The forest is an excellent place for solitude with nature. But what if, in addition to fresh air and good mood, nature "gave" you another unpleasant surprise in the form of a tiny insect. The tick, imperceptibly glued under the skin, can be a carrier of very dangerous diseases, such as encephalitis and Lyme disease (borreliosis). In time, the measures taken will help prevent disease, or safely cope with life-threatening infections.
Emergency help with a tick bite
The consequences of a tick bite depend on the region in which the insect lives. If the cases of encephalitis or Lyme disease in your location have not been fixed in the last 2 years, most likely, the tick does not pose a high risk. Correctly to remove it is the only task. The solution of this issue is the competence of doctors. Therefore, medical care when biting a tick is necessary in any case.
The doctor removing the mite sends the insect to the laboratory for examination. It is important that the tick remains alive after the removal. So the tests will be more reliable. But there are cases when it is not possible to get to the nearest hospital. In this situation, the mite will have to be obtained independently. If one hundred percent certainty that the tick is healthy, no, it's important to hurry. After infection with borreliosis or occurs 24 hours after the invasion of the parasite. Accordingly, the removal of the tick during the day reduces the risk of getting sick to a minimum.
Emergency help with a tick bite
So, after making a decision on self-removal of the parasite, you need to follow this instruction:
- Prepare a tightly closed container, an ordinary can with a thread and a tin twist cap, tweezers, cotton wool, one toothpick or a flattened match, alcohol or any other antiseptic.
- Wash hands thoroughly.
- It is easy to poke the abdomen of the insect with a toothpick so that it is in a perpendicular state relative to the skin surface.
- Pushing an insect with a toothpick under the abdomen, slow movements need to rotate the tick around its axis.
- Several such movements - and the tick is already on the surface of the skin.
- Using a pair of tweezers, the tick is placed in a jar and closed tightly. Within two days, the insect must go to the nearest hospital for examination.
- Place the bite to be treated with an antiseptic and monitor the wound 21 days.
Instead of a toothpick, you can also use a thin tweezer or a special loop to remove ticks. Such devices already exist on the market. Whatever you use, the main thing remains the principle of "twisting", and not pulling the tick. Damage to the insect during extraction can lead to the fact that its parts remain under the skin, creating a new danger of infection and inflammation of the wound.
First aid after tick bite
The worst is seemingly behind, and you are worried about doubts: were the tests accurate, and did the infection "leak" into your body?
Even the most urgent help with a tick bite does not guarantee any absence of a life-threatening virus in the blood. Concerning encephalitis, which can be infected, even if in a very short time to pull out
Lyme disease can manifest itself three weeks after infection. If you notice that on the 21st day after the tick bite, a red spot with uneven edges appeared on the wound site, you should immediately consult a doctor and begin treatment of borreliosis. A well-healing wound that does not leave any traces after 7-10 days after bite, suggests that Lyme disease has bypassed you.