The Tick... Female tick                                    Male tick Ticks look like small spiders, but they are not. they belong to the family of mites. their body concists out of 1 piece. males are black or brown. a female is black or brown with a little orange. They have eight legs, and they are only a few millimeter in size. When a tick has hoocked herself into your skin it can start to itch. But for some people it doesn't itch at all. It is different from person to person. The spot the tick has attached to the skin can become red. when you look at that red spot maybe you see a tiny black or brown spot, that is the tick. First tick a sitting in an egg. When that egg hatches they are called larve. a larve has 6 legs an not the usual 8 legs from a tick. It chooses often smaller mammals like mice. after that they grow and are called a nymph. A nymph is already a little bigger and has now 8 legs. Then they get adults. In adulthood you only know if it is a male or female. In their nymph state they can already spread diseases. A nymph has already sucked blood and can therefore be infected with bacteria/germs that can make you ill 'Borrelia burgdorferi'. You can't see the nymph very well because it's smaller then one millimeter. The male does not suck blood, only the females do. Ticks suck 3 times blood: firts in their larve state, secondly in their nymph state and last in their adulthood. When the female is grown into adulthood and has sucked blood once she gets fat and she lays eggs. later she dies. There are different spieces of ticks. there are two groups: Hard ticks: These ticks have a hard shell on their back. This kind of ticks are usually living in green lands and forests and is also called sheep- or dog-tick. Soft ticks: They don't have this back shell and they usually live in a nest or den of another animal. They suck mostly blood from birds or bats, but don't refuse a snack from other animals or people. This spieces is also called pigeon- or chicken-tick. Ticks are parasites. A parasite lives from a host. Other examples of parasites are flea, lice and the tapeworm. Living conditions... Ticks like it warm and moist. They live in the heather, in the forest, the dunes, gardens and cityparks, everywhere there is plant vegitation. They live mainly in the springtime because in the summer it can be too warm and in the winter too cold. Ticks don't like too hot temparatures because they can dehydrate then. In the early spring we have most trouble from the nymphs. a young nymph is about 1 millimeter in size, and therfore difficult to spot. they react on changing lighting conditions and warmth of people an animals. They can infact fell us. they are 24 hours per day searching for man and animal to suck blood. The male does not spread diseases because it does not suck blood. When the female has sucked once she can spread the disease for example the disease of 'Lyme'. 'Ixodes Rinicus' or the sheeptick lives in the whole of Europe. Where is the tick living... The tick lives in forests, heather, dunes and in the grass, even in your own garden or playground. The prefer to sit in warm and humid places. The most you can see them in the spring or early or late summer. You can find them in green things like trees, bushes, high grass, parks, gardens and in the forest. In wintertime they crawl in hiding under leaves on the ground. They stay there unbtillthe weather gets better for them, when the sun gets shining again and the temperature raises upto 15 degreece celcius, they come out of hiding again. When the tick can't find a host (animal or man), he again crawls away in hiding under the humid leaves to make sure he does not dehydrate. Where is the ticks living from... The tick lives from blood. Drinking water like you and me and animals do is not the ticks way of life. A tick does not drink but gets it's fluids from the air. The females suck blood, males do not. The tick takes the blood from animals and humans. when you have a tick on you for example after playing in the forest or playground it seeks out a place on your body where your skin is very thin, so the tick can get into your skin easy with her little snout. the ticks snout looks like a tiny saw with tiny teeth. After the tick sucked blood from her host she starts laying eggs in the forest, she can lay upto 2000 eggs. after laying eggs she dies. There are over 800 spieces ticks in the world. How and where can you get a tickbite... When you walk in the forest you can get a tickbite. Mostly when you stroll of the path but sometimes even when you stay nicely on the paths. Everyone who goes into the nature can get a tickbite. On schoolcamp, playing football on the playground or by just lying at the pool sunbading you can get a tickbite, ticks are everywhere around us even in the citypark and in your own garden. Ticks don't fall out of trees, they sit in bushes and grass upto a hight of 1.5 meter above the ground. They wait there for a pray passing by. Ixodus Ricines lives on places where the air is humid and on places with low vegitation. Ticks don't have eyes, so they can't see. neverethe less they know when a man or animal comes close. Ticks react on the higher level of carbonoxide in the air caused by the breathing out of the animals or humans coming. By the warmth of their pray, the spreading of smells and the changing of light conditions they know to find their hosts. When they come along the grass where the tick is sitting and waiting the tick can step over and search for a good spot for sucking blood. Ticks live from blood and are 24 hours per day on the lookout for hosts. How creepy are ticks... you don't have be be scared for ticks but it is not funny. So do't panic and do not fiddle the tick from your skin. Because the change then is real that the tick will break open and that is one way to get infected. Also the tick can spit back blood into your body caused by the frighted effects fiddling has on the tick and that increases the change on infection negetively. Also do not spray or smear alcohol or other intoxicating stuff onto the tick. If you don't trust the situation tell your father, mother, teacher or leader straight away. It can be neccesarry to go to the doctor, he can give you antibiotics. When you are bitten by a tick tell someone an they can get it out for you using a special tick-remover tool or a pincet: Using the special tool for removing ticks is better as a normal pincet! Take the skin so that there will be a small hill from skin, Take the pincet between thumb and index finger and push the pincet open, Place the pincet over the head of the tick, as close as possible to the skin, Remove the tick by turning the pincet. The tiny snout from the tick may break off, when that happens it is not a so big problem it is probably not infected with 'Borrella Burdorferi'. If you are not at home... When you are away for example on camp, tell you leaders about the tickbite, they will remove it for you! Make a notition of the date and place when and where you had a tickbite in your agenda or diary. Be alert for complains like: - flue like signs - the apearring of red circles on the skin (note: not everybody develops these circles, but 50% do !) below you can see few circles, they can look different not all look alike: Because the complain will come later, it is a good idea to make a sheet where you can draw the spots tickbites happened, write the date along the spots. Protection against ticks... When you venture into the forest or into another natural area,it is important to protect yourself. Here some information on how and what you can do to protect yourself: Before you venture into the nature you can grease or spray yourself with "DEET". That is a substance that (not for 100%) protects you against ticks, it scares them off. You can buy it at the pharmacy or the better outdoor shops. It is recommended to use it. Further make sure your clothes are closed, shirt with long sleeves, long trousers are much better then shorts or skirts. and wear a cap or hat. After your adventure or after your football game, beat out all of your clothes, and check yourself all over for ticks or tick bite marks. The illness of 'Lyme'... The illness of Lyme is transfered by tickbites. This illness can cause all kinds of complains like; in the hearth, nerves, musscels and joints. If you had a tickbite and you became infected and you did not go to a doctor and did not get antibiotica it is difficult the get rid of the disease. Try to be prevent and be alert instead. About 30% of the ticks carry the 'Borrelia Burgdorferi' bacteria. If you had the disease you are not protected for it, you always can get infected again. If you had a tickbite you must be alert, because of ticks you can get ill. not everybody will devellop a red circle (Erythema Migrans, E.M.). Thats why you always have to be alert on symptoms like feeling like you have the flue and feeling feverish. always write down the date of a tickbite, thats easy for the doctor to diagnoze and for the treathment. It is important to get the right medicaments (antibiotica) to prevent that you devellop the illness of Lyme. Scientists think that it is also possible that other biting insect can spread the disease of Lyme like: musquito's, flies,lice and the red ant. That is because it can be that they have bitten a man or animal that is already infected with 'Borrelia burgdorferi'. another example can be "a tick bites a mouse and the mouse bites a man. Illness of Lyme symptoms... Often the spot of the tickbite is develloping a red circle. 50% of the people who have a tickbite get it. when this red circle is not getting bigger as a 10 eurocent piece and it disappears within 1-2 weeks, the change is very small that you've got an infection with 'Borrelia burgdorferi'. but you still must be alert on complains directing to the Lyme disease. Therefore it's important to make a note of the spot and date when and where the tickbite happened, complains can comeweeks or months later, the change that you forgot about that tickbite is good possible. Where to pay attention to... - a red cicle develloping on the spot of the tickbite (E.M., Erythema Migrans).[see photo] - flue like symptoms: higher temperature, headache, musscle pains, fatigue. if you having complains like these tell your parents or leaders, a visit to a doctor can be wise then. If you are much too late or not treated at all the following complains can occur: - complains in the joints, paralysis, twinkling in the nerves, nerve pains, suffer from diplopia (seeing double), problems with concentration, an irrigular haerthbeat, ect. The doctor mostly will conduct a bloodtest. in the first 6 weeks after the bite this has no result becuase your body will make anti-bodies after 6 weeks. These anti-bodies are cells in the blood that fight against the intruder cells of the Borrelia bacteria. NOTE: if in your bloodtest nothing is found that points to the disease of Lyme it can still be that you have the disease afterall. The Borrelia bacteria are so smart that they can hide so it's presents is not detected. Not all people will make anti-bodies. and furthermore the tests are not very accurate enough yet to detect always the bacteria. so a negative result is not a 100% garanty you don't have the disease of Lyme. A negative blood test only tells you there are no borrelia bacteria found ! A doctor always first must be alert on the symptoms of the disease. clinical symptoms you call that. Some other diseaes transfered by ticks... Ticks can - next to the disease of Lyme - also transfer other diseases, like: "fruhsommer" (meningo - encephalitis), is caused by a virus. This disease is less common then Lyme. "Fievre Boutonnuese" this disease is common around the meditarranean sea. "Ehrlichia" "Rickettsia" "Babesia" "Bartonella" Jos (Józek).

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