Ticks are representatives of arachnids and begin their life after the snow melts. They are overwinter in fallen leaves and waking up after hibernation, they immediately begin to search for their victim. With its tenacious paws, the bloodsucker clings to an animal or person passing by. Since the beginning of April, ticks in the suburbs and Moscow in 2018 can already attack a person and infect him with a dangerous disease.
On a note!
The distribution of ticks in the metropolitan area is very extensive. You can meet with a parasite in any area of Moscow and the region. This bloodsucker is difficult to confuse with a regular insect. But to be sure, you should look at the Internet photo of ticks in the suburbs. They are arachnids and look appropriate: a small oval body, a distinct head with developed jaws, four pairs of limbs. Ticks in the suburbs are found in several species, but the most dangerous and common of them is ixodic. It is his bite that can cause infection with a serious disease.
Tick Season
Tick activity peaks in May-June, when warm but not hot weather is maintained in the Moscow Region and the capital. Then there is a decrease in tick activity by months by mid-summer, and again begins to grow bitten in late August - early September. Tick Season coincides with the period of summer work, therefore, it is summer residents and gardeners who are at risk.
To reduce the risk of being bitten in the country, the sanitary-epidemiological services offer services for treating the site of ticks in the Moscow region. The cost of such a procedure depends on the area of the land and ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 rubles. Besides protect the site from bloodsuckers you need to protect yourself. Each person should inspect his body after being in the garden or in the garden for the presence of creeping or already sucked arthropods. During work on the site, it is recommended to treat the skin or clothing with special tick repellents.
Important!
Tick bite, which is not a carrier of infection, can cause a severe allergic reaction in humans.
Ticks in Moscow in 2019 can also be found in any park area. The prevalence of this parasite is difficult to control, so you should avoid walking on the lawns, among the bushes, away from the paved paths. The administrative website of the capital indicates which parks have been treated for ticks in Moscow. But this does not mean that there is 100% certainty that these places do not pose any danger.
On a note!
You need to be careful while walking around the Izmailovsky, Bitsevsky parks, Losinoostrovsky reserve. In the summer months, when ticks are dangerous in the suburbs and Moscow, before going to large forest park areas, you need to use special bloodsucker repellents.
Tick-borne diseases
A bloodthirsty subclass of arthropods is dangerous in that it can be unpleasant virus carrier. In the suburbs and Moscow, ixodid ticks (Ixodoidea) are most common, which can infect a number of serious diseases:
- Tick-borne encephalitis - a dangerous infectious disease that affects the nervous and cardiovascular systems, disrupts the functioning of internal organs. If timely assistance and treatment is not provided to the victim, the disease can cause disability or even death.
- Borreliosis or Lyme disease - a disease caused by bacteria. They affect the internal organs, reduce the body's immunity. If the disease is not treated, it goes into a chronic stage and can lead to irreversible consequences for human health.
- Anaplasmosis is a less dangerous disease that reduces the immunity of the victim and contributes to the development of inflammatory processes in the body.
- Ehrlichiosis - a bacterial disease that disrupts the functioning of internal organs. Often the infection is the cause of pathologies and a deterioration in the quality of life of a bitten person.
All these diseases can be successfully cured if you seek help in the first 2-3 days after the attack of the parasite. Immediately after detecting a sucked bloodsucker on the body, you need it carefully remove and take to the nearest laboratory. In the metropolitan and Moscow region districts there are several medical centers where parasites are taken for analysis. Addresses and names of institutions for residents of Moscow:
- Center for Molecular Diagnostics FBUN Central Research Institute of Epidemiology Rospotrebnadzor - ul. Novogireevskaya, d. 3A, phone: +7 (495) 788-00-01;
- FBUZ Federal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor - Varshavskoye Shosse, 19A, phone: +7 (495) 954-01-59;
- FBUZ Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Moscow. Address: Grafsky Lane, 4, building 2, phone: +7 (495) 687-40-47.
Tick-borne encephalitis is the most dangerous virus. In the suburbs, you can conduct a study on tick encephalitis in Odintsovo, Vnukovo, Mytishchi, Schelkovo, Dmitrov and other cities. The largest medical facilities near Moscow are:
- FBUZ Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Moscow Region - Moscow Region, Mytishchi, ul. Semashko, 2, phone: +7 (495) 582-96-55;
- Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis, Moscow Region, Vnukovo, pos. Moscow, phone: +7 (498) 540-90-96.
Dangerous areas on the map of the Moscow region
On the territory of Moscow and the Moscow Region every year statistics are kept on the number of registered tick bites and the presence of dangerous viruses in their DNA. According to this information, received in September last year, there were no cases of tick-borne encephalitis in Moscow and the Moscow region. Based on the data obtained over the past summer seasons, a list of dangerous areas was compiled on a map by ticks in the Moscow Region and Moscow in 2019:
- the first places were occupied by the Ramensky, Serpukhovsky, Kolomensky districts - more than 800 cases of attack of arachnid parasites were recorded on the territory of each of them;
- in the Lyubertsy, Naro-Fominsky, Dmitrovsky and Noginsky districts the number of cases of bites exceeds 500;
- In Chekhov, Pushkin districts, in Orekhovo-Zuevo, tick bites in 2019 are expected in an amount not exceeding 300 cases, as was the case in 2018.
On a note!
According to data from the last summer season, among the registered 15857 complaints of victims, about 4 thousand of them were for bitten children. 5958 parasites were delivered to the study. The presence of borreliosis pathogens was confirmed in 15% of cases, 3.5% of ticks were infected with anaplasmosis bacteria, and ehrlichiosis pathogens were found in only 0.3% of the studied parasites.
The number of ticks in the Moscow region in 2019 depends on several factors. In the case of very hot and early summer, parasites should be less active. They also do not like very rainy weather, which often happens in the metropolitan area during the summer months.
A map of the encephalitis tick in the suburbs in 2018 was created based on data from previous summer seasons. Despite the absence of recorded cases of encephalitis, the likelihood of having encephalitis parasites in Dmitrovsky, Taldomsky districts, Dubna. Epidemiologists studying the question of whether there are encephalitis ticks in Moscow have been statistics for the past few years. So far, no cases of infection with a dangerous infection have been recorded.
During the period of ticks, the safest areas of the Moscow Region region are considered eastern and southern in terms of the number of victims affected:
- Odintsovo;
- Mozhaysky district;
- Shakhovsky district;
- Kashira district;
- Troitsk and others.
It is impossible to say for sure whether encephalitis ticks exist in the Moscow Region. The virus can be introduced from other northern neighboring regions: Yaroslavl, Tver, Ivanovo. Bloodsuckers are able to overcome distances through transport or while on the human body.
Prevention and protective measures
To reduce the risk of Muscovites and residents of the Moscow Region being bitten by a tick, mites are treated from ticks in Moscow in 2019. Specialists of sanitary and epidemiological stations were sent to squares and parks to destroy "unwanted guests" with the help of special chemicals.
On a note!
The destruction of ticks in Moscow is carried out from March to May, when they are just emerging from hibernation.
To protect yourself from the possibility of contracting encephalitis, you can use special vaccine. This vaccine must be delivered until the moment when ticks appear in the suburbs. The vaccine is put in two stages: the first injection is administered 2-3 months before the ticks start to bite - in November or December. Then the second vaccine is prescribed after 1-2 months. And only after it, after two weeks, immunity begins to act. The third injection is administered after 12 months, then the vaccination is repeated every three years. Tick-borne encephalitis vaccine in Moscow carried out in budgetary, commercial clinics.
The situation with ticks infected with a no less destructive infection with borreliosis is worse - there is no vaccine for infection. In case of infection, carry out antibiotic therapy. So that the bloodsuckers could not bite a person, for a walk in the forest or park you need to dress accordingly:
- choose closed clothing with long sleeves;
- tuck your pants in socks, a sweater or a shirt in your pants;
- to collect long hair in a ponytail or braid and put on a hat;
- wear solid colored clothing that makes it easier to catch ticks.
Special acaricides as aerosolthat scare away bloodsuckers. It should be remembered that after each visit to nature it is necessary to carefully examine the body for the presence of sucking parasites.