They suck your blood, infect you but are not vampires but who are they?

Do you like walking in the forest, in the tall grass or near a river?
Pay attention !
Ticks are waiting for you!

Ticks are small insects with a flat, round body. Adult ticks (Ixodes ricinus) are black-brown and measure 3 to 4 mm.

The presence of these small critters and their abundance depends on:

• Climate (they survive the winter)
• Natural environment
• The type of vegetation
• The next potential victims (humans, rodents, game, etc.)

Ticks are mostly found in forest and on low plants, in shady, damp places.
They attack and bite their host throughout the year but even more when the temperature rises above 10-12 ° C.

This parasite bites its host and starts to suck the blood but it is not the most dangerous!
By sucking our blood it regurgitates saliva in our body and the saliva of these small animals can sometimes be infected by Borrelia.
We do not get sick if we get stung.
This will depend on the ticking time and also on our immunity. It should be known that most of the time the human immunity will eliminate the parasite before there is a real infection.

Borrelia is a bacterium that gives Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease). This disease develops in 3 phases:

1. 3 days to 1 month after the bite:
   there is a circular red patch around the bite and flu-like symptoms (headache and fever)

2. a few weeks or months after the bite:
   paralyzes facial muscles, heart rhythm disorders, pain in the arms or legs

3. months to years after the bite:
   arthritis especially in the knee, inflammation of the brain, inflammatory skin lesions in the limbs

To treat this disease in case of symptoms, an antibiotic treatment is recommended: Amoxicillin, doxycyclin, azithromycin, etc.

However after a bite we do not give antibiotics because it is useless if Lyme borreliosis is not yet present.
So, what can you do to avoid tick bites?

First, you can wear long clothes if you go to the forest or the garden.
Then, after every walk in the forest, in the garden look at all the parts of your body to check that a tick is not biting you.

If unfortunately a tick has found your blood good and is biting you get a special tick pin.
Try not to compress the body of the tick but turn it gently.
It is essential to avoid putting alcohol, oil or trying to kill the tick when it is still attached to you!

Finally, keep a close watch on the bite area if you start to feel any symptoms (see above) consult your general practitioner.

I hope these little vampires will not find you to their liking! Be careful.

Kiss

D.