Myth one: Ticks live only in forests and groves and attack from trees

It's a delusion. Firstly, in addition to the taiga tick, which lives in forests or on the border with forests, there is also the Pavlovsky tick - it is able to survive in dead wood and on the edges. The tick Dermacentor reticulatus (meadow tick) also lives in dry landscapes and fields, said Nina Tikunova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, head of the laboratory of molecular microbiology at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the SB RAS. As for the latter species, it is larger, moves quickly and bites painfully, and is extremely rarely a carrier of encephalitis and borreliosis, but is still capable of infecting, Tikunova noted. Ticks can also end up in the city center if they are carried by dogs (taiga tick) or birds (Pavlovsky tick).

However, ticks never attack from trees, they do not climb trees at all, Nina Tikunova knows: “The taiga tick feeds (feeds - Z.K.) on large mammals (elk, roe deer), so it needs to climb higher on the blade of grass - to 50–80 cm. And the Pavlovsky tick sticks mainly to rodents, hedgehogs, birds - it can also live in short grass, including trimmed lawns.”

Myth two: Ticks prefer people wearing white clothes

It is a myth. He came from where ticks are more noticeable on white clothes. However, ticks are simply not able to choose a victim based on the color of clothing - they do not have eyes, explained senior researcher at the zoomonitoring laboratory of the Institute of Animal Systematics and Ecology of the SB RAS, Candidate of Biological Sciences Natalya Livanova. In the surrounding world, ticks navigate mainly through touch and smell. Studies have shown that ticks are able to smell a victim at a distance of up to 20 m - and crawl in its direction.

Myth three: Ticks prefer to bite people with a certain blood type

This myth is based on popular observations: supposedly some people are bitten by ticks often and with pleasure, while others who were with them are bypassed. There have been no studies confirming the taste preferences of ticks depending on their blood type, Nina Tikunova clarified.

Myth four: Ticks don't like to bite drunk people

“You shouldn’t wishful thinking,” noted Nina Tikunova, adding that no research has been conducted to confirm this fact. However, this misconception can be dangerous: after all, when drunk, a person loses vigilance, forgets to examine himself and can fall asleep with an arthropod attached without noticing it.

Myth five: The tick always crawls only upward

There is an opinion that ticks can only crawl upward; they have no way back. Based on this assumption, even traps have been created that are placed on clothing: overhanging folds that are placed on the waist, legs and arms - the tick crawls up and gets stuck in them, because it supposedly cannot crawl down.

Myth six: Only female ticks bite and can infect

It is not true. In some warning brochures there is incorrect information that supposedly only females can attach themselves to the victim, and even signs are given by which they can be distinguished - they are larger. Individuals of different sexes have differences in feeding strategies, said Natalya Livanova: females need to attach themselves to the prey for a long time, up to 3-4 days, because in order for eggs to form in the body, protein is needed. Males only attach themselves for about 25 minutes to replenish moisture reserves. However, they are the ones who turn out to be more dangerous: their mouthparts are not as powerful as those of females, so they can dine and fall off without even being noticed. However, both females and males can be carriers of encephalitis and borreliosis equally, Livanova said.

Myth seventh: A tick crawling on the skin can infect you even before it bites.

It is the male ticks that are mainly “to blame” for the emergence of such a myth, explains Natalya Livanova. The fact is that they stick painlessly and for a short time, so a person may not notice either a bite or a tick, and then get sick, believing that he was just crawling on it. The causative agent of the virus can enter the body either through a damaged skin covering, or through mucous membranes. The tick can indeed secrete saliva even before suction, but it is dangerous only when interacting with wounds, cracks and mucous membranes.

Myth eight: A tick can hide on clothing and then attack a person in a dream

Myth nine: There were no ticks in the USSR, and then they were brought here by foreign enemies, perhaps the Japanese

“This assumption is a very big compliment to foreign researchers,” notes Natalya Livanova. She explained that to artificially breed such a virus, scientists would have to maintain natural conditions for a tick population in laboratory conditions over several generations. And this is practically unrealistic, she believes: firstly, already the second generation of laboratory arthropods is losing aggressiveness towards humans, and secondly, if such studies were carried out, it would be necessary to infect people with encephalitis, since only humans suffer from this disease. Neither moose, nor roe deer, nor birds with rodents or dogs suffer from encephalitis, the scientist notes.

The ticks themselves have always been there: they even fed on dinosaurs, Livanova said. As for viral encephalitis, its first studies were undertaken in the 30s of the last century in connection with the development Far East, since it was then that immigrants from Central Russia people began to get sick en masse. By the way, it was then that Russian scientists isolated the tick-borne encephalitis virus, and at that time they created new virus scientists were not capable in any country in the world.

Myth tenth: Repellents - reliable protection against ticks

No. Repellents are one of the last places among measures to protect against crawling and tick bites, notes Tatyana Burmistrova, head of the neuroinfections department of the city infectious diseases clinical hospital No. 1. Chemical substances contained in repellents have a repellent effect. They mask the human odor that attracts ticks. However, firstly, you cannot spray with a guarantee of 100% coverage, and secondly, the substances are volatile and evaporate quickly. In addition, it is important to remember that products applied to clothing and skin are different means Therefore, it is important to read the instructions carefully before use.

Other chemicals are used to treat the areas of children's camps, etc. - they do not repel newly arrived ticks, but destroy existing ones. Previously it was used for these purposes and gave good result dust (DDT), recalls Tatyana Burmistrova.

Myth eleventh: Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis solves all problems

Vaccination is the most effective protection against encephalitis, but it does not protect against tick bites. “There is no need to relax, because a tick can be a carrier of other diseases, for example tick-borne borreliosis, for which there is currently no vaccine,” answers Natalya Yatsyk, an infectious disease specialist at the Medpraktika clinic. Do not forget, by the way, that these diseases are treated with different drugs: an injection of immunoglobulin for borreliosis is useless, since this infection is treated with antibiotics.

Myth twelve: The closer the tick is attached to the head, the faster the disease will develop, and if the tick is removed immediately, infection can be avoided

This is incorrect, Natalya Yatsyk answers: “The incoming tick-borne encephalitis virus spreads hematogenously (i.e. through the bloodstream) throughout the body. Infection through the digestive and gastrointestinal tracts is also possible when ingesting raw milk from goats and cows infected with the tick-borne encephalitis virus. Unfortunately, even if the tick bite was short-lived, the risk of contracting tick-borne infections cannot be ruled out.”

Myth thirteenth: If you find a tick attached to your body, you need to fill it with sunflower oil- and it will fall off on its own

This is a wrong strategy, following which you can only waste time. Because the tick needs to be removed as soon as possible. You need to put a loop of strong thread around the attached tick and pull it out with careful rotating movements, trying not to tear off the proboscis immersed in the skin. If any part of the tick remains in the wound, it must be removed like an ordinary splinter. Treat the wound with iodine. The tick itself should be placed in a container with a tight lid to be taken to the laboratory for testing for tick-borne infections, recalls Natalya Yatsyk.

Zinaida Kuznetsova

Photo depositphotos.com

There are insects whose bites cause itchy skin. One of them is the scabies mite, which causes a disease called scabies.

Why does a tick bite?

As with mosquitoes, we are only interested in female ticks. But don't judge them too harshly, they are just looking for a secluded warm place to lay their eggs. A tiny female tick crawls on human skin in search of a safe shelter for her babies; most often she is interested in the places between the fingers or covered by folds of skin. Having found a suitable place, the female digs a mini-tunnel, drills under upper layer skin.

Why does a tick bite itch?

In a small, dark tunnel, the female tick lays her eggs. Days pass. The secret place where the female has made her residence begins to itch very much. Many patients cannot resist scratching and damage their skin by scratching. And although the tunnel itself, dug by the tick, is small and hardly noticeable, the skin around it is covered with combs and scratches.

But you can often hear that Ticks don't bite everyone, and they do it extremely selectively. As a result of such guesses, many were born that are fixated on the selectivity of the tick. For example, someone believes that ticks do not bite drunk people because they have spoiled their blood with alcohol.

In fact, (about drunk people - 100% nonsense) ticks can really choose a victim, dividing humans and animals into those that are tasty and those that are not so tasty. The selection criteria are quite small and scientists have already identified them. The data is available to everyone.

Men are bitten by ticks less often than women

They, in fact, preferred to be there and wait for prey there. Consequently, the male half has a lower priority in hunting for the tick than the female half. Women are more likely to be at risk in an environment occupied by ticks. At the same time, scientists note that gender does not play a role in the tested mites - they are still drawn to the female scent of a person. The differential attractiveness of male and female pheromones, established through the maze experiment, was supported by studies of neuronal response. Women, under equal conditions, will be attacked by ticks first.

What about men? Do ticks bite them less often?

Not really. The situation is paradoxical, but digestible. The fact is that ticks use their sense of smell when attacking and choosing a place to hunt. They are guided only by it. Representatives of the stronger half of humanity have a clearer and stronger smell than women. Simply put, a man, no matter how strange it may sound, is a more “visible target.” Men sweat more often and produce more heat and carbon dioxide. That is why the first blow will be directed at them.

For example, there is a path along which people walk. Nearby there is grass and forest. Men walking uphill will sweat faster and emit more carbon dioxide odor and heat. Women who are not used to rushing, walking or running (they also have significantly less muscle mass, affecting metabolism) will be much less attractive to ticks. As a result: on a path in the forest, under equal conditions, the tick will give its preference to the man. Of course there is counter examples. Of the two tents in the same forest, where only women are located in one, and only men in the other, it is the first one that will most often be attacked by ticks.

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 to look 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 target is small birds and forest animals. Such a tick-biting little thing doesn’t even consider people as victims.

Next spring 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 a significant part of the tick’s body. 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 an arthropod is infected with tick-borne encephalitis, then almost half of the viruses in its 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 symptoms appear. allergic reactions.

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 small red inflammation forms at the site of suction. 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 products are not applied to the skin - only to clothes. 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're talking about about a walk in the park or in the forest, then a sure means of prevention is to examine each other every 2-3 hours. During the inspection Special attention need to pay attention to nooks and crannies 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 tell you more exact 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 woodland, park areas- 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, close to animal and bird dwellings, and old buildings for keeping livestock. When you have to stay in such an area, you need to use a sleeping bag with a special valve at night, put a protective canopy on your tent, and if you sleep on a bed, place containers with kerosene or water at the feet.

• 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 your neck, wrists, knees, ankles if you are wearing open clothing;
• 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, he turns his body towards the possible owner, stretches the first pair of legs up and performs 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, by component composition 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 the infrared radiation of 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 adaptations allow it to remain on the host’s body for a 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 oral apparatus of a tick is a complex formation 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):

The oral apparatus includes a base, a 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. 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 mouthparts to the inner layers where the blood vessels are located. 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. Strong may start inflammatory processes, which have a negative effect on the tick and reduce 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 Lyme disease can enter the host’s body along with the tick’s saliva. tick-borne encephalitis. 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, however, 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