Come and see! These blood-sucking bugs are scarier than mosquitoes and carry a variety of pathogens...

There is a kind of insect that can suck blood from the human body for several days without being easily detected . In the process of sucking blood, it can also spread diseases ...

**1.** What is a tick?

★ Ticks are small dark red insects that live in grass and bushes and look similar to spiders . They are commonly known as ticks, grass crawlers, and dog beans.

★ Ticks hatch from eggs, then develop into 6-legged larvae, and then into 8-legged nymphs and adults. The ones associated with spreading diseases are mostly hard ticks , which have hard bodies and no wings.

★ Hard ticks are relatively small when they are not sucking blood, like the size of a millet grain. After sucking blood, they will swell up and become round, looking like raisins with legs.

**Second, is the tick a newly emerged species? ** Why did it suddenly appear in recent years?

★ Ticks have existed in nature for a long time , perhaps longer than humans have existed on Earth. Ticks are mostly distributed in woods, grasslands or bushes in hilly and mountainous areas.

★ Ticks can sense an animal's breathing, body odor, temperature and humidity, as well as vibrations when walking . Ticks have limited mobility and cannot fly or jump, so they can only wait for "prey" on the tips of roadside grass and the tops of shrub branches.

★ It uses its hind legs to fix itself on the grass blades, stretches out its front legs and waits, and quickly hooks onto people or animals when they brush past . In some areas with high tick density, there is a layer of ticks attached to the bodies of local livestock, especially behind their ears.

★ In recent years, with the deepening of tick-borne disease monitoring, tick bites have attracted attention. At the same time , with the improvement of the environment, the living area of ​​ticks has expanded and approached the areas where humans live or work .

**3. Do ticks suck blood in the same way as mosquitoes? ** Does the bite also cause itching?

★ The biting habits of ticks are different from those of mosquitoes. The irritation caused by ticks sucking blood is small and not easy to be noticed . Ticks need to attach to the body for a period of time when sucking blood.

★ It usually takes more than 48 hours , or even several days, for it to have a full meal. It usually attaches to the body in a place that is not easy to be found. It does not feel pain or itching when sucking blood . If you do not actively look for it, it is often impossible to find it.

★ Ticks like to " chew slowly " and they need dozens of minutes or hours to prepare before sucking blood. Once they grab hold, they bite through the skin and insert the tubular mouthparts. There are barbs on the tubular mouthparts to help fix the body. At the same time, they can also secrete saliva with anesthetics , so animals and humans cannot feel its presence. What follows is slow blood sucking, which may last for several days. During this process, if there are pathogens in the secretions secreted by the tick, it can cause infection in animals and humans . Of course, the bacteria in the animal's blood can also enter the tick's body and be transmitted to another one during the next bite.

★ Many people do not feel any discomfort after being bitten by a tick, and it is difficult to detect. Many people who have a tick-borne disease cannot recall when they were bitten by a tick. Of course, a small number of people have severe allergic reactions after being bitten by a tick , but they often do not suspect that it was caused by a tick bite.

4. How to prevent tick bites?

keep away

You should avoid sitting or lying in an environment where ticks breed. Ticks generally live in wild woods and grasslands, and usually wait for their hosts at the tips of grass and the tops of branches and leaves of bushes. When walking on the road, try to stay in the middle of the road and away from the weeds and shrubs on the roadside .

Protection

Take good personal protection . Professional protection requires the " five tights ": tighten the cuffs, collar and trouser legs. Personal protection recommends wearing long-sleeved clothes; do not wear sandals, tie the trouser legs tightly or tuck the trouser legs into socks or shoes. Wear a hat when walking in the woods to avoid tick bites on the head ; check whether there are ticks on your clothes after outdoor activities. Light-colored clothes are conducive to finding ticks.

View

After outdoor activities, you should check whether there are ticks attached to your body. Tick bites generally do not spread diseases in the early stage. Early detection and removal of ticks can block the spread of diseases . The key areas to check are the scalp, waist, armpits, groin and below the ankles.

5. How to remove ticks if you find them on your body ?

★ Don't panic after being bitten by a tick. You can handle it yourself. The sooner the better. There is no need to wait for medical treatment , especially if the tick is not removed in time in order to see a doctor.

★ Use pointed tweezers, with the tip of the tweezers as close to the skin as possible, then tightly clamp the tick's head or near the head , apply force slowly, and do not twist or pull violently, otherwise the tick's head will remain on the body.

(This is the only correct way. Other methods introduced on the Internet are not recommended. Using alcohol or other irritants, slowly approaching the tick with a lit cigarette or match to force it to leave, these methods are not advisable , they will cause the tick to secrete more saliva and increase the chance of infection. Of course, brute force is even more inappropriate.)

6. What to do if the tick head is still in the meat after the tick is removed?

★ Even very experienced people may pull off the tick head and leave it in the flesh. In this case, no additional treatment is required. You can try to use tweezers to see if you can pull the head out . If you cannot remove it, leave it in and it will be removed by itself as the skin metabolizes (removing it with brute force will increase skin damage and is not beneficial).

★ After a tick bite, the skin can be cleaned with soap and warm water, and hands can be washed at the same time . If conditions permit, the skin can be disinfected with alcohol or iodine .

**7. ****I am worried about getting sick after being bitten by a tick. ** What should I do?

The chance of getting sick after being bitten by a tick is not high , especially in Beijing. However, if you experience the following symptoms within 1 month after being bitten by a tick (or after being active in hilly or mountainous areas with dense vegetation), you should seek medical attention immediately and inform your doctor of your activity history or bite history:

1. Fever, body temperature exceeds 38°C . Especially high fever that does not subside.

2. Headache, fatigue, muscle aches, or joint pains occur .

3. If a rash appears, especially a gradually expanding circular rash as shown in the picture, of course, other types of rashes should also be treated.

4. Routine blood tests may show leukocytopenia or thrombocytopenia , especially progressive leukocytopenia.

**8.** Is tick bite disease serious?

Tick ​​bite diseases include many types of diseases, the most common of which are Lyme disease, spotted fever and fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. As long as they are treated early, the cure rate is also very high . Therefore, as long as you strengthen protection and seek medical treatment in time, there is no need to worry too much or affect your good mood for outdoor activities .

(If you have spots like the one above, please take a photo and go to the hospital immediately . This is an early lesion of Lyme disease.)

Entering grass, bushes, or wooded areas

Please pay more attention!

After playing, check the surface of your body and clothing in time.

Check for ticks attached!

Source: Beijing Center for Disease Control