After entering May, Weihai City's "fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome", commonly known as tick disease, showed an increasing trend, and some cases were seriously ill and even died. Remind the general public, especially those living in rural areas, engaged in agricultural labor and field work, to avoid tick bites in their daily work and life, and actively prevent tick-borne diseases. As long as we take the right approach, early prevention, early detection, and early treatment, this disease is completely preventable and controllable.
What is a tick
Ticks belong to the family Parasitic mites and ticks. Adults have a strongly shellized shield plate on the back of the body, commonly known as hard ticks, belonging to the hard tick family; those without shield plates, commonly known as soft ticks, belong to the soft tick family. Ticks are temporary parasites on the surface of many species of vertebrates and are vectors and reservoirs for zoonotic diseases.
From May to July every year, it is the active period of tick breeding, and this time is also the most vulnerable to tick bites. Tick bites can cause many diseases, including tick paralysis, tick bite fever, new Bunia virus infection, Lyme disease, forest encephalitis, Xinjiang hemorrhagic fever, etc., which can cause death. Ticks are better known for their body fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (also known as neobunia virus), which can be transmitted to humans through tick bites, causing fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, mildly manifested as feverish fatigue, severe shock, multiple organ failure, etc., with a fatality rate of 15%.
In the unfortunate event of being bitten, it is treated in this way
Remember not to drag it down on its own, because after the tick bites a person, it is not easy to get rid of, it will insert its entire mouth organ into the skin to suck blood, while secreting harmful substances. If you force it to drag, it is easy to cause the mouth organ to remain in the skin and cause infection.
The main methods of taking ticks are: drop iodine tincture, alcohol or ethanol on the surface of the tick, apply kerosene, chloroform, turpentine, vinegar or dry smoke oil to the head of the tick, so that the ticks fall off on their own; apply vaseline, salad oil, liquid paraffin, glycerin thick coating the head of the tick, suffocation, and then gently pull the tick out with forceps; apply small forceps to clamp the near mouth, as close as possible to the skin, gently extract upwards and forwards, and slowly exert force to avoid pulling the ticks out. The sooner the tick is removed, the better, so when it is inconvenient to seek medical treatment, you can take the worm according to the above methods early, but if the above methods cannot completely remove the tick, or there are symptoms such as fever, inflammation and rupture of the bite site and erythema after removal, you must seek medical treatment as soon as possible, handled by a professional doctor, and surgically removed if necessary.
How to prevent tick disease
Ticks are generally found in hilly areas, so we must pay attention to protection when going to the wild. It should be avoided as much as possible in the main habitat of ticks such as grassland, woods and other environments for a long time, if you need to enter, it is recommended to wear long-sleeved clothes, do not wear sandals, tie the trouser legs or tuck the trouser legs into socks or shoes, and also wear a hat to prevent biting the scalp. And after the day's outdoor activities, carefully check your body and clothing to see if there are tick bites or climbs.
Contributed by Weihai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention