Preventing tick bites during spring outings
2024-04-11
Spring is warm and flowers are blooming, everything is reviving, and ticks and related diseases are also entering an active period. Recently, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reminded the public to be cautious of tick bites during spring outings and embracing nature. How to identify ticks? Xu Zhe, Chief Physician of the Infectious Disease Medicine Department at the Fifth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, introduced that tick mites, commonly known as wall lice, flat lice, grass crawling seeds, or dog beans, are generally red gray brown in color, oval in shape, with a flat back and abdomen. The adult body length is 2-10 millimeters, similar to the size of sesame seeds, matchstick heads, or rice grains, and swells up like red beans after absorbing blood. Ticks mainly live in forests, grasslands, and shrubs, and can also parasitize on the surface of pets, livestock, poultry, rodents, and other animals. Ticks generally gather in the deciduous layer and grass tips. If humans or animals pass by and come into contact with them, they can climb onto the upper body. Therefore, walking dogs outdoors, camping, gardening, tea picking, and farming may all come into contact with ticks. What are the hazards of tick bites? Xu Zhe said that tick bites are often painless when sucking blood, but can cause dermatitis at the bite site, manifested as itching and rash. The symptoms of the rash include redness, swelling, blisters, and ecchymosis. After being bitten by ticks, most people will experience mild dermatitis symptoms, but a very small number of allergic individuals may experience tick paralysis symptoms after being bitten by ticks, manifested as acute paralysis, and even respiratory failure. In addition, ticks can carry various pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and spirochetes, and can transmit various infectious diseases, such as fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, viral encephalitis, etc. Maintaining environmental hygiene helps reduce the breeding of ticks. Xu Zhe suggests timely removal of weeds and fallen leaves around the house, and timely cleaning of poultry and livestock pens. If parasites such as ticks are found on the surface of livestock or poultry, do not pick them with your bare hands and use tweezers to remove them. Domestic animals can be regularly medicated to kill ticks, and pets should be regularly checked for tick attachment on their body surface. How do individuals protect themselves from ticks? Xu Zhe suggests that during the tick activity season, when engaging in outdoor activities or working, especially in areas such as grasslands and mountains, it is advisable to wear tight fitting, bright colored, and smooth long sleeved clothes. Exposed skin clothes can be sprayed with mosquito repellent to avoid wearing sandals, and the body should be checked for tick attachment in a timely manner, especially in areas where ticks love to attach, such as the scalp, waist, armpits, groin, and below the ankles. Additionally, it is important to reduce contact with tick carrying animals. If a tick is found to be attached, do not forcefully pull it to avoid the tick head remaining in the body; Alcohol can be applied to the tick to relax or kill its head, then pointed tweezers can be used to remove it, and then medical skin disinfectants such as iodine or alcohol can be used for local treatment. After being bitten by ticks, pay attention to your physical condition. If you experience symptoms such as fever, seek medical attention as soon as possible. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Luo yu Responsible editor：Jia jia
Source：people.cn
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