How to protect yourself in the year "Tick" 2018

There are so many ticks this summer: How to protect yourself

This year, there is a particularly high number of ticks and therefore a higher risk of infection with dangerous pathogens. However, there are many ways to protect against infectious diseases such as Lyme disease or tick-borne encephalitis (TBE).

Increased risk of infection

Health experts continue to stress the importance of protecting oneself from ticks. Small leeches can transmit various diseases such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). This summer, there is a particularly high number of ticks and therefore a higher risk of infection with dangerous pathogens. The German Infection Research Center (DZIF) badumes that 2018 will be a real "tick year". In a statement, the experts explain that not only temperatures but also beechnuts have an effect on the multiplication of crabs.

Senior Emitter of Dangerous Diseases

A summer walk in the forest or even in the garden can have unpleasant consequences.

Ticks, usually the wood beetle, rest on bushes, shrubs and grbades Ixodes ricinus patiently waits for a vertebrate, such as a human, to come with him.

Once he has found his place on the skin, he stings and sucks the blood until it almost bursts. However, with his saliva, he releases some of the blood and, in some cases, an unpleasant cargo.

For example, common wood is the main emitter of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a deadly viral meningitis. Recently, experts have reported that these infections have continued to increase.

Lyme disease is also transmitted by this species of ticks

High risk this year

Although there is no cure, but a preventive vaccine, TBE this n & # 39; 39, is not a vaccine against Lyme disease, but a treatment option with antibiotics.

In all cases, it is advisable to pay attention to ticks, especially in TBE risk areas. There, more ticks are infected with viruses than anywhere else. In what parts of Germany this is the case, one learns on the site of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI): TBE map.

"This year, the risk is particularly high," said Privatdozent Dr. med. Gerhard Dobler: "We will have the greatest number of ticks in the last ten years."

Since 2009, the DZIF researcher and his team at the Institute for Microbiology of the German Armed Forces have been studying the spread and the TBE activity in Germany. 19659008] Over a period of nine years, researchers documented the number of ticks at a source of infection in southern Germany.

For this, they meticulously collected the nymphs from the pyre per month – a stage of tick development before growing. Less than one millimeter, these juveniles are only recognizable as blackheads and are often overlooked.

This makes them particularly dangerous because they can transmit diseases even at this stage of development. Scientists have been able to show that the chosen outbreak of infection in southern Germany has a model character.

"If we have a lot of ticks here, then we have those high numbers elsewhere in southern Germany," Dobler explains. "Using tick data from our cooker model and some environmental parameters, colleagues at the Vienna Veterinary University have been able to develop a model that prepares us for ticks in the summer," says Dobler. On the one hand, the number of beechnuts two years before the current summer, as well as the annual average temperature and the winter temperature of the previous year are included in the volume of the previous year . and in turn serve emitters of ticks, which also appear more frequently. 9008] Dobler and his colleagues have successfully used and confirmed the connections in their complex model.

For the summer of 2017, they had predicted 187 ticks per standardized area and found 180 ticks. Almost a landing point. By 2018, the largest number of ticks found was predicted with 443 ticks, and Dobler now knows that this prediction will also be satisfied.

"We have the largest number of ticks we have collected since the beginning of the study – good for the ticks, bad for us."

Preventing the Risk of Infection [19659002MoreticksalwaysmeananincreasedriskofgettingsickLymediseasecanbetransmittedbyticksalloverGermanyandendupinaboutoneinfourticksregardlessofregion

Only vigilance helps prevent forest walks and open-air stays. containing the ingredients DEET or Icaridin. In addition, long clothing should be worn, for example, during walks or walks in tall grbad.

The faster the tick is removed, the lower the risk of Lyme disease

"The risk of being infected with borreliosis during a tick bite is significantly influenced by the duration of the tick. ticking, "Dr. Frieder Schaumburg of the Institute of Medical Microbiology of the University of Münster (Münster University Hospital) in a communication

Correct removal of ticks

It takes up to 39 at 24 hours for the disease to be transmitted to humans. "Therefore, after an outdoor day, you should check the ticks carefully to minimize the risk of infection."

"In case of a tick bite, use a pair of fine forceps to catch the tick as close to your mouth as possible and pull it vertically upward," Schaumburg said.

He strongly advises against turning around or warming up. Instead, the wound must be disinfected and observed.

Vaccination against FSME

DZIF scientists can and should be vaccinated to prevent the risk of meningitis.

Especially in southern Germany, where the density of ticks infected with the virus is higher.

According to health experts, TBE vaccination should take place well before the beginning of summer since there is time between the three immunization appointments. In addition, greater sensitivity to danger is needed. (Ad)