Simple and reliable tick protection measures

Ticks are tiny arachnids for which the main food source is blood. Moreover, they can eat blood and wild animals, and pets, and even people. Parasites live mainly in forests and other places where there are thickets of grass and dense shrubs. Prefer moist areas and cool places. They wait for their prey, sitting on the grass, often along trails, where it is very convenient to cling to the body of an animal or clothes passing by a person. Once on the skin, the bloodsucker attaches to it with teeth and proceeds to a meal. Such "feasts" for a bite can end very sadly, since ticks are carriers of dangerous diseases such as typhoid, Lyme disease and various types of fevers. How to avoid this? What measures of protection against ticks need to be put into practice when traveling to potentially dangerous places?

Where the tick lives and where it does not

Ticks live far from everywhere, and it is not only about areas with a very cold climate. Deciduous forests are preferable for these creatures, for example, those where many birches, aspen, linden trees, as well as mountain ash and alder grow. Mostly these are raw lowlands, and sometimes even somewhat wetlands. In addition, ticks are very common in mixed forests, where pine, fir, spruce, etc. grow along with deciduous trees.

On a note! But still, deciduous trees will be the main indicator of the presence of ticks!

The activity of bloodsuckers begins to gain momentum at the turn of April and May. At this time, usually the young juicy grass, making its way from the deciduous litter of last year, is pleasing to the eye. It is this weed that becomes the ideal place for the successful life of ticks. With the onset of June, the activity of parasites begins to subside somewhat, in July it is even more declining.

Important! However, despite this, it is possible to get a tick right up to the month of October!

If we talk about places where there are practically no ticks, then there are quite a lot of those on the territory of Russia. These are mono-coniferous forests, for example, where exclusively pine grows, as well as deaf taiga areas with dense dark coniferous vegetation. There are no ticks in pine forests, where undergrowth is not observed. In a word, if there are no deciduous trees in this zone, then most likely that there will not be ticks, and if they are, then in a small amount.

In addition, ticks never settle in rocky terrain, as well as on mountain slopes and exposed rocks. In general, high areas do not attract them. These parasites are still more likely to inhabit the lowlands, and the greater the climb, the less common they will be. By the way, this is due not only to the lack of dampness, but also to the fact that with increasing height the forest changes and the undergrowth disappears.

It is interesting! Ticks are not able to live where there are anthills. This is due to the fact that ants eat bloodsuckers when they are at a "young" age.Thus, ticks do not even have time to grow. Therefore, if you notice an anthill, be aware that there should not be any dangerous blood-sucking individuals in this area!

clothing

Going on vacation, first of all, it is important to take care of the availability of proper clothing. And it doesn’t matter where exactly you are heading, to the forest, to the nearest park or to the country house - ticks can be found absolutely anywhere where there is at least some vegetation. And so that the bloodsucker does not suck, it is necessary to close the whole body. Moreover, close it correctly, and you can do it, knowing the structural features of the tick, because of which it can only crawl up.

• For the upper body, something with a long sleeve. This may be a shirt, jacket, raglan, etc. In this case, it is desirable that the collar covers the neck.
• For the lower body - always pants. It is better to refrain from wearing shorts.
• Trousers should be tucked into socks, and the upper part of the clothing - in the lower. For extra protection, you can tighten the belt on your belt.
• It is important that all clothing is made of dense materials. As for its tones, light ones are preferable, since on such ticks it is quite easy to notice.

On a note! Surprising is the fact that ticks are able to stop the thinnest nylon pantyhose. Although for outdoor recreation this is far from the most suitable element of clothing, although on the other hand they can be worn under trousers!

On sale today you can find special costumes called antiencephalitic, among the people - encephalitis. They are sewn from durable dense fabrics and equipped with puffs that provide additional protection against ticks. But if you do not like such a suit, then it is not necessary to purchase it. It is quite possible to limit oneself to one's everyday clothes, but only all of them must be refueled!

Protective preparations

Throughout the walk or rest, clothing should be treated several times with special preparations. All means of protection against ticks for humans are divided into three groups:

• Repellents - their main active ingredient is diethyltoluamide. They are available in the form of lotions and aerosols. The drug is applied to exposed skin and clothing, or only to clothing. These include: Biban, Medilis, Off, Ultrathon, etc.
• Acaricides - here the role of the active component is usually alpha-metrine or cypermethrin and its derivatives. These substances have a nerve effect on ticks. Upon contact with the treated areas, the parasite loses its ability to move and simply falls off the clothes. The release form, in most cases, is an aerosol. Among acaricides, the most popular are such remedies as “Picnic - Antiklesh”, “Gardex”, “Fumitox”, “Tornado - AntiKLESHCH”, etc.
  

  Important! Only clothes are allowed to process with acaricides. It is forbidden to apply them on the skin! At the same time, clothes are not sprayed on a person, but laid out, for example, on the floor. Put it on only after the preparation is completely dry!

• Combined drugs - insecticidal-repellent. They are called combined because they combine the basic functions of repellents and acaricides. They are based, as a rule, on alphamethrine and diethyltoluamide, and therefore are active not only against ticks, but also against mosquitoes. Such funds include: Moskitol Spray, Mite-Kaput, Gardex Extreme, etc.

Usage Recommendations

How to protect yourself from ticks with the help of such drugs?

• If you consider the above groups of drugs and make a choice, then preference should be given to acaricides or combination drugs.
• Before proceeding with the direct use of a particular tool, you must carefully read the instructions.
• Tick ​​protection products are applied in circular bands, paying particular attention to the cuffs, collar, waist area, ankles, knees and hips.
• Do not forget that the drug layer must be renewed from time to time.You will find the expiration date in the same instructions.
• Hot weather, excessive sweating, rainfall and strong winds are factors that can significantly reduce the duration of the drug.

Body inspection

A full body inspection is necessary because notice tick bite often quite difficult. And especially when you arrive on the move. And if you are still wearing the right clothes, then sweating arises because of which you often feel a slight itch that provokes scratching. As a result, panic is growing, which makes us feel every minute to feel the disturbed place. Recognizing the tick with your fingers, despite its small size, is very simple. But even if you never found anyone, an inspection is still necessary.

So, getting out of the potentially dangerous zone, you should take off your jacket and, moving away from your company and other people, shake it well. If elderly people were with you for a walk, then they need help by carefully removing the jacket from the back. Now we examine the clothes and body, especially the collar zone, neck and back.

If the path is long and you often have to make your way through the thickets, it is advisable to inspect the area of ​​contact after each contact with the vegetation, and do a general inspection several times during the entire journey — approximately every quarter hour.

On a note! The tick will not crawl over your body for hours. Usually he sticks after five minutes, and sometimes immediately, as soon as he finds an open area of ​​skin! Therefore, when you make your way through the bushes, it is advisable to shorten the interval between inspections!

Upon arrival home, the inspection must be repeated, especially since now it will be as complete as possible. To begin with, we take a shower - it will allow us to wash away ticks from the body, which, perhaps, have not yet had time to suck, and then we proceed to the examination. If you check the presence of ticks on your own, then using a mirror you will do it much easier and more convenient. Examine the neck, shoulders, ears and the area behind them, the ankles, the waist, the area under the knees and the armpits. Particular attention in this situation must be paid to areas where there are skin folds.

What to do when a sucking tick is found?

If protection against ticks has failed, and the parasite has nevertheless managed to suck, then it must be removed as carefully as possible so as not to leave its proboscis or other parts of the body in the skin. In order to extract the bloodsucker, you can use the usual thread. We bind the tick body with it, tighten it tightly and slowly pull it.

You can also use a special tool - tick-nose. We bring its forked part under the head of the tick and gently, scrolling, we get the parasite.

After the tick has been removed, the site of the bite must be disinfected, for example, with iodine or at least hydrogen peroxide, after which it should appear to the doctor. It is advisable to put the culprit of the above-described measures in some hermetically sealed container and store it in order to send it for laboratory research later. After all, it is quite possible that this small creature is a carrier of dangerous diseases.

Important! If you want to destroy the extracted tick, then you must certainly burn it. Pressing the parasite with your fingers is extremely undesirable, since in this case there is a risk of infection, and the risk is huge, especially if you then comb the place of the bite!

How to make rest in the country safe?

If with the advent of steady heat you are going to leave the city and move to the country for some time, then it must be protected. How to do it? Everything is pretty simple:

• First of all, we clear the territory by removing all bushes, thickets of grass and piles of last year's leaves;
• regularly mow the lawn - ticks in low grass are too hot, and therefore they will immediately leave it;
• we keep the courtyard with a veranda and a playground clean, from time to time cutting off the newly grown shoots of shrubs and other dense vegetation

We really hope that these recommendations will help you to make your outdoor recreation as safe as possible and will protect you from malicious tick attacks.