How to deal with tick bites

It is a very scary thing if ticks appear in the home. Ticks are insects that bite people. If people are bitten by ticks, they will have some very scary symptoms, which make people feel very uncomfortable. The bitten skin will become red, swollen and itchy, the human body will have a fever, affect appetite, and cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms. How to deal with tick bites? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. There are several obvious symptoms of being bitten by a tick

1. Mole-like: The bite site is like a black mole that suddenly grows. The tick's forelimbs and mouthparts bite the patient's skin and do not let go, even biting into the dermis and subcutaneous tissue, leaving only a black tail exposed outside the skin. It looks like a black mole, which is not the case after a mosquito bite.

2. Obvious redness and swelling: Ticks will bite the skin and devour blood, skin cells and dandruff, so redness and swelling will appear around the tick bite. That is to say, the inflammation at the bite site will be more severe, and the patient will experience pain, itching or no feeling.

3. Hard texture: Since ticks are crustaceans, the surface of the skin where the tick bites feels hard.

2. What should I do if I am bitten by a tick?

In the early stages of a tick bite, we must first identify and judge it. Once it is confirmed to be a tick bite, the tick must be removed from the body as soon as possible. So how do you remove a tick? suggestion:

Ticks often attach to the human scalp, waist, armpits, groin and below the ankles. Once a tick is found to have bitten and burrowed into the skin, apply alcohol to the tick to relax the tick's head or kill it. Then use pointed tweezers to remove the tick, or use cigarette butts or incense sticks to gently burn the part of the tick exposed outside the body, so that its head will slowly withdraw on its own. Be careful when scalding ticks and do not pull them hard to avoid hurting the skin or leaving the tick's head inside the skin.

After removal, use iodine or alcohol for local disinfection, and observe the physical condition at any time. If symptoms such as fever, inflammation and ulceration at the bite site, and erythema occur, seek medical attention in time to diagnose whether you have a tick-borne disease to avoid missing the best time for treatment. Even if no tick bites are found, people returning from travels in epidemic areas should monitor their physical condition at all times. If they develop symptoms such as fever, they should remain vigilant against tick-borne diseases in the epidemic area.

"After being bitten by a tick, it cannot be removed with tweezers or pulled out with hands. We can use some ointments, such as white vaseline, hand cream, etc. Generally, hospitals often use compound triamcinolone acetonide cream for patients, which contains a small amount of hormones and antibiotics. After applying the medicine, there will be some irritating smell, and the insect will loosen its mouth by itself. In addition, you can apply some Bactroban ointment, Dawiban ointment, alcohol, iodine, hand cream, etc. on the bite. If you have anesthetics and lidocaine gel at home, they are also effective, which can make the tick loosen its forelimbs and mouthparts, and then it will fall off by itself."

When you find a tick, whether it is on the human or animal surface, or free on the wall or ground, never touch it directly with your hands, or even squeeze it. Instead, use tweezers or other tools to pick it up and then burn it. If a tick accidentally comes into contact with your skin, especially the discharge after a tick is squeezed, it must be disinfected.

3. Blood-sucking habits

Tick ​​larvae, nymphs, and both male and female adults all suck blood. Hosts include terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians; some species attack humans. Most tick species have a wide range of hosts. For example, the hosts of the Ixodes persulcatus include 200 species of mammals, 120 species of birds, and a few reptiles, and can also invade humans. This has important epidemiological implications. Hard ticks usually attack their hosts during the day and suck blood for a long time, usually taking several days. Soft ticks usually attack their hosts at night and suck blood for a short time, usually from a few minutes to an hour. Ticks can suck a lot of blood, and at each stage of development they can swell several to dozens of times after being full of blood. Female hard ticks can even swell more than 100 times.

4. Host Relationship

Ticks are often selective in the parts of their hosts where they parasitize, generally in areas where the skin is thinner and not easily scratched. For example, the Ixodes persulcatus tick lives on the neck, behind the ears, armpits, inner thighs, pubic area and groin of animals or humans. The tiny cattle tick mostly parasitizes on the neck wattles and udders of cattle, and less on the shoulder blades. The Persian sharp-margin tick mostly parasitizes under the wings and armpits of poultry.