What ticks carry: types of diseases and their diagnosis

What ticks carry
What ticks carry

Hello! We are used to the fact that the main discomfort from an insect bite is itching and, possibly, a bleeding wound. However, most insects and arthropods can carry dangerous infections.

The stereotype says that a mosquito can be malarial, and a tick - encephalitis, but this is not a complete list of diseases. For example, the same ticks can transmit the disease from person to person. Today I want to tell you about what ticks carry and how these infections can be dangerous.

Tick ​​bite diseases: 7 tick-borne diseases

Ticks are ectoparasites that promote the circulation of pathogens of natural focal diseases. They can transmit different pathogens from one host to another while sucking blood.

In Europe, specialists are familiar with 15 diseases that are spread by these arthropods and at least 7 of them affect humans. Tick-borne infections are characterized by a wide variety of nature (viruses, bacteria, protozoa, rickettsia) and the species composition of pathogenic microorganisms.

What diseases do ticks carry?

The most relevant among vector-borne natural focal diseases from ticks in humans are: Lyme disease (borreliosis), tick-borne encephalitis, and ehrlichiosis.

These infections are very difficult, can lead to disability, have a chronic course and a long rehabilitation period (up to 1 year). Ticks also tolerate: relapsing tick-borne fever, tularemia, babesiosis, spotted fever.

Diseases transmitted by ticks are characterized by various pathological processes in the human body.

Lyme Disease or Borreliosis

It can be transmitted by three types of bacteria of the genus Borrelia. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the most common tick-borne infection.

In many cases, the pathology is stopped by antibiotics, if the diagnosis was established on time, and treatment was carried out in the early stages. The clinical presentation is characterized by skin manifestations with the addition of neurological, articular and cardiac symptoms.

Tick-borne encephalitis

It is transmitted by arbovirus, which belongs to the genus Flavivirus. Ticks become infected from animals and transmit the virus to humans.

The disease is accompanied by biphasic fever, damage to the central nervous system (encephalitis, meningitis) and needs intensive treatment.

May lead to persistent neurological and psychiatric complications.

Ehrlichiosis

Among tick-borne diseases, monocytic ehrlichiosis is a relatively young infection.The pathology was first detected in 1987 in the United States.

Pathogens (ehrlichia) enter the body with tick saliva and, multiplying, lead to inflammatory processes of a different nature in the internal organs. Clinical manifestations have a wide spectrum: from an asymptomatic form of the course to death.

Tick-borne relapsing fever

This acute infectious disease is transmitted by ticks of the family. The pathology is caused by borrelia, manifests itself in febrile recurrent seizures.

The disease is more likely to be benign; deaths are an exception.

Tularemia

Clinical manifestations depend on the form of the disease. A characteristic feature is an increase in lymph nodes to the size of a walnut.

Pathology can provoke specific complications (secondary tularemia pneumonia, peritonitis, meningoencephalitis), as well as abscesses and gangrene.

Babesiosis

Another of the diseases transmitted from ticks to humans. It is caused by babesias, which after a bite penetrate into human red blood cells, where they multiply, destroying red cells.

The disease develops against a background of reduced immunity. With its course, anemia increases, and symptoms of acute renal and hepatic failure are observed. In people with normal immune status, babesiosis is asymptomatic.

Spotted fever

Called by microorganisms of bacterial origin from the rickettsia group. This disease occurs in a person from a tick bite, the pathogen can also get into the wound when the infected arthropod ruptures and combes this area.

It affects blood vessels, causes such severe complications as strokes, renal failure. In all cases, the forecast is quite serious.

Symptoms of tick-borne diseases

The development of symptoms depends on the pathogen that can enter the human body along with tick saliva after a bite. Since ticks carry a lot of diseases, the manifestations of the infection are diverse.

What diseases do ticks transmit to humans: dangerous infections

A tick is an arthropod that is a carrier of various diseases. Scientists have identified 15 diseases that are transmitted due to the bite of this arachnid.

There are several diseases transmitted by ticks to humans. All of them are quite dangerous and can bring serious problems to people and damage to their health.

What diseases do ticks carry?

Symptoms and treatment of each of the ailments are of interest to many citizens of Russia. A tick bite is not only an unpleasant incident in a person’s life. It can bring a lot of trouble, harm health. The question of what diseases ticks carry to humans is of interest to many.

Important!
The most famous pathologies are tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease or tick-borne borreliosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, tick-borne tick-borne fever, tularemia, spotted fever.

About what diseases ticks carry to humans, the symptoms of infection and treatment will be discussed in that article.

Tick-borne encephalitis

One of the diseases transmitted by ticks to humans is tick-borne encephalitis. This pathology is characterized by damage to the spinal cord and brain by flavovirus.

An infection is transmitted by a bite of an ixoid tick. Tick-borne encephalitis is widespread in the Russian Federation in the Far East and Siberia, but there are cases of infection in the central part of the country.

The disease refers to vector-borne infections that enter the body through the bite of insects. The infection period occurs in spring and summer, occasionally in autumn. About 6 thousand infected with tick-borne encephalitis are detected annually in Russia.

Causative agent of infection

As mentioned above, the causative agent of the infection is the flavovirus, which is very small (smaller than the influenza virus), which allows it to penetrate into all parts of the immune system.

Attention!
At low temperatures, the virus maintains long viability (up to two months), but is unstable to high temperatures. When boiling, it dies very quickly, is also unstable to disinfectants.

You can get flavovirus only with a tick bite. Walking through a forest or park area, you should be more careful, remember what diseases ticks transmit.

Types of disease

Tick-borne encephalitis can occur in three forms:

  • meningeal
  • febrile
  • focal.

The meningeal form of the disease is characterized by inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord. It occurs in 30% of patients.

The febrile form is characterized by an increase in body temperature, fever. This form appears in 50% of infected.

Advice!
The focal form of the disease involves the brain in the lesion process, accompanied by neurological symptoms.

The incubation period generally lasts two weeks. But science knows cases of a protracted incubation period (up to 1 month), as well as fulminant manifestations of the disease. In some infected, the first symptoms began to manifest one day after an insect bite.

During the incubation period, the virus spreads through the bloodstream, affects the immune system, after which the first symptoms begin to appear, and the flavovirus affects the kidneys, liver, lymph nodes and central nervous system.

The primary signs of the disease are symptoms corresponding to an increase in body temperature. Chills, general weakness, nausea and vomiting, headache, muscle pain appear. Such signs of the disease are characteristic of young children.

If you have these symptoms, you should pay attention to redness on the body and whites of the eyes. This is characteristic of all forms of the disease at the initial stage. Further, each of the forms develops in its own way.

Tick-borne borreliosis or Lyme disease

What infections do ticks carry? In addition to flavovirus, an ixodid tick can become a carrier of borrelia, which, when ingested in the human body, causes Lyme disease.

Pathology is named after a small American town in which cases of human infection were first detected. Symptoms of tick-borne borreliosis are swelling in the bite area, which begins to develop after the incubation period.

The incubation period of Lyme disease is 1-2 weeks, but cases of a longer manifestation of the pathology are known. An inflamed and reddened wound gradually grows. The stain can reach 20 cm in diameter.

Science knows cases where the inflamed area reached 60 cm. If you do not seek medical help, then after 8 weeks the bite will become the same, swelling and redness will go away, but this fact does not mean that the disease has passed. On the contrary, the pathology will begin to develop further, will move to the next stage.

At the second stage of the disease, the infection begins to affect the liver, kidneys, heart, central nervous system, skin (a variety of redness and rashes are possible). The fact is that if you do not turn to a specialist for help in time, then the pathology will go into a neglected form, the treatment of which is a long and laborious process.

It is worth remembering that diseases transmitted by ticks in people can cause not only health problems, but also lead to death.

It is known that people who did not seek help from a medical institution often become disabled. The sooner detect and begin treatment of tick-borne borreliosis, the faster and easier it will be possible to achieve a full recovery.

Scabies

This is a disease that is transmitted by a bite of a microscopic scabies itch. The parasite penetrates under the skin of a person and begins to move there, as a result of which tubercles appear on the body.

The disease is accompanied by itching and burning. Severe subcutaneous pains are possible.The first symptoms of pathology is the appearance of small pink seals between the fingers, which is accompanied by severe scratching.

The disease is contagious, it can be transmitted from one person to another by contact.

Every person should know what tick-borne infections are. After all, scabies affects the entire human body, with the exception of the face, heels (rough skin). Pathology spreads rapidly, it is impossible not to notice it.

Scabies treatment

Treatment of scabies is carried out using a variety of drugs, the most effective of which are the following:

  1. Sulfuric ointment;
  2. zinc ointment;
  3. benzyl benzoate;
  4. spray "Spregal";
  5. Ivermectin tablets.

In addition to treating an infected person, you should take care of his clothes and bedding. They are changed every day. Soiled laundry is soaked in hot water, everything that the patient touches is treated daily.

This will help reduce the risk of infection to households. During the illness, contacts of the infected person with others are limited. Also, do not allow pets to be infected, as they can become carriers of scabies.

Tick-borne relapsing fever

Not many people know what diseases ticks carry to humans, the symptoms of which can first go unnoticed. One of these diseases is tick-borne relapsing fever.

It can be caused by the penetration of borrelia into the body. The carrier of infection is an argas tick.

The incubation period of the pathology is from 3 to 16 days. The very next day after contact with the parasite, the bite site turns red, a small seal appears (1 mm).

In the next 2-5 days, a papule appears surrounded by a blue-red hemorrhagic ring, which disappears after a few days. In its place remains a pink swelling.

Important!
The disease is accompanied by fevers. The first attack occurs a few days after the onset of disease progression, which is characterized by an increase in temperature to 39-40 ° C.

A sick person raves in a dream, often changes his body position, he is very active in a nap, temporary loss of consciousness is possible. The attack is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

After the end of the first febrile seizure, a period of apyrexia sets in, but after a day everything repeats. The condition lasts longer, reaches seven days. Subsequent seizures may be shorter in duration, and the intervals between them usually increase.

Treatment

Tick-borne typhoid fever is treated with penicillin and antibiotics. These are mainly tetracyclines. It becomes easier for the patient after the first day of therapy, body temperature decreases, performance quickly recovers.

Relapsing tick-borne typhus, as well as other diseases, can cause side effects: hepatitis, meningitis, visual impairment, pneumonia, infectious psychosis, neuritis. Such side effects are quite rare.

Tularemia

Tularemia is an acute infection that occurs due to the penetration of bacteria Francisella tularensis into the human body. The disease is included in the list of especially dangerous. It is put on a par with cholera, plague and even anthrax.

Tularemia bacillus is a dangerous microorganism. It is resistant to low air temperatures and dies at high. At zero air temperature, the bacterium lives for about six months, at 8-12 ° C it survives for a month, lives long in the skins of dead animals.

Tularemia bacillus perishes when treated with disinfectants and exposed to high temperature.

Attention!
Wild animals and rodents serve as a reservoir for storing the infection. They are not carriers of the disease. The peddler of the infection is the tick that bit the infected animal.

A person with tularemia is not contagious. This disease can be infected not only from an insect bite, but also when cutting the skins of a sick animal, drinking contaminated water or food.

Infection can be transmitted to humans by airborne droplets. There is a known case when people were infected with tularemia by inhaling dust from infected grain. Possible infection when cutting meat. For example, in meat processing plants.

Tularemia Therapy

A person is very susceptible to this infection, almost every infected person begins to get sick. The disease can occur in various forms and cause complications, such as meningitis, arthritis, meningoencephalitis, inflammation of the heart bag.

Tularemia treatment is carried out only in the hospital of the infectious diseases department. Broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs are prescribed. If they do not help, then they use second-line antibiotics. To get rid of intoxication, detoxification therapy is used. The discharge of the patient occurs only after his full recovery.

Babesiosis

Understanding the diseases that transmit ticks, it is worth paying attention to babesiosis. This is a dangerous disease, which is accompanied by general intoxication of the body, jaundice and anemia.

The simplest organisms of the genus Babesia cause this infection.

Advice!
The carrier of the disease is the widespread pasture tick lxodes ricinus, as well as an argas tick. Carriers are common throughout the world. In Russia, such a tick lives in the south of Siberia, the south of the European part and the northwest.

Symptoms of the disease are headaches, fever, decreased hemoglobin and the development of anemia, decreased appetite, muscle pain, and mood swings.

Babesiosis is easy to confuse with a common cold. But, unlike the common cold, in this case, antiviral drugs will not help.

The disease can cause complications such as renal failure, multiple organ failure, acute renal hepatic failure, pneumonia.

Pathology treatment

Babesiosis is treated with antiparasitic drugs, such as a combination of quinine and Clindamycin, a combination of Co-trimoxazole and Pentamidine, Diisocyanate, and the simultaneous administration of Atovacone and Azithromycin.

This article examined in detail the diseases that mites carry to humans. It is worth noting that all of them are quite dangerous, and some of them are on a par with diseases from which entire cities have died out (plague, cholera, etc.)

Almost all types of ticks, which are carriers of a dangerous infection, live on the territory of the Russian Federation. Every year, due to their carelessness, walks in the forest or park, several thousand people become infected.

If you find an insect bite on the body or the insect itself, you should seek the help of specialists, and send the tick itself for examination to the laboratory. After all, it is better to play it safe and timely carry out prophylaxis or start treatment, than later encounter advanced pathology and often irreversible consequences.

Arthritis, jaundice, paralysis: why ticks are very dangerous

The period of tick activity begins in spring and ends only in autumn. The peak is observed in May-June.

According to the Rospotrebnadzor, currently the appeal to medical organizations affected by tick bites does not exceed long-term average values. However, in some regions the number of tick victims is very high.

So, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in just a week, more than 2,000 people turned to doctors with complaints of sucking insects. In the Altai Territory, about 8000 tick bites are known, as well as cases of tick-borne typhus, borreliosis and encephalitis. In Chuvashia, the number of visits to doctors after a tick bite increased 1.6 times compared to last year.

In most regions, territories are being treated with anti-tick-borne preparations; more than 134 thousand ha have already been processed. On the territory of the South and North Caucasus Federal Districts, cattle and small cattle are being processed.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 2.5 million vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis.more than 3.1 million people are planned to be vaccinated.

In the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the readiness of mite research laboratories was ensured, more than 180 thousand ticks were studied.

With the participation of Rospotrebnadzor experts, more than 1799 stories were published on federal and regional television channels, more than 3.9 thousand informational messages were published to prevent the spread of infections transmitted by insect bites, and more than 405 thousand memos were published.

The most terrible disease that a tick bite can cause is tick-borne encephalitis.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus is transmitted by ixodid ticks, which are found even in the Arctic and Antarctic. It is not difficult to recognize them, says Anastasia Antonovskaya, an employee of the Department of Entomology of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University.

“They have a characteristic shape: almost oval and flat, a semicircular shield, no head. What sticks out can be rather called a proboscis. These are the jaws embedded in the case. Other ticks can attack a person (and here they can be easily confused with something else, because these others are quite small arachnids).

But you will recognize ixodid ticks right away. In principle, the so-called moose flies (Hippobosca spp.) Are a little similar to them after they have thrown off their wings, but they are more stocky and thicker. And, unlike ticks, they have a head with eyes. You are unlikely to meet them in the middle of Russia in the beginning of summer, ”she says.

Important!
Symptoms of the disease appear 4-14 days after the bite. Within 2-4 days, the infected person suffers from fever, headache and muscle pain, nausea. At this stage, the disease can easily be confused with the flu.

A week after the disappearance of these symptoms, about a third of those infected have a second phase of the disease, including paralysis of the central nervous system, including meningitis and encephalitis.

There is no specific treatment for tick-borne encephalitis; only supportive therapy can be resorted to.

Persistent neurological and psychiatric complications develop in 10-20% of infected individuals. The mortality rate of infection is 1-2% for the European subtype and 20-25% for the Far East; death usually occurs within 5-7 days after the onset of neurological symptoms.

The most reliable measure of tick-borne encephalitis prevention is vaccination. Vaccinations must be done by everyone who lives or goes to areas where tick-borne virus carriers are found.

Ixodid ticks and Lyme disease, tick-borne borreliosis, are transmitted. Immediately after a bite, a characteristic ring-shaped mark, indicating infection, can be found on the skin. It occurs in 60-80% of patients. The incubation period usually lasts 1-2 weeks, but it can take only a few days, or, conversely, stretch for months or even years.

The first symptoms of the disease, like tick-borne encephalitis, are similar to flu-like symptoms - headache and muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, fever. A characteristic feature is stiff neck muscles.

After 1-3 months, in 10-15% of those infected, the disease enters the second phase, when there are signs of damage to the nervous system, heart and joints. Symptoms range from sleep and memory disorders to meningitis and facial paralysis.

The third stage of Lyme disease occurs between six months and two years. Its main manifestation is arthritis, accompanied by a slight fever.

The disease also increases the risk of developing chronic fatigue syndrome and dementia.

For treatment, antibiotics and supportive therapy are used to reduce complications. The prognosis is most favorable if treatment is started in the early stages.

Another tick-borne disease is human monocytic ehrlichiosis. Symptoms of infection with bacteria Ehrlichia chaffeensis become visible 1-3 weeks after a tick bite. These include headache, fever and chills, abdominal pain.

If untreated, lesions of the abdominal cavity and nervous system develop.In severe cases, death is possible. For treatment, antibiotics and drugs are used to remove toxic substances produced by bacteria from the body.

Attention!
Human granulocytic anaplasmosis develops 3-21 days after the pathogen, bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum, enters the bloodstream. The disease is characterized by an acute onset with severe fever, weakness, headache and muscle pain. The pressure decreases, the heart rate drops.

In 80% of cases, anicteric hepatitis develops. One in ten patients has a rash on the body. Most patients complain of sore throat, tickle and cough.

In rare cases, the disease leads to kidney damage. It also weakens the body, creating favorable conditions for the development of bacterial, viral and fungal diseases. Occasionally fatal.

Vaccinations for the disease do not exist, but timely antibiotic therapy avoids complications.

“All over the world there are many more diseases that are associated with ticks. Of those that are found in Russia, Crimean hemorrhagic fever is common, for example (these are areas located in the steppe, forest-steppe zones, for example, Rostov, Astrakhan region, Stavropol Territory, Kalmykia, etc.).

Its causative agent is also a virus. Omsk hemorrhagic fever, Kemerovo fever, Q fever (rickettsiosis), etc. also exist. Therefore, the risk of getting infected depends on where and how you live, work or relax. A variety of mixed infections also occur (when a person becomes infected not with one, but with several pathogenic microorganisms), ”adds Antonovskaya.

Rospotrebnadzor strongly recommends that while staying in the forest or in the summer cottage during tick activity, thoroughly protect the skin -

use clothes with long sleeves, tuck shirts into trousers, trousers into socks or shoes, cover the head and neck with a scarf.

If the tick nevertheless sticks to the skin, it is better to remove it in the emergency room. If this is not possible, then the tick should be grabbed with tweezers or fingers wrapped with clean gauze as close as possible to its oral apparatus and, keeping strictly perpendicular to the surface of the bite, turn the tick body around its axis.

The site of the bite should be disinfected, and the tick itself should be delivered to the laboratory - there it will be possible to establish whether it is a carrier of any pathogen.

Advice!
If the tick’s body comes off and the proboscis remains inside, you need to take a needle or tweezers, wipe them with alcohol or at least wash with soap and carefully pull out the proboscis, Antonovskaya advises. If a very small fragment remains, you can simply treat the wound with a solution of iodine. If you have problems, it is better to go to the emergency room, where doctors will provide qualified assistance.

“To make sure that everything is in order, it is possible only if enough time has passed since the bite,” she says. - At least 30 days. Tick-borne encephalitis virus can occur after 60 days, although in some people the infection is asymptomatic.

Borreliosis is unpleasant with possible complications when the pathogen spreads to the myocardium, muscles, joints, even to the brain. So if there are symptoms, consult a doctor in an infectious diseases hospital, or call the hotline, they will tell you which antibiotic should be drunk.

I remind you that antibiotics are powerless against the tick-borne encephalitis virus, so if you have any suspicions, you need to go to the hospital right away. ” It should be borne in mind that the tick is not always easy to detect - it can climb into the physiological hole on the body.

So, a nine-year-old American, playing with friends, drew attention to a strange buzzing sound in his right ear, after which he began to think that something was inside. At the same time, the child had neither pain nor hearing loss.

The doctor, whom the parents nevertheless decided to show the child, found a tick in his ear that was sticking to the eardrum.The insect settled so deep that the boy had to be operated on under general anesthesia. The child was lucky - he managed to completely maintain his hearing, and the tick did not infect him with any disease.

Tick-borne diseases: symptoms. What diseases does the tick carry?

In the spring-summer period, the issue of ticks is especially relevant. What kind of creatures are these, what diseases does a tick carry to people, dogs and cats, how to remove a pest? We will consider these questions below.

Characteristics of ticks: who they are and where they live

Ticks are small arachnids that dig into the skin to feed on blood. In total there are about thirty thousand species.

In nature, ticks live in humid places: deciduous forests, lawns with high grass, marshland. These parasites are most active throughout the summer. Getting on exposed skin, they begin to feed on the blood of a living creature.

But, unlike a mosquito, which can be driven away or slammed, it is not so easy to get rid of a tick. It sticks to the skin, and if removed incorrectly and left its head in the body, then after the death the bloodsucker will secrete toxic substances and infect the body.

What diseases does the tick carry to people?

If you notice a tick in time and remove it from the body, then there will be no consequences for the body. But if you do not detect a parasite, then a person will begin to weaken and may get one of the serious diseases.

Tick-borne diseases in humans manifest themselves in different ways:

  • Tick-borne encephalitis. There are two forms: mild or first, which is characterized by non-specific fevers with headache, muscle pain and fatigue, and severe, or the second, which is accompanied by the involvement of the central nervous system as a result of aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, myelitis. Complications are possible only if untreated.
  • Lyme disease. It is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical manifestations (e.g., rash) and the possibility of contact with infected ticks. Antibiotics usually help. But if you did not start treatment immediately, Lyme disease can cause serious problems with the joints, nervous system and heart.
  • Spotted fever. Infection most often occurs at the peak of tick activity. This is a serious or even fatal disease if left untreated in the first few days after symptoms are detected. Possible complications: inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), inflammation of the heart or lungs, renal failure, serious infection, which will lead to amputation of the affected limb, death.
  • Tularemia. It is a rare infectious disease. Highly contagious and potentially fatal. It can be treated as soon as possible after symptoms are detected with antibiotics. Possible complications: pneumonia (pneumonia), infection around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis), irritation around the heart (pericarditis), bone infections (osteomyelitis).
  • Ehrlichiosis. Diagnosed on the basis of symptoms, clinical tests. Without timely treatment, ehrlichiosis can have serious consequences for a healthy adult or child. People with a weakened immune system have a higher risk of serious and potentially life-threatening consequences: kidney failure, respiratory failure, heart failure, convulsions, coma.
  • Relapsing fever. It is characterized by episodic bouts of fever, which lasts several days, and then passes, followed by another bout. This process can be repeated one to four times. Given proper treatment, most patients recover within a few days. Long-term complications are rare, but include various diseases in the field of neuropathy.
  • BabesiosisThe disease destroys red blood cells and causes a special type of anemia called “hemolytic anemia,” which can lead to jaundice (yellowing of the skin) and dark urine. The disease is especially dangerous for people who have a weak immune system for various reasons (for example, cancer, lymphoma or AIDS), there are other serious diseases (for example, liver or kidney). Possible complications: low and unstable blood pressure, severe hemolytic anemia (hemolysis), very low platelet count (thrombocytopenia), diffuse intravascular coagulation, which can lead to the formation of blood clots and bleeding, malfunction of vital organs (e.g., kidneys, lungs, liver ), death. Symptoms of tick-borne diseases Some people have an allergic reaction to a tick bite. It can be mild, with several annoying symptoms. In rare cases, a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) is observed.

Many of the diseases caused by tick bites carry flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, and so on. Manifestations can begin both on the first day after a tick bite, and only on the third week.

What diseases do ticks affect dogs and cats?

As mentioned above, ticks “hunt” for all living creatures. That is, dogs and cats can also bring home an uninvited guest.

Tick-borne diseases in dogs can manifest themselves with various symptoms: Granulocytic anaplasmosis. Most affected dogs from eight years of age and older. Symptoms: fever, lack of appetite, lethargy, muscle pain. In rare cases, vomiting and diarrhea, coughing, and convulsions are possible.

The incubation period lasts from a week to two. Babesiosis, or pyroplasmosis. Dogs of fighting breeds are most exposed. Common symptoms: lethargy, refusal of food, fever. A dog that has previously been treated for this disease can be a carrier of the disease for a long time.

Infection occurs in the first twenty-four hours. The incubation period lasts from one week to three. Lyme disease, or borreliosis. Most often, the disease proceeds without the appearance of obvious symptoms.

But loss of appetite, swollen lymph nodes, and limp are possible. Infection occurs after twenty-four hours of being on the dog’s body. The incubation period lasts a month.

Important!
Monocytic ehrlichiosis. There is no exact data on the incubation period. And the symptoms can be absolutely any. The severity of the disease is due to the general health of the dog. Hepatozoonosis. A disease that is transmitted not as a result of a tick bite, but when a parasite enters the dog’s gastrointestinal tract.

Possible symptoms: chills and fever, pale mucous membranes, weight loss, lethargy, muscle pain. Infectious cyclic thrombocytopenia. The incubation period lasts from eight to fifteen days.

Possible symptoms in a severe form of the disease: chills and fever, pale mucous membranes, pet lethargy, nosebleeds, enlarged lymph nodes. Demodecosis Symptoms: hair loss, baldness of some parts of the body, small wounds.

Ear mites

Symptoms

  1. persistent itching in the auricle,
  2. her redness
  3. the presence of an abundant amount of dark brown or black sulfur,
  4. constant shaking of the head.

And what diseases do ticks carry to cats?

In fact, many owners of cats that live in the city believe that if the animal does not go outside, then the tick is not afraid of it. A parasite can enter an apartment in several ways. For example, through an open window or host items. Tick-borne diseases for cats can be different:

Demodecosis (the symptoms are the same as in dogs). Mite cheyletiella. Possible symptoms: peeling of the skin, baldness of some parts of the body, the appearance of wounds.

Cat scabies

Symptoms

  • wounds on the body as a result of constant scratching from itching,
  • hair loss.

How to pull out a tick

If you are not sure if you can remove the parasite from the skin yourself, that is, remove it completely, it is better not to carry out this procedure at home, but to get to the nearest medical facility.

After all, diseases that carry ticks can spread through his head. You can remove the bloodsucker with the following tools: curved tweezers; surgical clamp; with a special hook to extract ticks from the body (can be found in the pharmacy).

What you can not do when you pull the tick

In no case should a parasite be pulled out of the body using sunflower or other oil. Diseases transmitted by ticks can also be transmitted along with substances that the parasite burps due to blockage of proboscis oil.

Also, do not use the following substances:

  1. caustic fluids (e.g. ammonia or gasoline);
  2. compresses;
  3. various ointments.

When extracting a tick, do not do the following:

  • bring fire closer to the parasite;
  • sharply pull out the tool;
  • use a dirty tool;
  • picking a tick and a wound with a needle;
  • crush the parasite with your fingers.

What to do after being pulled out of the skin of a tick

Regardless of when the parasite was removed (it is understood how long after the bite), it is recommended to do the following procedures: Monitor the temperature and well-being in general for several days.

Attention!
Monitor the location of the bite: does the swelling, redness, swelling and so on. Consult a doctor if you find that you are unwell or the tick has been removed after a long time. Take the medications prescribed by your doctor.

If you want to make sure that the diseases transmitted by the tick are not afraid of you, that is, you did not have time to get infected, you can take a blood test.

Only immediately carry it out there is no point. Some diseases can be detected only a couple of weeks after unpleasant contact with the parasite.

How to reduce risk

Why do ticks carry diseases? The answer to this question does not exist. But you can prevent infection from the parasite. To do this, there are a number of preventive measures.

General measures to reduce the number of ticks in a particular area:

  1. Processing of the site with special chemicals in early spring in order to destroy adults and laid eggs.
  2. The destruction of rodents and pests.
  3. Mowing tall grass (lawn mowing and weed removal).
  4. Burning fallen leaves that have remained since winter.
  5. The planting of certain types of plants in which insecticides are produced that repel ticks. An example is the Caucasian, Dalmatian and Persian chamomile.

Preventive measures for humans

  • Avoid prolonged exposure to the forest, swamp and tall grass.
  • Visit areas where ticks can potentially be visited fully dressed (high collar and headgear required).
  • Use special tools that are designed to scare away ticks. It can be sprays acting on the principle of repellents, or electric repellents that emit special ultrasonic pulses that irritate the hearing of ticks. Human and animal hearing does not pick them up.
  • After walking in potentially dangerous places, inspect your clothing and skin.

Animal Prevention

  1. From time to time, treat your pet with special drugs that are sold in veterinary pharmacies and pet stores. It can be shampoos, sprays, drops and medicines.
  2. Put on a cat or dog a collar that repels fleas and ticks.
  3. Upon arrival, inspect your pet. Even in the city there may be ticks that do not bother a person, but they can a dog.
  4. Always be vigilant and attentive in nature, examine yourself, your loved ones and pets after walking.
  5. Timely identified and removed tick will not do much harm.

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