them - just remove them from clothing.

• Carry out regular inspections.

The tick is not a gadfly with its powerful jaws that pierce the skin of a bull. And not even a mosquito, whose motto is “Bite anywhere, before they swat you!” The tick, as mentioned above, at the moment of the bite is firmly glued to the skin. Therefore, he is in no hurry to dig into the victim’s body, but can crawl over a person’s body for 2-3 hours, choosing a gentler place.

This means that if we are talking about a walk in the park or in the forest, then the right remedy prevention - examining each other every 2-3 hours. During the inspection Special attention It is necessary to pay attention to the nooks and crannies of the body - under the knees, in the groin area, under the arms, behind the ears, under the hair and in the waist area (stomach and back).

Upon arrival home, you need to inspect not only yourself and your loved ones, but also the animals that were also on a walk, as well as your car, backpacks and tents - everything that has been in the tick-infested area. The tick will not die on the spot if it does not receive blood immediately - it can wait another year on an empty stomach for an opportunity. So, having, for example, reached home on a backpack, he may well set off in search of prey already in the apartment.

• Take a shower after your walk.

Immediately after the walk, if possible, you should take a shower or bath - this makes it possible to either wash off or quickly detect the tick if it has already attached itself.

Tick ​​protection

Fighting ticks is one of the ways to protect a person and his home from them. The worst thing is the bite of an encephalitis carrier. Any representative of this species found in humans - ixodid or bed bug - can become infected with an unpleasant disease. Therefore, there is no single rule regarding what protection against ticks should be.

Chemicals

• Ultraton – lotion, aerosol;
• DEFI-Taiga – solution, pencil, lotion, emulsion, aerosol, balm, cream, gel;

as well as aerosols:

• Biban;
• Gall-RET;
• DEET for ticks;
• Off extreme;
• Raptor;
• Breeze-anti-mite, etc.

Experts recommend using another tick repellent – ​​acaricides. If repellents repel arachnids, then the last drug paralyzes their limbs, and they fall from the victim. In this way, the individuals are destroyed. There are aerosol acaricides:

• Raftamid-taiga;
• Anti-mite picnic;
• Fumitox-anti-mite;
• Gardex aerosol extreme;
• Tornado anti-mite;
• Gardex anti-mite, etc.

There are also acaricide chalks that are used to draw lines before going for a walk in a field or woodland. But treatment against ticks is important not only for humans; its help is also necessary for the environment. There are often cases of plant infection in gardens. Therefore, treating an area from arthropods becomes an important task for people.

They are fought with the following drugs: Actofit, Vermitek, Fitoverm, Karbofos, Intavir and others. They will require repeated treatments, since not all stages of animal development are susceptible to them. To do this, you will need to develop a pollination schedule for the plant. Usually a gap of two weeks is made, but you should pay attention to the included instructions. She will give you more precise dates.

Tick ​​removal devices

Of course, it is advisable to have someone nearby who has already successfully pulled out ticks. You can also twist a loop of thread or use tweezers from a manicure set, but the easiest way is to get one of the many tick removers that you can now buy at a pharmacy or online store.

Main principle when removing a tick: hook it and make 2-3 turns, smoothly and without jerking. The goal is to carefully unscrew the cemented head of the tick from the skin without tearing it off. Clockwise or counter-clockwise - it doesn't matter.

Prevention

Man's caution and forethought - best protection from ticks. These qualities require knowledge of the pests’ habitat and avoidance of possible encounters with them. Wetlands, pastures and thicket, park areas are the favorite places of ixodid species. After all, they prefer damp and shaded places.

To avoid encounters with the argas species, you need to travel less through caves, rocky crevices, grottoes, near animal and bird dwellings, and old buildings for keeping livestock. When you have to stay in such an area, you need to use it at night sleeping bag with a special valve, put a protective canopy on the tent, and if you sleep on a bed, place containers with kerosene or water at the legs.

• You need to ensure your safety by wearing the right clothing, pre-treated with repellent;
• It is better to choose not a repellent, but a destroying drug;
• when applying products, use circular movements of a closing shape;
• treat the neck, wrists, knees, ankles, if you open clothes;
• The validity period of the funds is reduced under the influence of weather conditions such as rain, wind, heat.

Therefore, the entire feeding strategy is to use the host as a source of nutrition as efficiently as possible. To do this, the tick very carefully selects hunting sites, prey, and, even more so, the place of attachment to it (after all, choosing the wrong place to bite means with a high probability of being discovered and killed).

On a note

Ticks have 2 types of searching and lying in wait for prey:

• passive lying in wait;
• active pursuit.

On a note

The process of searching for a victim consists of two phases. The first phase is the spatial orientation of the tick. At this moment, the arthropod qualitatively evaluates all factors environment(humidity, temperature, chemical composition air) and climbs to the most convenient place for itself, often on grassy vegetation, after which it settles in its upper tier.

The second phase begins when the tick senses the approach of the victim. At the same time, it turns its body towards the possible owner, extends the first pair of legs upward and makes oscillatory movements. At the ends of its legs there are sharp claws, with which the tick clings to the clothing or fur (feathers) of the victim.

On a note

Ticks do not have a specialized organ that would help them determine the position of the body relative to the ground, so the animal is oriented solely by the degree of tension of certain muscle groups of the limbs. When hunting, when the front legs are extended upward, the other three pairs hold the body in the desired position, performing both attachment and sensory functions. Therefore, purely anatomically, a tick cannot bend over a victim or fall onto it from a tree.

How do ticks sense their prey? First of all, in terms of the component composition of the air. The most powerful irritant is an increase in carbon dioxide levels. Other components released by the body of animals also have an effect, including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.

The main distant chemoreceptor is Haller's organs, located on the forelimbs of ticks. They look like pits, at the bottom of which there is a cluster of sensitive cells. These cells perceive the slightest change in the concentration of the above substances and prompt the tick to act. The tick can sense a potential victim at a distance of more than 10 meters. This explains the massive accumulations of ticks in places where a large number of animals and people.

In addition, being a cold-blooded animal, the tick clearly senses infrared radiation warm-blooded organisms, but for hunting it is still a secondary irritant.

How a tick clings and stays on the host’s body until it bites

The tick clings so tightly to the body that it is almost impossible to shake it off. The only way to get rid of a tick before it attaches itself is to deliberately remove it from the surface of the body.

Until the tick bites, all these devices allow it to remain on the host’s body long time, increasing the likelihood of successful feeding.

Given the size of the prey relative to the size of the tick, the arthropod often has to travel considerable distances, so selecting the location of the bite may take several hours. Since the tick drinks blood for a very long time (usually for several days), the process of choosing an attachment site is extremely important and takes a significant amount of time.

On a note

The actual structure of the skin is also important - how rough it is and how well vascularized it is.

On a note

The sites of tick bites in humans have been well studied. Shoes and clothing limit the number of places for attachment, but ticks find a way out of this situation.

The largest percentage of ticks attached to a person occurs in the axillary region, then in descending order: on the chest, abdomen, groin, buttocks, and legs. In children, frequent attachment to the head is also observed. It is worth noting that ticks navigate perfectly under clothing, making their way to the body even through small cracks.

The mouthparts of a tick are complex education and consists of several components, each of which has its own morphology and functions. You can examine some interesting nuances in detail under a microscope (see photo below):

Part oral apparatus includes a base, proboscis or hypostome, one pair of chelicerae embedded in cases, and a pair of palps. The base of the proboscis has the form of a capsule with a dense chitinous cover - here the ducts of the salivary glands pass and the pharynx begins. The palps have a segmented structure, consist of 4 segments and perform a tactile function.

The hypostome is an unpaired chitinous plate immovably attached to the base. It has the appearance of an elongated “sting”, on which a large number of hooks bent back are located in regular longitudinal rows, as shown in the photographs below:

Towards the top, the hooks become smaller, forming a crown of small and at the same time very sharp thorns. When a tick bites, the sharp hypostome is involved in cutting through the skin along with the chelicerae.

On a note

At the base of the hypostome a pair of chelicerae are attached, which look like sharp blades enclosed in cases. Chelicerae are very mobile and can cut through the skin and integument at different angles and to different depths. When at rest, they are enclosed in cases that protect them from mechanical damage.

Collectively, this is called the gnathosoma and represents the anterior section of the tick’s body, which, during a bite, plunges into the integument of the victim’s body.

How does a tick bite?

Despite the high mechanical strength upper layer of skin, it does not create serious obstacles to the path of the tick's oral organs to inner layers where are blood vessels. Moreover, there is no direct relationship between the thickness of the skin of the preferred host and the length of the chelicerae.

The process of cutting through the skin lasts the first 15-20 minutes from the moment the bite begins.

At the same time, the process of introducing the proboscis into the incision formed by the chelicerae begins. The entire proboscis is completely immersed in the wound, almost to the base of the head, and the palps are bent almost parallel to the skin.

On a note

An important fact is that the tick is able to regulate the depth of penetration of the proboscis into the integument. This depends on the size of the victim and the thickness of its skin. It is also worth considering that the deeper the tick burrows into the skin, the stronger the host’s immune defense reaction will be. Severe inflammatory processes may begin, negatively affecting the tick and reducing the chances of successful feeding.

After the tick has successfully burrowed into the skin, it begins to feed. At this moment, along with the proboscis, the wound also contains chelicerae with sheaths that expand the tissues near the hypostome.

Accordingly, first the food enters the cavity of the case, and then into the pre-oral cavity of the tick. On the surface of the skin, this case ends in a frozen roller, to which the base of the proboscis is glued.

This is interesting

It is worth noting that the tick feeds not only on blood, but also on lysed skin tissue where the proboscis is inserted.

This is also dangerous because pathogens such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis can enter the host’s body along with the tick’s saliva. Moreover, the longer an encephalitic or borreliosis tick feeds, the greater the amount of saliva it produces and the greater the likelihood of infecting a person with the corresponding disease.

The duration of tick feeding varies and depends on the stage of its ontogenesis and gender. Nymphs drink blood for 2-3 days, and sexually mature females can stay on the host’s body for up to a week. Males usually do not feed, and if a male does attach itself, it stays on the host for only a few hours.

On a note

It is quite easy to distinguish a female tick from a male. The male has a wide chitinous matte scute on the upper side of the body, which completely covers the back, while in females the scute only reaches the middle of the back.

Tick ​​nymphs become saturated relatively quickly. They need food for molting and further development, but they are also carriers of pathogens of various diseases, like adults.

After the tick is completely saturated, it disappears on its own. The muscles of the oral apparatus relax, the chelicerae are pressed tightly against the proboscis, and the tick easily removes it from the integument of the victim’s body.

We should not forget about preventive measures. After walks, you need to carefully examine yourself, children and animals, and before going out into nature, use repellents, wear closed clothes and shoes. At the right approach It is almost always possible to remove a tick from clothing (or body) in time - long before it has time to attach itself.

Video recording of a tick bite at high magnification - all the details of the process are visible

Is it possible to remove a tick from the skin using a syringe (vacuum): experiment

Warm and humid spring weather creates favorable conditions for ticks to reproduce, and the main peak of tick activity occurs in the summer months - June and July. Many people whose childhood was in Soviet time, they are surprised how they were in their youth with early spring Until late autumn, we constantly went into the forest, ran barefoot in the meadow and field, and no one was afraid of a tick bite then.

Many of them had the opportunity to see how someone extracts tick from their body with tweezers or fingers, or even pulled it out themselves, but no one then knew the recommendations that Rospotrebnadzor specialists now give: “If you find an attached tick on your body, you cannot pick it up with your bare hands! First you need to take a simple thread, as close as possible to tie a knot in the tick's proboscis and grab the arachnid with a thread, pull it up and carefully remove the bloodsucker from the body. The tick bite site must be disinfected with 70% alcohol or iodine, and hands must be washed thoroughly with soap. The tick removed from the body must not be thrown away! It must be placed in a glass bottle and send it to the laboratory within 4 days from the moment of absorption.”

In the laboratory they carry out tests to identify the presence or absence of the encephalitis virus antigen in the tick and will remove all fears of the bitten person about infection with this dangerous disease. These analyzes are paid. Therefore, many people are sure that ticks are just as dangerous as before. And the myths that there are now many times more of them and that in Siberia and on Far East up to 80% of people bitten by ticks die, especially spread by those whose business is related to the production and sale of vaccines, medicines, repellents and other means used for protection and examination.

“For them, a tick is the “goose that lays the golden egg” and therefore they are no longer deliberately poisoned, so as not to lose a highly profitable business,” people say indignantly, who have already stopped taking walks in the forest for fear of a tick bite. And there is some truth in this... Soviet years Mass treatment of forests against ticks was carried out with drugs of the DDT group - known to everyone as "dust". Now the use of “dust” for any purpose is prohibited due to the fact that this drug has a cumulative effect and is deposited in the human liver.

Of course, nowadays they also process a number of forest arrays chemicals , which are not as harmful as dust, but the area of ​​these territories is many times smaller - these are mainly bushes and trees near children's camps, city forest parks, cemeteries and recreation areas. At the same time, the forests nearby summer cottages and no one processes outdoor recreation areas. This led to the fact that the number of ticks in forests increased significantly.

Another reason why were created favorable conditions to increase the number of infected ticks - massive cutting down of coniferous forests, in the place of which mixed forests have now grown - birch, linden, aspen and other forests. The falling leaves of these trees create a dense cushion where ticks can safely overwinter. According to scientists of biogeocenology and nature conservation, it was this fact that led to an increase in the number of encephalitis ticks from 2% in the Soviet years to 40% today.

Today, when people notice any insect that looks like a tick on their body, they panic.

And there is something fear: according to statistics, every year 8-11 thousand people are treated in medical institutions and about 3 thousand cases of infection with tick-borne encephalitis are registered, and from total number Of those who contract this disease, 16% end in death.

Exists many myths that ticks most often bite women and children, and they do not like men, especially drunk ones. In fact, no studies have been conducted to support these claims. Therefore, men should also not let their guard down and, when going into the forest, be sure to take care of the correct equipment - wear light-colored outerwear with long sleeves and tight-fitting cuffs, trousers tucked into shoes. When you come home from the forest, do not forget to carefully examine yourself in order to remove the attached tick from your body in time.

It has been proven ticks They really navigate the world around them using their sense of smell and touch, and they can smell the scent of a prey at a distance of up to 20 meters. If they like this smell, they quickly crawl towards it. The visual apparatus of ticks is very primitive; they cannot distinguish colors. Usually the tick sits on the grass or lower branches, with its front legs spread out, and grabs with them any objects that move past. These can be both animals and people.

- Return to section table of contents " "

This work, which began more than a year ago, already has intermediate results, which were shared with the MK correspondent by the head of the department of gene pools of experimental animals at the institute, Mikhail MOSHKIN.

The fact that people differ in the frequency with which they are attacked by ticks is a fact, says Mikhail Pavlovich. - Someone noticed that the stronger sex is bitten more often. But is it? What makes ticks divide us into “tasty” and “untasty”, what recommendations should be given to their potential victims?

“The lady creates a signal field for the tick”

Scientists began selecting traits by simply dividing humanity into two large categories - men and women. How can a tick tell them apart? Of course, by the smell of the sex pheromones released.

Mikhail Moshkin and his colleagues conducted a special experiment. In the laboratory, ticks were placed in a Y-shaped maze with glass tube arms. Odor stimuli (human pheromones) were supplied to one sleeve, water vapor to the other, and a combination of water and stimulus to the third.

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The researchers' subjects were taiga ticks (Ixodes persulcatus), which are the most common not only in Siberia, but also here in the Moscow region. It was important for scientists to understand which substance the mites would spend the most time in the tube with. It turned out that they left the territory with the male odor (steroid pheromone - osmopherone) very quickly, but in the tube with the female pheromone - osmopherone, these harmful arthropods lingered for a long time.

-Were these males?

Of course not,” Moshkin grins. - The smell of osmopherine, which is a mixture of three aliphatic fatty acids, turned out to be attractive to both male and female ticks. This smell does not seem sexually attractive to them, as it would, for example, to human males. It's the same as if a male mouse were drawn to the scent of a female tiger. You understand that this is impossible. Here a different mechanism acted on the ticks - they were attracted, rather, from the nutritional side, fatty acid, which are part of the female pheromone, since they form an odor characteristic of many species of animals - the natural hosts of ticks.

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■ When ticks are infected with the causative agent of Lyme disease, their search activity increases. The spirochetes that cause this disease require much more resources for their existence than tick-borne encephalitis viruses. Perhaps this is why the tick strives to get food as early as possible, which it takes no more than once a year.

■ The pathogenicity of tick-borne encephalitis decreases from east to west: if in Primorye from a bite encephalitis tick you can die, then in the Moscow region the disease transmitted by a tick can occur as a mild illness.

“To understand the tick’s preferences, they opened up its brain”

But the question arises, why then does popular rumor call a man the main victim of a tick? Why is their first “blow” not directed at women? The fact is that ticks use odor signals to select the place in which they lie in wait for the object of attack. The stimulus for the attack is the thermal radiation of the potential victim, exhaled carbon dioxide, ammonia and some other signaling factors characteristic of both men and women. Is that the intensity of these signals is higher in males. Thus, women walking through the forest create a signal field that attracts ticks. The victims of such attraction are more often males, who have a higher metabolic rate.

If you study the distribution of ticks in the forest, then most often they can be found along those paths along which people walk and dogs run.

The differential attractiveness of male and female pheromones established in the Y-maze has been supported by neuronal response studies.

To do this, the covering of the ticks over the nerve ganglion (a collection of nerve cells - author) was opened and electrodes were applied to it. Various odors were applied to the tick's olfactory organ, which is located on the front legs. And depending on the change of “favorite” and “unloved” inhaled samples, the electrical potential changed radically. For example, when inhaling repellents it increased, and when inhaling female pheromones it decreased.

“Tick-borne encephalitis may be sexually transmitted”

But the most interesting and important discovery, according to Doctor of Biological Sciences Moshkin, was recently described by his group in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

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We infected male laboratory mice with the tick-borne encephalitis virus,” says Mikhail Pavlovich. “Then healthy females were placed in cages with the infected ones. When their offspring were born, we studied them at the embryonic level. Embryos grew much slower than their counterparts born from healthy fathers; many simply did not survive. And when we carried out a virological analysis, it turned out that the subjects were infected with tick-borne encephalitis. Before us, no one put forward the version that encephalitis is inherited, and therefore sexually too. But, unfortunately, the doctors did not hear us. Go to any clinic now and ask the first patient who sought help after a tick bite, did the doctor recommend that they abstain from sexual intercourse for at least two weeks after the bite? I bet they don’t give such instructions, but they should. Our version is supported by the fact that there are patients with an identified virus who do not remember that they were ever bitten by a tick. In such cases, doctors believe more in the absolutely fantastic version that patients could have become infected from a tick that simply crawled over them without attaching itself.

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With the onset of spring, we are irresistibly drawn to the bosom of nature, to the forest, to the river bank and to the country house, or just to the park. Breathe the fresh spring air, fish, barbecue cheerful company, and just sit back and sunbathe, enjoying communion with nature. However, we must not forget that a very dangerous tick enemy may be waiting for us in the litter, in the grass, on the branches of bushes and trees.

So that you do not ruin your mood while enjoying your vacation, you need to have information about ticks.

Mixed, coniferous, deciduous forests and low shrubs, grass are habitats for ticks. They also live in park areas. Typically, they do not rise to a height of more than one meter. They can be brought home with a basket of mushrooms, a bright wild bouquet of flowers, or pets can carry them. In spring and summer, ticks are active and attack animals and humans.

What happens after a tick bite

• tick-borne encephalitis,
• borreliosis and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever,
• ehrlichiosis,
• tularemia,
• a lot others.

The most dangerous disease is tick-borne encephalitis, as it very often leads to disability and even death.

Tick ​​bite: consequences can be prevented

The most in a reliable way Protection against infection with tick-borne encephalitis can be considered timely immunization. The vaccination is done according to a certain scheme: first - the first vaccination, then at an interval of a month to five - the second. In a year you will make a third one. Subsequently, one vaccination is given every three years to maintain immunity. There are other vaccine administration schemes. However, if you are not vaccinated, then you need some advice.

First aid for a tick bite

If you notice a tick attached to your body, immediately contact the nearest medical facility or medical worker. If this is not possible, remove the tick yourself, while observing the following.

When visiting places where ticks are possible, wear tight clothing that covers your body as much as possible: jackets with long sleeves and elasticated cuffs. Trousers (also better with elastic bands) tuck into boots. Use high shoes. Put a hood, scarf or thick closed hat on your head.

Clothes must be treated with the following preparations: "Tornado-Anticlesh", "Permanon Gardex aerosol extreme", "Pretix", "Picnic-Anticlesh", "Picnic-Anticlesh", "Fumitox-anti-mite", "Gardex-anti-mite" and others.

Exposed areas of the body can be treated with the following preparations: "Off Extreme", "Reftamid maximum" "DEFI-Taiga", "Biban", "Gall-RET", "Deta-WOKKO".

Check your clothing every two hours and open areas bodies.

Clear the overnight or resting place from dry grass and branches within a radius of at least 20 meters.

When you return from an outdoor vacation, carefully examine your clothes and body. Wear clean underwear.

Basically, this is all you need to know when going on vacation in nature. Have a nice chat and relaxation. New acquaintances and impressions.