The council offers a range of tips on how to avoid tick bites

This Saturday, the Junta of Castilla y Leon issued a statement recommend citizens who take extreme precautions in summer to avoid contact with pliers which can produce biteswhich are more severe in the summer, and while most are “harmless, some can have serious health consequences,” such as Lyme disease or Crimean-Congo fever.

According to the Council, the ticks they are on the groundusually hidden in grass or bushes. Each species has different habitat preferences: some are common in woodlands, others prefer open areas with pastures or even dry bushes, and some have adapted to life inside the burrows of their hosts or in human buildings, such as nurseries. Most tick species are active in the warm months, from spring to autumn, since very low temperatures cause them to be inactive, and severe frosts greatly reduce their numbers.

As there is currently no protective vaccine to prevent tick bites when walking in the countryside, the Council makes a number of recommendations. These include: wear dark colored clothes covering ankles and hands, and boots covered with socks, making sure that they cover the bottom of the trousers, if possible, walk in the central part of the paths to avoid contact with surrounding vegetation, avoid sitting on the floor In areas with vegetation use authorized repellents and if you go outside with your pet, use an approved topical antiparasitic agent.

At the end of the day it is recommended to do comprehensive self-examination of the body upon arrival home, find immobile ticks for prompt removal, as the transmission of infections in the first hours is very low. If you remove it yourself, you must do so by pulling it out with fine-tipped tweezers. In case of difficulty or doubt in removing the tick, it is also recommended go to the medical centerwhere it will be extracted correctly. Similarly, it is necessary to observe the following days and if you develop a fever, rash, muscle pain, or red spots on your skin, you should see a doctor.

It should be remembered that only a small percentage of tick bites cause complications and that not all ticks carry diseases or bite humans. In Spain, the most common tick-borne infectious diseases are button fever or Mediterranean exanthematic disease and Lyme and Debone disease. In addition, sporadic cases of tourlemia and Crimean-Congo fever have been described.

In September 2016, the first human case linked to contact with a tick was diagnosed in the province of Avila, as well as a second case in a health worker who treated him in Madrid. In subsequent studies, the presence of the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus was confirmed in ticks caught on wild animals in various municipalities of the autonomous communities of Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Madrid, prompting extreme precautions.

The health portal of the Government of Castile and León provides citizens and health workers with information on both the prevention of tick bites and the diseases for which they are potential vectors of transmission, and in particular on Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, since the best way to prevent these diseases is to follow the above-mentioned recommendations.