As of: March 20, 2024 3:03 p.m
A tick bite can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease and TBE. How can you protect yourself, how can you remove a tick? And what applies to dogs and cats?
The small bloodsuckers can be found everywhere in nature in Germany – not just in meadows, but also in parks and gardens. They affect both animals and people. It is not the tick bite that is dangerous, but rather the transmission of possible pathogens by the tick. These can cause Lyme disease or TBE (tick-borne encephalitis).
The parasites usually wait in taller grass or on leaves up to a meter high for an animal or human to brush against them. They then cling to the host and wander over the body in search of a good bite site; direct contact is necessary. Ticks cannot jump or even fall from trees.
The right protection against ticks
To protect yourself, you should take a few simple precautions when spending time in nature:
It is best to wear long trousers and shirts with long sleeves so that the skin is covered as completely as possible. Close any open areas on your clothing by tucking your shirt into your pants and your trouser legs into your socks. Light-colored clothing makes it easier to search for parasites after spending time outdoors. After spending time in nature, always carefully check your body for ticks, not forgetting your armpits, belly button, scalp, groin and genital area.
Use tick sprays for the body more often
Tick sprays can also help keep parasites away from the body. Sprays containing the active ingredients Icaridin and DEET mask human body odor and apparently have a repellent effect on ticks. But they are not poisonous for the animals. Important: You have to reapply it every two to three hours. The eight-hour protection promised by some manufacturers is not realistic.
Remove ticks with a tick card or tweezers
Special tick tweezers are ideal for removing bloodsuckers.
If you have found an animal on your body, you can remove the tick with your fingertips or a tool. Tick cards are practical because they fit in your wallet. However, sometimes you can’t get hold of very small ticks with it. For these, tapered or curved tick tweezers are more suitable. This means you grab the tick close to the area of skin where it has attached itself and pull it out vertically. Cosmetic tweezers, such as those used for plucking out hair, are less suitable: they obscure the view of the tick when you want to pull it out.
It is better to avoid permethrin in the garden
Some manufacturers offer special products designed to combat ticks in the garden. They usually contain the active ingredient permethrin. The products are available in different forms, for example as a liquid that is sprayed in the garden or as a so-called tick roll. The rolls contain cotton impregnated with permethrin, which mice like to use to build nests. Since mice are an important host animal for ticks, this can reduce the number of ticks in the garden.
However, permethrin is not only toxic to ticks, but also to bees and cats. That’s why experts are critical of its use in the garden.
Protect dogs and cats from ticks
Pets should also be checked regularly for ticks.
Dogs and cats should also be thoroughly checked regularly after outdoor walks and ticks removed as quickly as possible. There are special tweezers and hooks commercially available for this purpose. Pharmacies also offer so-called “spot-on” preparations that prevent parasite infestation. Tick collars often contain the toxic ingredient permethrin. They are suitable for dogs, but dangerous for cats because they lack a specific enzyme that breaks down the active ingredient.
Tick bite or tick bite?
Ticks open the skin with their mouthparts (chelicerae) and drill their proboscis (hypostome) into the tissue to suck. The saliva prevents the blood from clotting and closing the wound. That’s why we don’t talk about a tick bite, but rather a tick bite.
The animals need a lot of time to fill themselves up. For adult ticks this can take up to eight days. They swell and become more than a centimeter in size.
Further information
Ticks can transmit diseases such as TBE and Lyme disease. How do you remove them, what do you do if the head gets stuck? more
Neuroborreliosis is a complication of so-called Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. more
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NDR Info | Current | 02/27/2024 | 05:41 am