A small tick can create big problems for a person. His bite is especially dangerous for children, whose immunity is imperfect and is in the process of formation. The consequences can be the most frustrating. In this article, we will tell you how to find a tick on a child's body and what to do next.
Who is he?
People used to think of ticks as insects. But they really are not.
A tick is an animal, this is the definition it is given by medical reference books and textbooks on biology. Moreover, this animal has much in common with spiders, therefore it is classified as a subclass of arachnids arthropods.
To imagine all the variety of these blood-sucking parasites, it is enough to know that science knows more than 45 thousand species of ticks. Not all of them, it should be noted, are carriers of infections, but those that do not pose such a danger may well cause local skin irritation and inflammation, especially on the delicate and vulnerable children's skin.
Common types of ticks are real cunning hunters. They can watch for the prey for a very long time, hiding on the leaves of trees, on bushes. After waiting, the tick clings to the skin, takes root and begins to feed on human blood. It takes a long time to feel the bite due to the fact that the animal accompanies its actions with local anesthesia - secretes special substances with saliva that suppress nervous sensitivity.
In most Russian regions, the dangerous epidemiological season begins in April and ends only in autumn. The most dangerous time is from mid-April to late July. A tick can attack a child while walking in the woods, in a forested area within the city, in a public garden, at a dacha, in a children's health camp.
Dangers and consequences
A tick bite is dangerous because even a short contact with this animal can result in infection. Diseases that the tick can "reward" its donor are quite dangerous:
Tick-borne encephalitis
Damage to the central nervous system with a special virus, which is carried by about 5-6 ticks out of a hundred. The likelihood of getting infected by being bitten by such animals in an adult varies from 2 to 5%, and in children - from 5 to 7%.
The disease is severe with all signs of brain damage, with high fever and fever. Lethal outcomes are not excluded.
Tick-borne borreliosis
Infection that occurs when the bite of ixodid ticks, which are carriers of borrelia. These spirochetes cause extensive neurological or cardiac pathologies in the child, as well as arthritis and atrophic dermatitis.
In some regions, the number of borrelia ticks reaches 90%, which means that almost every bite presents a real risk of infection.
Tick fever
They are also called spotted fevers. This is a group of febrile conditions, accompanied by a rash, discoloration of the skin, muscle pain, lymphadenitis. Complications can be quite serious.
Also, ticks can cause a fever proceeding in a hemorrhagic type with kidney damage, as well as some other types of territorial focal fever conditions.
The most dangerous are combined infectionswhen a baby becomes infected from a blood-sucking parasite not with one specific type of virus or bacteria, but with several at once in a complex. Such a possibility also exists and cannot be ignored.
About 15% of ticks in the population are precisely carriers of a whole bunch of infections.
Symptoms and signs
Careful attention to the child will help not to miss the signs of a tick bite. After a walk in the park or in the forest, a trip to nature, it is advisable to carefully examine the child's body.
Ticks most often choose places such as behind the ear, neck, chest. The parasite can be found on the head; in the hairy part of it, the animal feels protected.
You should carefully examine for bite marks on the body, arms and legs, in the groin and under the armpits.
The bite site always looks like erythema (redness) with a diameter of about 0.7-1.0 cm.If the parasite does not spontaneously fall off after a meal (males often do this, while females prefer to stay with the donor as long as possible), then in the middle of the spot he himself will be. The body of the tick always remains on the surface, the head is sunk under the skin.
Redness is nothing more than a local allergic reaction to tick saliva. The shape of the erythema is always round or oval. When pressed on the redness, the child does not experience pain.
If the body of the tick is no longer there, and the parents doubt whether the red spot is a bite mark, then it is worth waiting for a few hours.
Usually, 5-6 hours after a tick bite, chills, weakness, and drowsiness develop. A little later, the temperature may rise to 37.0 - 37.5 degrees, regional lymph nodes may slightly increase. All these are signs of a bite, the child must be shown to the doctor.
If the parasite itself is found, then it is easy to recognize the bite. It is much more difficult to provide a child with the correct emergency care.
First aid
The algorithm for parenting actions when a tick is detected should be as follows:
- carefully remove the animal;
- to treat a wound - a bite mark with any agent with strong antiseptic properties;
- plant the parasite in a container, for example, in a jar, close it tightly and take it to the territorial administration of Rospotrebnadzor, where it is examined in the laboratory;
- on the 11th day, take the child to the clinic, where it will be possible to donate blood for analysis, which will determine whether an infection has occurred;
- give the toddler antibiotics to prevent possible diseases should be done with caution;
- if the tick attack occurred far from hospitals, laboratories and civilization in general, then it is worth giving the child a dose of an antibiotic and an antiviral agent as an emergency aid;
- closely monitor the child for 30 days - if the condition worsens, hospitalize the child.
How to get the parasite
It is necessary to remove the tick from the child's body decisively and as quickly as possible. The longer the tick stays there, the greater the risk of infection. It should be noted that this is not an easy task. The arthropod parasite holds on very tightly, and it is simply impossible to remove it.
It is impossible to leave parts of the tick in the wound, this can cause severe inflammation.
Until recently, it was believed that the tick should be smeared with turpentine, kerosene or oil. However, I would like to warn parents against such actions.
Deprived of the opportunity to receive oxygen under the oil layer, the mite becomes desperately aggressive. In an attempt to survive, he throws the maximum of his saliva into the child's blood. (its reserves, by the way, are quite large), thus, the risk of contracting borreliosis or encephalitis increases tenfold.
To strangle the tick from the point of view of the safety of the child is a bad idea.
To remove you can use:
- strong thread;
- tweezers;
- a special set "Anti-tick" (can be bought at a pharmacy or medical equipment stores);
- own hands.
If none of the above is present, then you should not touch the tick with unprotected fingers. If the body of the tick is damaged, then the contents of its intestines can be in the bloodstream, and this is very dangerous. Therefore, it is best to use rubber medical gloves, a bandage or a piece of cloth such as a handkerchief for manipulation.
Removal with tweezers is done like this:
- capture of the tick as close to its head as possible, immersed in the child's skin;
- turning it clockwise 6-7 times;
- withdrawal of the parasite by moving towards itself.
Thread extraction is carried out in this way:
- a loop with a diameter of about 2 centimeters is made on a strong thread;
- the loop is thrown over the tick as close to the head as possible;
- pull off the "noose" and start twisting the thread clockwise or counterclockwise;
- as soon as the thread is completely twisted, the parasite is pulled out with a slight movement towards itself.
Removing the parasite with your fingers looks like this:
- with protected hands, the tick is captured as close to its head as possible;
- turn the tick 6-7 times clockwise;
- take out the parasite.
Wound treatment
Means suitable for treating wounds after expulsion of the animal:
- brilliant green solution ("brilliant green");
- iodine;
- alcohol;
- Chlorhexidine;
- hydrogen peroxide.
It is not necessary to apply compresses and bandages to the bite site after treatment.
It makes sense to take the tick itself to the laboratory only if it can be done in an hour. After this time, the parasite is no longer of laboratory diagnostic value.
For the sake of reassuring parents, it is worth noting that most people, even if bitten by infectious individuals, do not get infections. From this point of view, the study of a tick for the carriage of bacteria and viruses is an occupation most often useless for the child and his parents.
Close monitoring of the child for a month is required in any case. The body of the parasite, if it is decided not to take it to the laboratory, should be destroyed.
If it is decided to send the tick for research, then a piece of wet cotton wool must be put in the jar. The tick must be alive at the time of deliveryThe corpses are not examined.
Treatment
After the bite, the child is usually given preventive doses of two antibiotics - "Doxycillin" and "Ceftriaxone".
The first drug is taken within the first five days, the second - three days. Even if infection with borrelia occurs, these drugs help prevent the disease in 90% of cases.
To protect the baby from encephalitis, a special serum - tick-borne immunoglobulin - can be administered to him in the first 72 hours. It is available in every hospital, in any emergency room.
Children are often advised to take "Anaferona", however, recently this appointment has raised many questions, because the drug is homeopathic and its effectiveness has not been clinically proven. It is much more effective and wiser to take "Remantadin" or "Tamiflu".
Medicine also gradually began to abandon the introduction of serum, since it too often causes allergies in children.
For itching in the area of the bite, external remedies such as "Fenistil"... You do not need to take other medicines. If after 11 days, blood tests using the PCR method show the presence of tick-borne disease, the doctor will prescribe the appropriate treatment inpatient or outpatient.
Prevention
When going for a walk in the forest, make sure that the child's clothes are not too dark - it will be difficult to see the tick on it if it appears. Walking in the epidemic season should be carried out in closed clothing that covers the arms, legs, neck. The child's head must be protected with a headgear.
There are many tick repellents, and there are some medications for children. When hiking for mushrooms or berries, as well as sending a child on vacation to a country camp, be sure to stock up on such funds.
There are always more mites in the shade than in sunny open spaces. It is not worth stopping and picnicking in the shade of trees, it is dangerous.
There are always much more ticks near the paths. They feel the approach of the victim 10 meters away, and have long "realized" that hunting on the paths is very productive. Therefore, you should not sit on the grass, lie in it near the well-trodden paths.
If you have to travel or hike with a child to regions and countries with an unfavorable situation for tick-borne encephalitis, in 2 months you need to be vaccinated, after 30 days the vaccination is repeated. If the departure is urgent, and a two-month wait is not included in the plans, you can go to the clinic and inject a dose of immunoglobulin, its effect should be enough for about a month.
With you in your first-aid kit, you always need to have the drugs mentioned above: tweezers, thread, antiseptics. If the bite is caught away from civilization, you now know what to do.
Officials at the state level are also concerned about the prevention of tick-borne infections.
In regions where the activity of ticks is higher, at the beginning of the season, acaricidal treatments are carried out on places of mass visit - parks, forest parks, alleys. This measure can reduce the incidence of infectious diseases carried by arthropods by several times.
About how to help a child after a tick bite, Dr. Komarovsky tells in the next video.
