The impact of a tick can be as small as the animals are: Anyone who is bitten by a tick has to remove it with tick tweezers – in the hope that no dangerous diseases such as TBE or Lyme disease have been transmitted. To prevent a sting from occurring in the first place, you can prevent it with the right protection.
Little arachnids that make our lives difficult: ticks. Not only can their bite lead to local inflammation, ticks also transmit diseases. To avoid this, you should take precautions to avoid getting stung in the first place.
Of course, there is no absolute protection. Unless you don’t leave the house at all. But that need not be.
Tick bite: A vaccination can protect
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease are among the most dangerous diseases transmitted by ticks.
A vaccination can protect against the viral disease TBE; your children can be vaccinated from their first birthday. Unfortunately, there is no vaccination protection against the bacterial disease Lyme disease.
Avoid meadows with tall grasses
There is a persistent rumor that ticks jump, fly or drop from trees onto their victims. But none of that is true. The bloodsuckers lurk on blades of grass and in the undergrowth.
Therefore, avoid spending long periods of time in tall grass. When hiking and walking, stick to existing trails.
Wear protective clothing
The best protection against ticks is the right clothing. It should be as bright and monochromatic as possible. Long pants, a long shirt and sturdy shoes keep the creepy crawlies away from your skin.
Pulling socks over your trouser legs is a fashion faux pas, but it effectively protects against ticks during outdoor activities. The T-shirt or shirt should also be tucked into the pants so that the crawling parasites do not get to the skin.
Use repellents with tick-repellent ingredients
You can get so-called repellents with tick-repellent ingredients at your pharmacy. When applied to your skin, your body odor appears uninteresting to ticks for a certain period of time. However, the active ingredients and duration of action of the products vary greatly and can trigger allergies, so you should be well informed beforehand.
Even if you use repellents, don’t neglect to regularly check your skin for ticks every 30 to 60 minutes. So it’s better to avoid black clothing, because you’ll spot the animals more easily on light-colored shirts and pants.
Take the time to thoroughly check your body and that of your children for ticks after spending time in nature. Ticks prefer thin and warm areas of skin, so pay particular attention to the arms, back of the knees, head, neck and intimate areas.
Many home remedies can also help.
Ticks don’t like coconut oil
Even though coconut oil always smells a bit like a vacation to us humans, ticks apparently don’t like that smell at all. The lauric acid it contains supposedly keeps the creepy crawlies away. It’s best to rub the oil all over yourself from head to toe – if it doesn’t work against the ticks, at least you won’t have any nasty-smelling chemicals on your body.
Garlic repels ticks
Garlic is supposed to help against vampires, so why not against the crawling bloodsuckers?
Swedish researchers at Lund University in Malmö tested the effect on members of the military. Test subjects who swallowed garlic powder were bitten by ticks significantly less than those who did not consume garlic.
Black cumin oil has a tick-repellent effect
Black cumin oil is said to have many health-promoting effects and is also said to have a tick-repellent effect. The oil can be used internally and externally.
If you don’t like the taste, you can also use it in cooking or mix it into a fruit juice.