Lyme Disease The Year of the Ticks 2014

Lyme disease and TBE: 2014 could „Year of the ticks“ become

05/31/2014

The mild winter could be a contributing factor to 2014 possibly „Year of the ticks“ becomes. The small bloodsuckers can transmit various diseases such as Lyme disease or TBE. Experts give tips on how to protect yourself against tick bites.

Year of the ticks
Maybe 2014 will be „Year of the ticks“. This year could lead to an increased tick activity in Germany. Not only the particularly mild and partly humid winter, but also wild animals in the forest could be reasons for this, because these are used by ticks as hosts. This shows the ZDF environmental documentation series „planet e“ on Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 2:45 pm under the title: „Ticks - danger from the forest“. The show is in Germany and the US in search of the causes of tick plague and explains how dangerous ticks really are.

Wandering redness in Lyme disease
In Germany, according to a message from „zdf.de“ up to 200,000 people annually from Lyme disease. The disease is caused by a tick bite. Since the „common wood buck“, as the animals are also called, because of the mild winter could proliferate magnificently, the cases of illness could be even higher this year. Other estimates, however, assume significantly lower or higher numbers. Lyme disease is one of the bacterial infectious diseases. Signs of the disease may include general symptoms such as fatigue, night sweats, fever or nonspecific joint and muscle pain. „A 100 percent symptom is the wandering red, but only 50 percent of the patients have it“, said Dr. Arnim Schwarzbach opposite „mittelhessen.de“. He further explained: „That's why it's not safe for everyone, but for those who have it, it's a sure sign of disease. The wandering red is not always recognizable, because there are over 150 different variants and it can occur in different places, even where, where not the bite of the tick was.“

Do not let it limit its quality of life
In addition to the widespread Lyme disease, another disease is transmitted by ticks: the tick-borne encephalitis, or FSME for short. TBE occurs here in certain risk areas, especially in southern Germany. The possibilities of treatment after infection are rather limited. Even if the flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache or vomiting can be alleviated, the disease itself can not be specifically treated. But unlike Lyme disease, there is a vaccine against TBE. As „Serienhai.de“ writes Trevor Petney, tick researchers from Karlsruhe, in connection with such diseases, against exaggerations: “You should already be afraid of a tick bite. But it can not go so far as to limit your quality of life.“

Protection against ticks
Other experts agree with this and point out that you can protect yourself from ticks. One of them is Dania Richter, a biologist who works on protective strategies against Lyme disease at the TU Braunschweig. In an interview with „Mirror online“ Among other things, she talked about protective measures: „You should apply mosquito repellent on free skin areas - it says on the packaging whether a product works against ticks.“ She also stated: „I also always wear long pants when I am in nature. When you strip a tick from the blade of grass, it is first looking for a piece of bare skin because it can not pierce textiles. The nearest entrance gate for the tick is then at the bottom of the pant leg. There I close, in which I pull the stockings over the pants legs.“

Thoroughly scan the body for ticks
After staying outdoors, it is important to thoroughly scan the body and remove ticks as soon as you find them. „Then you should thoroughly disinfect the injection site, write down where the tick was sitting and when. If symptoms show, you can tell the doctor.“ Dr. Ulrich Stahl referred to „mittelhessen.de“ on the fact that one could avoid tick risk areas: „These include grasslands and bushland. But, and this is very important to know, ticks can occur everywhere. It is not that they sit in the bush only half a meter high, they can also be on the ground, in the grass, in the sand and in the meadow.“ (Ad)