Relaxing in the forest or in the park often brings not only pleasant, but sometimes terrible experiences. Negative emotions from such a pastime may appear if a mother discovers that her beloved son or daughter has been bitten by a tick. Of course, at first this situation seems simply terrifying: a parasite moving in the baby’s body, which slowly but surely penetrates deeper. Today we will find out what measures parents should take if their child is bitten by a tick. What should a mother do in such a situation, where should she run and who should she turn to? This will be discussed in the article.
Methods for extracting an insect
Surely, many parents begin to panic when they discover that their child has been bitten by a tick. What to do? Evgeniy Olegovich Komarovsky, a pediatrician with extensive experience, advises: under no circumstances should you be scared or faint. Mom or dad must take action quickly, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. So, this doctor suggests that parents who decide to independently remove a tick from a child’s body use the following methods, which differ in the means by which the insect will be pulled out:
- Using curved tweezers.
- A special device for removing ticks.
- Using thread.
Removing the parasite from the baby's body with tweezers
What should parents do if their little child is bitten by a tick? What should mom do in this case? If this is an infant, then you need to urgently call a doctor. If the child is older, then initially the parent himself can try to get the insect out of the body of his son or daughter, and only then go to the hospital. It is best to remove this parasite with curved tweezers, but if you don’t have one, you can use regular ones. At the same time, pediatrician E. O. Komarovsky emphasizes that the tick should be taken as close to the proboscis as possible. Then it should be carefully pulled up, while rotating the insect in the appropriate direction (whichever is convenient). If you try to pull this parasite out, there is a high probability of it bursting.
What to do if you are bitten by a tick?
The best advice for parents who find a tick attached to their child is not to panic and remain calm.
There are simple steps you can take to remove a tick. There are several things that should not be done if a child is bitten by a tick.
- DO NOT use petroleum jelly, nail polish, rubbing alcohol, or any other caustic substance on the tick;
- DO NOT hold a lit match near a tick;
- DO NOT squeeze or apply pressure to the tick.
Doing any of these actions may inadvertently cause the tick to spew more saliva, which carries Borrelia bacteria and other infections into the child's body.
Unlike mosquitoes, ticks like to attach by burying their heads in the skin. If you notice a tick on your child's skin, here's what to do:
- First, try a warm, wet cotton ball. Soak a cotton ball in warm soapy water and place it on the bite site for 30 seconds. When you remove the cotton ball, the mite should come out with it.
- If this doesn't work, try removing the tick with tweezers. Use fine-tipped tweezers to grab the tick very close to the skin without crushing it. Pull with gentle, steady pressure upward from the skin. Keep the pressure steady. Do not twist or jerk, as this may cause the tick to rupture, leaving the proboscis embedded in the skin.
- After a while, you will suddenly feel the tick free your skin. Don't panic and don't throw the tweezers! Carefully place the tick in a plastic bag or jar and close the container. Place a small, damp cotton ball in the container with the tick removed to keep the tick from drying out before submitting for testing.
- If you pull out a tick but the proboscis is still in the skin, do not try to pull it out. Head to the nearest hospital to have it completely removed.
- Immediately rinse the area with warm water and apply any antiseptic you have. Note the location of the bite and trace it with a ballpoint pen so you remember where it is.
The child was bitten by a tick. What to do? Treatment at home using a special tool
Therapy within the walls of your own apartment involves removing the parasite. Elimination of insects can be carried out using a special device
This device has an advantage over conventional tweezers: the body of the insect is not pinched, the contents of the parasite are not poured into the wound, and this, in turn, reduces the risk of the child contracting an infection. Today, the Uniclean Tich Twister device has proven itself to be excellent. We will describe how to use it below:
- First you need to choose a hook that matches the size of the tick.
- Having chosen a suitable rod, you need to approach the insect with it from the flat side of the body. The tick should be hooked into the slot of the hook until the parasite is supported on the device.
- The final stage: you need to lift the hook and turn it 2 or 3 turns.
Prohibition techniques
Now we will find out what a mother or father whose child has been bitten by a tick should not do. What to do in a situation when such a tiny creature bites into the body of your own son or daughter? Parents should be clearly aware of the prohibitive techniques:
- Do not pull the tick sharply or too hard, as this can lead to rupture of its body. And as a result, the proboscis may remain in the skin, and only a doctor can remove it from there.
- Do not remove this arachnid with dirty hands or tools.
- Do not squeeze the insect or try to crush it before pulling it out.
— It is forbidden to pour vinegar, gasoline, alcohol and other chemical and aggressive liquids on it.
- Under no circumstances should you burn this tiny creature with a lighter or match before removing it.
Parents' actions after removing an insect
If the mother pulled out this representative of the arachnids at home, then she must now take care of the child’s health. What to do if a child is bitten by a tick, the parent now knows (it is necessary to quickly remove it from the skin), but not many people probably know what further actions the mother should take. So, after removing this insect, your son or daughter must treat the bite site with any antiseptic, for example, hydrogen peroxide, iodine or alcohol. Under no circumstances should a tick be destroyed immediately. Mom must send dad to the laboratory to examine the insect to make sure it was not a carrier of a dangerous disease. For transportation you will need an ordinary jar with a lid, inside of which you should place damp paper or cloth. This is necessary to create favorable conditions for the insect so that it does not die on the way to the laboratory. Within two days, the parent must deliver the tick to the experimental research facility.
Preventing tick bites
The first and most important thing is to try to prevent a tick bite.
1. Stick to the middle of a well-trodden path. Ticks love to live in tall grassy areas and cling to clothing when you walk touching the grass or sit on a log under a tree.
Make sure children do not wander into tall grass or bushes.
2. Wear the right clothes when going outdoors. Ticks may crawl under your shorts or under your shirt to find a nice, warm place to bite.
Be sure to dress your child in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Pants should be tucked into socks and shirt into trousers to reduce potential entry points. Lighter clothing and socks make it easier to find ticks on clothing before they find their way to the surface of the skin. So you can brush off the parasite before it can bite your baby.
3. Frequently use a safe and effective insect repellent that works against ticks.
Several studies have found that various essential oils are effective in repelling and neutralizing mites. According to a 2004 study, lemon and eucalyptus extracts are effective in reducing the risk of tick bites. A 2008 study found tansy essential oils to be highly effective in repelling ticks (up to 64 - 72%). Other essential oils that can be effective repellents include rose geranium, clove, lavender, and rose.
No matter what oil product you decide to use, it should be applied frequently, every 2 to 3 hours or more often. For example, after swimming. Remember, essential oils are effective because of their scent. If you can't smell it, the tick probably won't either.
4. Frequently check clothing for ticks.
Ideally, you will find a tick crawling on your child's clothing before it can bite and simply remove it. But the sooner you find a tick after the bite, the less time it will have to transmit saliva, which contains Borrelia bacteria and other harmful organisms. And the less likely it is that the child will get Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.
Just because a tick carries Borrelia and bites a child does not mean that child will have Lyme disease. Although it is not entirely clear how long a tick needs to be in the skin to transmit infection, it is clear that the longer it is attached, the higher the risk of transmission.
Previously, it was believed that a tick had to be attached for more than 24 hours to transmit Lyme disease. But now it has become known that just a few hours may be enough. Although the risk is much greater if the tick has been attached to the child’s skin for more than a day. Therefore, early detection and removal of ticks is key to preventing Lyme disease.
Always take time during a walk in a wooded area to periodically check your body and your child for ticks. Carefully check behind the ears and in them, on the back of the head, in the hair, run your hands over the baby’s entire head. Look under your shirt collar and in your armpits. Check the waist under your pants and any other possible entry points. If you are bitten, you may find something that looks like dirt or a new mole that you hadn't noticed before. The larva is the smallest form of mites and is most common in the spring/summer, about the size of a poppy seed.
5. As soon as you return home, remove your child's clothes and wash them in hot water. Give your child a bath immediately to wash away any ticks that are not yet fully attached, and do another thorough check for bugs after the bath. Proceed as carefully as possible. Ticks love warm, moist, dark areas of the body, so check hidden areas, especially the ears, hair, scalp, abdomen, armpits, groin, or areas where clothing has been pressed against the skin.
Borreliosis
Forest ticks are the main carriers of such a serious problem as borreliosis, or Lyme disease. As a result of a child being bitten by such a dangerous insect, the cells of the central nervous system, skin, heart, and musculoskeletal system soon begin to be affected in a boy or girl.
The signs of this disease are:
— Redness of the skin in the area of the parasite bite.
- Slow enlargement of the red spot.
— Transformation of the bite site from a rounded spot into a ring, in which in the center there is a pale bluish-colored nucleus.
What to do if an infant is bitten by a tick that is a carrier of such a dangerous disease? Parents must first call an ambulance, which will take the baby and the mother to the hospital. In the future, an infectious disease specialist will treat the baby. Emergency treatment for borreliosis includes taking the baby special medications prescribed by the doctor.
If the mother did not take prompt measures and consult a doctor, the disease will be permanent, which will subsequently lead the child to disability.
Signs of a bite
After a walk in nature, you must take a shower and fully examine your body. Since these insects cannot jump or fly, they enter the human body from the lower part of the body. Once on the legs, the parasites begin to move upward, and where they find access to the body, they usually bite. This could be the stomach, groin, back, armpits, neck, and even the head. Children who are in the arms of their mother are also subject to attack, since the insect can very easily crawl onto the baby and inflict a bite.
For the first 2-3 hours, there is no reaction from the body, which greatly complicates the detection procedure; all that can be noticed is a small black dot on the body. Each body reacts to a bite in its own way and symptoms manifest differently in each person.
Most often accompanied by an increase in body temperature, which can rise to 38°C. Joint pain also appears, the child feels weak and drowsy. The lymph nodes become enlarged and the heart rate increases. Itching appears at the site of the bite, severe redness of the skin and a rash may occur.
Remember that all these symptoms are individual, and the period of their manifestation is also individual, it all depends on the body and its characteristics. For some people, the attack is completely asymptomatic. There are cases where a severe allergic reaction was observed, which was accompanied by vomiting, headache and suffocation.
Tick-borne encephalitis
The first signs of a human being affected by this type of parasite often appear 10 days after the insect takes root in the human body. During this time, the infection easily penetrates the blood of a boy or girl. Symptoms of tick-borne encephalitis are:
- General and muscle weakness in the neck, upper and lower extremities.
- Feeling of numbness in the facial area.
— Body temperature begins to rise.
- The appearance of nausea and vomiting.
- Severe headache.
- Redness of the skin of the face, neck, eyes and oral mucosa.
What to do if a child is bitten by an encephalitis tick and the child develops the above symptoms? The mother should urgently contact an infectious disease doctor or a pediatrician at the clinic, and she and the baby should be allowed out of turn. She can also come to the emergency department of the infectious diseases hospital. And if her son or daughter is in serious condition, she should immediately call an ambulance.
Diagnosis of encephalitis includes a laboratory test of the victim's blood.
Tick vaccination for children
Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis includes two vaccinations with an interval of 1-4 months. Repeated vaccinations should be given after three years, for children over 12 years old - every five years. Vaccination is strictly contraindicated for children under one year of age. Pediatricians recommend giving appropriate injections to children after 2-3 years of age.
Vaccination does not guarantee that a child will not be bitten by a tick. But even if an encephalitis tick bites a vaccinated baby, the latter will not become infected, or the infection will be mild and without dangerous consequences.
The vaccine cannot be given if the baby is allergic to protein and chicken meat, has kidney and liver diseases, during the flu, high fever or other illness. In addition, vaccination may cause a temporary negative reaction. First of all, these are swelling, redness and compaction at the injection sites. Do not lubricate or cover areas of skin with adhesive tape!
Also, after vaccination, children may experience headaches and muscle pain, rapid pulse, disturbances in appetite and sleep.
In rare cases, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If the vaccine is given for the first time, a mild allergic reaction sometimes appears on the skin. The listed symptoms are not dangerous for children and go away on their own after 3-4 days. Subscribe to our VKontakte group
