Hyalomma tick bite: what to do, symptoms, diseases

In Europe the alarm is sounding: Great Britain, Malta, Germany, Sweden, Spain (including the Balearic Islands) and Southern Italy filled huge ticks Hyalomma lusitanicum, which migrated from the hot regions of Africa and Southeast Asia. This species is aggressive, which greatly increases the risk of contracting the deadly viral diseases it carries. Doctors told Lenta.ru how dangerous these blood-sucking creatures are, whether they can reach Russia and how to protect themselves from tick attacks.

Can mutant ticks reach Russia?

Of the variety of ticks, three types are especially dangerous: ixodid, argasid and gamasid. The most numerous among them are ixodids, said Olga Shipulina, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Director of the Department of Molecular Genetic Research at the LabQuest medical company, and clinical laboratory diagnostics physician.

The Hyalomma lusitanicum ticks, which frightened Europeans, are specifically related to ixodid ticks. They are indeed larger in size and somewhat more active than their counterparts living in forests and taiga. At the same time, there are other ixodid ticks in Russia: they can be found in the Astrakhan, Rostov, Volgograd regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories, Kalmykia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Karachay-Cherkess and Kabardino-Balkarian republics.

For humans, the danger is posed by adult individuals of this species, which can be carriers of a viral disease such as Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, as well as rickettsia – bacterial infections, including Siberian tick-borne typhus, Boutonnese fever and Q fever.

According to Shipulina, the appearance of ticks of the species Hyalomma lusitanicum in Central Russia can be expected taking into account climate change and the migration of migratory birds. “Immature individuals, that is, nymphs, usually feed on the blood of rodents, hares and birds, with which they can migrate to other regions, transmitting the infection,” the doctor explained.

However, it is difficult to make accurate forecasts: many factors can affect this, including weather conditions and precautions taken in the country.

According to Natalya Vasilyeva, an epidemiologist at the Hadassah clinic in Skolkovo, ticks can enter new territories on animals brought for sale or other purposes.

In addition, to maintain the population in a new territory, a change in climatic conditions—warming—is necessary. But the process of migration of new species takes a long time

Natalya Vasilyevaepidemiologist

At the same time, virologist, chemist-technologist, director of the department for expert assessment of healthcare and pharmaceutical industry of the Expert Council of the Russian Federation, general director of the accredited testing laboratory OLFARM LLC Sergei Vostrukhov considered that mutant ticks will not be able to get into Russia, because now between the countries where they were found , and Russia does not have a large tourist flow.

According to the expert, the spread of new dangerous ticks in Europe is associated with short distances and huge flows of people who move between holiday destinations by car, traditionally not paying attention to sanitary safety measures.

At the same time, the speed of movement of ticks is very low, and they are not able to move across several borders, even if they cling to clothing, they will simply die on the road

Sergey Vostrukhovvirologist

What diseases do ticks carry?

Vostrukhov said that in nature there are over 45 thousand species of ticks; this is one of the most common types of arthropods in nature, adapted to existence in different conditions.

In Russia, ticks are quite active: according to Rospotrebnadzor, since the beginning of 2024, about four thousand people bitten by ticks have contacted medical organizations. Most often, assistance was needed by residents of the Krasnodar, Stavropol territories, Rostov, Kaliningrad, Lipetsk, Pskov regions, Crimea, DPR and St. Petersburg. In total, ticks managed to bite residents of 80 regions of the country.

Ticks carry about fifty diseases of a viral and bacterial nature. The most dangerous of them are tick-borne encephalitis, borreliosis (Lyme disease), granulocytic anaplasmosis, monocytic ehrlichiosis and tick-borne spotted fever. Viral diseases include encephalitis and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, other infections are bacterial.

According to Vasilyeva, usually hemorrhagic Congo-Crimean fever is carried by wild small mammals: wood mouse, small gopher, brown hare, long-eared hedgehog. And from them diseases are transmitted to ticks.

The doctor clarified that not all ticks are carri
ers of infections. According to her, the bite of a healthy parasite in itself does not pose a health hazard. However, it is impossible to recognize an infected tick by external signs, so every bite should be taken seriously and always seek medical help.

The doctor warned that mixed infections are especially dangerous – that is, a condition in which a tick is infected with several infections at once. Mixed infections are more severe, more difficult to treat and more often cause complications, including death. According to Vasilyeva, about 20 percent of ticks can be carriers of mixed infections.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

According to Shipulina, to protect yourself from bites, you need to follow a few simple recommendations. First of all, wear the most closed, light-colored clothing with cuffs, on which the crawling parasite will be noticeable. Also, we must not forget about neck and head protection. It is imperative to use repellents and conduct regular self-examinations when out in nature, as you may not feel a tick bite.

Epidemiologist Vasilyeva also recommended not to bring bouquets from the forest and not to lie down on the grass while resting. “Ticks can crawl off pets, so it’s important to protect them too,” the specialist said.

What to do if you are bitten by a tick?

If it was not possible to avoid the bite, you need to carefully remove the parasite using a lasso pen or other special devices that are sold at the pharmacy, Shipulina noted. The tick should be placed in a container and taken for analysis to determine infections. Ideally, the parasite should be kept alive. After removing the tick, the bite site must be treated with an antiseptic.

Vasilyeva advised removing ticks in a medical facility. According to her, doctors will do this more competently. If a person living in an endemic area is affected, preventive immunization is recommended. If, after a laboratory test, it becomes clear that the tick was infected, the person affected by its bite may be prescribed chemoprophylactic treatment with antibiotics, the epidemiologist concluded.