Mistaking ticks as black spots, children with itchy heads for three days before seeking medical attention, experts remind that it is the high incidence season again, and you need to be cautious when you go out to play

Peninsula Metropolis Daily

2024-05-15 12:47Published on the official account of Shandong Peninsula Metropolis Daily

Peninsula all-media reporter Teng Jingshu

"The doctor applied paraffin oil to the tick's head, cut off the air around the tick and pulled it out with tweezers," said Ms. Zhang, who recalls taking her child to the hospital to treat the tick. 4-year-old baby Lele (pseudonym) had itching on his head for several days, and his body was also raised, and his parents opened the child's hair and found a "little black worm" on the back of the child's head, which was still squirming! On May 13, Lele accompanied by his parents to Qingdao Sixth People's Hospital for medical treatment, after the diagnosis of Lele's hair in the "little black worm" is a tick active outdoors in spring and summer, the director of the infectious disease diagnosis and treatment center Duan Jianping reminded that if the skin is attached to the skin by ticks outdoors, must not be patted, should seek medical attention in time.

According to Lele's parents, a few days before the child was bitten, he stayed for a while at his grandmother's house in the countryside, where she had a dog and some grass and bushes around the house. After returning from his grandmother's house, Lele felt unwell, and his parents didn't care about it at first, but then the child said that his head was itchy, and his parents found a clue on the back of Lele's head. Immediately afterwards, he took the child to a medical institution near his home for help, and the medical staff did not dare to pull out the tick rashly. Eventually, Ms. Zhang took her child to Qingdao Sixth People's Hospital. "Lele should have been bitten by a tick while playing outside, but fortunately, the parents found out and came to the hospital to take it out, and the child is no longer in serious trouble." Duan Jianping introduced that ticks are invisible killers hidden outdoors in spring and summer, and this season, the vegetation is lush and is the peak breeding period for ticks. It usually haunts grasses, shrubs, forests, and other places with dense vegetation, waiting for the arrival of its host, waiting for an opportunity. They tend to sneak into their skin when they are not looking, burrow into it, and if they don't notice it in time, they will stay inside, gobbling up blood. Moreover, some of the pathogens it carries can have an incubation period of up to 1 month. Even if the bite is fine at the time, it can develop later in life.

As temperatures rise, ticks enter the peak of their activity. Duan Jianping said that ticks need to feed on the blood of humans and animals to complete the process of growth and reproduction. A tick bite or contact with an animal carrying the virus can cause a serious illness called fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, which can lead to death if left untreated. In addition, it can also cause skin inflammation, after the tick bites the skin, it will cause the skin to have an inflammatory reaction, mainly manifested as redness, swelling, pain, itching and other symptoms at the bite site, and in severe cases, skin ulcers, pus and other symptoms. In addition, it is also easy to cause anaphylactic shock, which can cause patients to have allergic reactions after tick bites, manifested as dizziness, palpitations, cold limbs, blood pressure drop and other symptoms, and in severe cases, anaphylactic shock.

How can I avoid being bitten by a tick? Experts remind that in spring and summer, when citizens go out to play or work in the field, they must strengthen personal protection to avoid being bitten by ticks. The first is to minimize staying in the shade of trees, grass, gazebos and other places, avoid sitting and lying in the wild for a long time, and do not sleep in the open, the second is to wear light-colored, smooth, tight-mouthed long-sleeved tops and pants, wear shoes that can cover the entire foot, tuck the trouser legs into socks or shoes, spray mosquito repellent on the exposed parts of the body, and the third is to carefully check the scalp, waist, ankles and other parts of the body for ticks when leaving the field to prevent ticks from being brought home. In addition, if you have a pet at home, you should also carefully check whether there are ticks attached to the pet after going out. It should also be noted that if it is inconvenient to seek medical attention after being bitten by a tick, you can first use alcohol or cooking oil around the tick, and wait for it to overflow on its own.

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