table of contents
- Host finding
- Tick bite
- Symptoms
A tick bite is often only noticed by chance. This is because you cannot feel the bite and the arachnids are so small that we can barely see them on the skin. In addition, ticks are daily resp. can bite into the skin for weeks, which is why it is often difficult to recapitulate when it happened. However, if the tick has been discovered, fear increases, because tick bites are considered dangerous.
Host finding
To get to a host, ticks follow two different strategies, depending on the species. The so-called Lurker, like the common wood tuck, climb a blade of grass or a bush and wait for a potential host to come by. If he touches the tick, it will hold on to him. The so-called Hunters actively look for hosts and move five to eight meters per hour.
Once the tick is on the host, it crawls around on the body until she has found a suitable place to suck blood, because ticks are very good at this picky. From the point of view of the arachnids, the best spots for the puncture are
- damp,
- warmth,
- well supplied with blood and
- thin skin
own. This is why ticks bite people particularly often
- in the hollow of the knee,
- at the hairline,
- in the groin and
- behind the ears
to. But these are only the preferred places, because ticks are (and have been) found in all possible and impossible places on the human body.
Tick bite
A tick bite is actually a tick bite. It occurs when the tick gains access to the blood. To get at the blood, ticks use their suction and lancing device. Bite or cut into the skin first. Then they insert the hypostome, a type of proboscis with barbs, into the skin and start sucking blood.
Note: Noticed or noticed the actual tick bite. You don't feel that when the ticks bite, they secrete a substance that numbs the puncture site.
Since the ticks go to work unnoticed by humans, you will only recognize the parasite when it has already bitten itself. But it is also possible that you do not even notice the arachnid on your body and you only notice the tick bite when it has already left you. As a rule, the males only suckle for a few days. The females, who also need the blood for egg formation, can, however, suckle on you for several weeks.
Symptoms
A tick bite goes unnoticed for the time being, as the arachnids secrete a salivary secretion before they start to eat. Do not let the subsequent suction be felt:
an anticoagulant to prevent the hypostome from becoming blocked
- Adhesive for firmly anchoring the mouthparts in the skin
- Anesthetic to prevent itching and similar symptoms of a sting
- anti-inflammatory agent to prevent the body's defenses
The fact that you cannot feel the tick bite is not particularly bad, as the bite itself is not dangerous for humans. You can recognize a tick bite by the following symptoms, which, however, usually only appear after the animal has fallen off again:
- itching
- Swelling
- chills
- flu-like signs
The tick bite only becomes dangerous when the tick transmits pathogens in this way. In this way, TBE viruses and Borrelia, which can cause serious infectious diseases, get into the human body unnoticed. Therefore, you should closely observe the location of the tick bite. The incubation period of TBE (early summer meningoencephalitis) lasts about one to two weeks. The first symptoms are those that occur in one Tick bite can occur very similarly. You can usually recognize Lyme disease by the so-called. Wandering redness. This is a ring-shaped reddening around the bite.
