How to protect yourself from ticks?

Intrusive arachnids that can be a nuisance to anyone who spends time outdoors – ticks. Small, agile and often invisible parasites that burrow into our bodies and feed on our blood. A tick doesn’t have to be a problem if we follow a few tips while outdoors

Clothing matters

Thanks to its mouth apparatus, the tick is able to cut a hole in our skin and then suck itself into it. Moreover, the parasite can feed on humans for up to 15 days. So it looks for warm and soft places such as the armpits and even the genital area. While a tick bite and its feeding is not perceptible to humans, it can be associated with the transmission of various diseases that will affect a person’s entire life. Therefore, it is worth knowing how best to protect yourself from these parasites

Ticks appear in the summer and can be found in forests and meadows. However, recently they have also been seen in city parks, squares and even on housing estate lawns. It is therefore important to wear appropriate clothing when walking. It is important to know that ticks do not fall from trees, as is commonly believed. Instead, they stay on bushes and grasses at a height of up to 1 meter and sometimes even 1.5 m. Therefore, they usually start their tour of our body from our legs. Therefore, remember to wear long pants. In addition, it is worth doing something with the legs. When we enter the tall grass, we can put the pant legs into socks. It is also a good idea to wear high shoes and long-sleeved shirts. All this to prevent the tick from getting to the exposed parts of our skin. Another good idea is to wear light-colored clothes. This will make it easier to spot the parasite on your pants or shirt. This will be a clear signal that we are in a tick habitat and we need to get away as soon as possible, and then at home carefully examine our body

The smell that the tick is afraid of

In addition to wearing appropriate clothing, special tick repellents are a great help. These are available on the market under many names and in various forms. To be sure of the best possible action of the measure, it is worth asking about such measures in the pharmacy. Most often these preparations have an extended action and repel other insects such as nuisance mosquitoes. Therefore, their action is doubly effective. However, you need to remember not to mix different preparations. Insect repellents most often have in their composition such active substances as icardine or DEET. They are toxic to humans, so you must always pay attention to their composition and remember not to mix them during subsequent applications. An alternative to sprays are special wristbands or patches, which work on the same principle as the spray.

Careful observation

Ticks love warm weather – they appear as early as March and lurk for their hosts until October. Sometimes, despite the protection in the form of appropriate clothing or preparations used, the tick finds its way into our blood. Therefore, after each visit to the meadow or forest it is required to carefully examine your body at home. Check armpits, knee bends, abdomen and groin. When you find a tick, do not panic. There are many proper techniques to get rid of a tick, but the best is to go to the nearest ED. Skilled medical professionals know how to deal with the parasite. And especially how to remove it from our skin to avoid tick rash. Despite the fact that there is no one hundred percent protection against tick attack, it is worth following the above rules to minimize the encounter with this extremely dangerous parasite