Ticks are arthropods (not insects) that suck blood. They belong to the class of arachnids, which also includes spiders and scorpions. They are carriers of microbes and transmitters of infections. Ticks can be quite large (about the size of a pencil eraser) or very small, almost impossible to see. There are approximately 850 different species of parasitic mites and they can be found in almost every part of the world. The most common species in the CIS countries and Europe are the taiga and dog species. The closer to the south, the more the dog tick replaces the taiga tick. They can cause a variety of health problems, ranging from harmless to very serious and even death. Both of these species belong to the “hard” species (iscodae), but there are also “soft” species (argasovae), which also bite people. Their bites are very painful, they also carry diseases, but usually fall off earlier after drinking blood.
Ticks live mainly in places where weeds and tall grass accumulate in forests and mountains.
Pets can also carry ticks.
What does a tick bite look like?
Ticks are a large class of arachnid arthropods. The natural habitat varies from deciduous forests to earthen humus. This diversity is due to its high adaptability to any external changes.
Basically, they are natural saprophages involved in the formation of nutritious soil. However, there is a separate branch of this species - parasitic.
The feeding apparatus of parasitic insects is quite simple and only supports the consumption of already processed nutrients. This means that they are parasites that can only obtain food from the blood of the host.
Figure 1. External signs of a bite
The tactics of parasitic saprophytes are exclusively passive hunting, during which they stalk their prey from ambush. This style of behavior is characteristic of all arachnids. Their life cycle is quite short, with peak activity in summer and spring. During this season, it is recommended to wear closed clothing made of thick, monotonous fabric in light colors. Saprophytes are natural carriers of many microorganisms. Not all of them are safe for humans and can lead to infection. The sting itself is not so much unpleasant as it is life-threatening. In addition to encephalitis, parasites also carry borreliosis, typhus and other viral infections. In order to detect tick bites, a photo on human skin will be an excellent example and will help determine the location of the attack (Figure 1). When walking in the forest, you should check your hair and neck area every hour. Such simple manipulations will be enough to protect yourself.
Symptoms and consequences of a tick bite
Some time (from days to weeks) after a walk in the forest, you may be surprised by some unpleasant symptoms. This phenomenon is associated with the slow development of the infectious disease.
The following known symptoms exist:
- The appearance of headache accompanied by fever and chills;
- Redness on the skin;
- Unbearable heaviness throughout the body;
- The appearance of swelling and shortness of breath;
- Numbness of some limbs;
- Difficulty walking;
- Complete loss of appetite;
- In fairly rare cases, paralysis may occur.
The signs in the photo, which clearly shows the location of the sting with a description of the specific type of insect, will help to identify the bites of domestic ticks (Figure 2). They can be easily found on the Internet. Experts recommend undergoing a medical examination in cases where you were unable to independently identify the location of the lesion. Getting preventative vaccinations and applying repellents will help increase your chances of preventing problems.
Figure 2. Main symptoms of a parasite sting
If you notice that your furry friend has begun to behave strangely after a walk in the forest, check him for the presence of saprophytes. What a tick bite on a dog looks like is usually noticeable right away. The plump and plump abdomen of the parasite between the pet’s fur catches your eye. Carefully inspect the following areas of the dog or cat's body - the head, behind the ears, chin, ears, chest and groin area. Sometimes insects can get caught on the tail. Do not allow insect parts to come into contact with your dog’s skin or mucous membranes. After removal, contact your veterinarian immediately.
Description of the pest
Represents the arachnid family. For this reason, the insect will move in a similar way. This is one of the hallmarks of ticks. However, if you are not aware of other signs, it can be mistaken for a spider. Pest habitats: undergrowth, small bushes, grass. They don't live in trees. If a tick bites you on the neck or head, it means that it independently climbed to the desired area. These insects do not fall from the tree.
External signs
You need to understand exactly what a tick is and what it looks like. The insect is characterized by its small size (on average 3-4 mm), however, small individuals (less than 1 mm) are also found. Number of paws – 4 pairs. The body is large, and the head, on the contrary, is small in size relative to the abdomen. Color black or brown. Having found a tick on the body, you need to take into account that initially (in a hungry state) it will be round and flattened. Having fed on blood, the insect increases in size. The abdomen becomes spherical.
The tick is in a “hungry” state; small arachnid with a flattened body, reddish-brown in color
Why is it dangerous?
When a tick bites, the risk of contracting infections and pathogens increases. The most dangerous diseases: encephalitis, borreliosis. Not every pest is a carrier of these diseases, however, the probability is sufficient to be wary of these insects. In addition, ticks can bury their head so deeply under the skin when they bite that removing it on their own increases the risk of its separation from the abdomen. This is fraught with an inflammatory process.
What does a tick bite look like on the human body?
It is important to know what exactly you are looking for. Examining your own body, it will be difficult to understand exactly where the parasite is hiding. They can hide for a couple of days without showing any sign. This causes a number of problems, and it is necessary to know what the tick bite site looks like.
Figure 3. Signs of lesions on the skin
Also, each subspecies has its own, one might say unique, appearance of the affected area. For example, what do bed tick bites look like? Their peculiarity is that these are very small affected areas of the skin. Dust and linen mites are common in the home environment, photos of whose bites you can find on the Internet (Figure 3).
What does a linen mite bite look like?
A fairly peaceful subspecies that is only interested in dead particles of human skin. Common in any pile of clothing with high humidity. Their habitat can be a mezzanine filled with old and unnecessary items of clothing, or a carpet, curtains, sheets, pillowcases.
In almost any interior item made of fabric you can find traces of their vital activity. Relatively safe in the absence of allergies.
Figure 4. Infection with linen parasite
When asked what a linen mite bite looks like, you can answer that it is a small, red dot with swelling. The subspecies is quite peaceful and will attack only when fairly hungry. In rare cases, symptoms may be similar to a cold.
We recommend looking online at photos of bed tick bites, and the symptoms in humans and children are almost the same, but in a more vulnerable child’s body they will be more pronounced (Figure 4).
How to protect yourself from bites
When visiting parks and forests, as well as bodies of water, you should carefully choose your clothing. Yes, those shorts, tank top and sandals that you were planning to wear are not suitable. You should choose clothes with long sleeves and trouser legs, preferably with elastic at the ends, long socks over the trouser legs, a scarf or hood, and a covered neck. Yes, you may say that the view is great, but health is more important! Choose places for a walk or rest without tall vegetation, and minimize your contact with vegetation. You can learn more about purchasing tick repellents here.
Conclusions from Tikhon: The tick is a dangerous parasite and meeting it does not bode well. Do not neglect simple tips, protect yourself and your loved ones before walking in nature.
If you have experience on the topic of this article, share it in the comments below. Perhaps your experience will help someone make the right decision. Happiness to you and your loved ones. Take care of yourself.
What does a dust mite bite look like?
This representative of arachnids is no less common than linen. From the name you can understand that their main habitat is dust. The dimensions of the body are within tenths of a millimeter, which is beyond the reach of our eyes.
Figure 5. Symptoms of a dust mite bite
Any dust collector is a favorable habitat for them. When asked what a dust mite bite looks like, you can answer that it doesn’t, because they feed not on blood, but on dead particles of the epithelium (Figure 5). However, you may notice irritation and redness on your skin. This is an allergic reaction to an antigen in the feces of saprophytes.
Symptoms
Signs of contact with the parasite change, which is influenced by a number of factors: the number of insects that attacked; age of the victim; health status. When bitten by a forest tick, the symptoms may well vary if you observe changes at different stages: immediately after contact; the next day; in 1-3 weeks.
First signs (several hours after the bite)
Given the absence of pain, it is usually difficult to determine the cause of the ailment. If you study what symptoms appear as a result of contact with the parasite, and also examine the site of the bite on the human body, you can suspect infection and the manifestation of diseases of a different nature.
The first signs immediately after the bite:
- Drowsiness accompanied by weakness
- Chills
- Feeling sore in the joints
- Negative reaction to light.
Later signs of insect contact
If the parasite is not noticed immediately or the initial symptoms of a tick bite are ignored, the victim's condition will worsen over time. Often the manifestations are reminiscent of the initial stage of development of ARVI.
The temperature will rise, however, other symptoms of a tick bite will also appear:
- Tachycardia
- Acute hypotension
- Allergic manifestations: rash, itching
- Lymph nodes react to foreign substances - they increase in size.
There are a number of signs that appear only in some cases and are not classic symptoms of infection upon contact with the parasite:
- Headache
- Labored breathing
- Nausea or vomiting
- Perception disorders (hallucinations).
See a doctor if the redness at the site of the bite does not decrease and you feel worse and worse
Manifestations upon contact with encephalitis tick
The main symptom is relapsing fever. This condition is characterized by periodically increasing body temperature. Moreover, an increase is noted on days 2-4 and 8-10 of infection. In addition, the functioning of the victim’s nervous system is disrupted.
1.5 weeks after contact with the pest, damage to the human spinal cord occurs, and as a result, paralysis of some muscle groups occurs. As the disease progresses, the brain is affected. There may be a headache, fainting, and disruption of the digestive system. These symptoms are observed against the background of elevated body temperature. If left untreated, the patient dies a week after the bite.
Your actions: Remove the parasite yourself by going to the emergency room. Take the tick to the health service for analysis.
What does a scabies mite bite look like?
The danger level of this representative is moderate. Its habitat is the keratinized human skin, where there are no nerve endings and living cells. The life cycle lasts about a month, and peak activity occurs in the evening. Regular hygiene procedures will help get rid of it.
Figure 6. Damage to the scabies subspecies of the parasite
What does a scabies mite bite look like - most likely we are talking about the place where the insect penetrates the skin (Figure 6). A little redness and unpleasant itching is all that awaits you. However, with complications, numerous passages may appear under the skin, which ultimately leads to painful symptoms and the appearance of acne.
Who are they - ticks?
Blood-sucking mites belong to the Arachnida group of arachnids, a class of arthropods. More than 54 thousand species are now known, including 144 fossils. The length of a typical tick is 0.2 - 0.4 mm, but can reach up to 5 mm. The first cases of bites are usually recorded at the beginning of spring, when the air temperature warms up by 1°C. The attack period continues until late autumn, with the bulk of bites occurring in May–June. These parasites are carriers of many infections and diseases, the most dangerous being encephalitis, Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis. Only 10% of the total number of ticks are carriers of infections, but the remaining 90% cause problems.
What does an encephalitis tick bite look like?
The Ixodid subspecies is a rather dangerous arthropod that supports the existence of the causative agent of encephalitis. The subspecies feeds on blood - both animals and humans. If you have frequent contact with animals, there is a risk of contracting it. Distributed mainly in the taiga of the Far East and Siberia, much less common east of the Urals. What an encephalitis tick bite looks like depends on who bit you. This can be either a small red dot or the parasite itself, embedded in the skin (Figure 7).
Figure 8. Externally, an encephalitis tick cannot be distinguished from a regular tick
It will be difficult to determine by appearance whether the affected area is an encephalitis tick bite; although there are plenty of photos on the Internet, only a medical examination can identify the virus. Be sure to go to the clinic and get tested before starting a course of treatment.
In any case, when visiting areas where the ixodid encephalitis parasite is common, it is advisable to vaccinate.
How a tick bites
The oral apparatus of these arthropods is quite simple. It is somewhat similar in principle to working with a mosquito. Initially, to begin the process, saprophytes need to get on the skin. Covertly attacking their prey, they crawl onto open areas of the body, hair, and clothing from the grass. After which the saprophytes are fixed on the skin, and chelicerae begin to be introduced (Figure 8).
Through the empty tubules they inject a substance that alleviates irritation after the penetration of the chelicerae, and get to work.
Figure 8. Structure of the insect's feeding apparatus
What does a tick bite look like? This is almost always an inflamed area with slight redness. With enough luck, you might even find the culprit attached directly to your body. Usually, this makes it easy to determine the location of the damage.
You can find what tick bites look like on humans, photos and video materials are freely available on the Internet.
How to detect a tick
There is an opinion that ticks fall on us from trees; this opinion has developed due to the fact that ticks are often found in the head and neck area. In fact, ticks are inactive and wait for their prey at approximately the height of our knees. And only then do they begin to crawl upward in search of a place for an easy puncture. The most common places for punctures are: the groin area, abdomen and lower back, chest, armpits, neck and behind the ears. Places with a high probability that we will catch a tick are: ravines and lowlands of meadows, forest edges and sides of forest paths, thickets on the banks of reservoirs.
First aid for a tick bite
It is important to quickly find your bearings, because the risk of infection directly depends on the length of time the arthropod remains on the body. What does a tick bite look like - a red, inflamed wound with a hardened crust. If, during a regular inspection during a hike or just at home, you were able to detect a lump or redness, then these are direct consequences of the damage. On children's skin they will be more pronounced than on adults.
Figure 9. First aid for a bite
If you find the fat body of an insolent one, you need to act quickly. It will be enough to neutralize it using improvised methods by coating it with a thick composition. Pine or spruce resin, oil for cooking or lubricating mechanisms.
Signs of a bite
The main rule is that the sooner you find a tick, the better. Therefore, after returning, immediately undress and inspect your entire body for the presence of a parasite, shake out your clothes and put them in the wash. The first signs of the presence of a tick will appear after a few hours in the form of: weakness, drowsiness, aching joints, chills, light aversion. How pronounced everything will be depends on the physiology of the person himself and on the number of bites. The first and most important sign is the detection of the embedded tick itself. And then the temperature rises to 39 - 41 ° C, tachycardia, decreased blood pressure, itching, rash. The consequences of infection can affect: the nervous system, joints, lungs, kidneys, liver, cardiovascular system.
Should I remove a tick after a bite?
In terms of first aid, definitely yes. But you need to get it out correctly, and if you don’t know how, then it’s better not to risk it (Figure 10). The fact is that by sharply pulling out the body, you can damage its integrity. And subsequently, part of the head or proboscis will remain in the skin, which leads to inflammation of the affected area. Even if you carefully pull it out, there is still a chance that small chewing particles will remain in the skin, which can cause a purulent abscess.
Figure 10. You need to remove the tick very carefully
To get the parasite out, you can treat the damaged area with any substance that does not allow air to pass through, for example, oil, then wait a few minutes and even if the pest does not come out on its own, it will become easier to unscrew it. You should grab the parasite as close as possible to the bitten surface with tweezers, a loop of strong thread, or clean fingers with proper dexterity. Holding it strictly perpendicular to the surface, you need to rotate the body of the arthropod around its axis and remove it from the skin.
For educational purposes, you should make a request online for tick bites - photos on human skin. The main thing is not to confuse local redness with the consequences of a lesion. In this case, you will already be faced with the result of incorrect self-medication. In the vast majority of scenarios, go to the hospital immediately and for sure.
