Protect yourself from ticks

Ticks can carry two main diseases: encephalitis, meningitis agent, and borreliosis, Lyme disease.

Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis

Vaccination protects us from encephalitis. Person must be vaccinated three times at specified intervals. Protection against encephalitis is developed after the second vaccination, which can be done 1-3 months after the first one (for a quicker result, the second vaccination can be carried out in 2 weeks). In order to secure the protection, the third vaccination should be carried out after 5-12 months (for children under 16 years – after 9-12 months) after the second vaccination. Revaccination must be done after 3 years.

Lyme disease

As there is no vaccine against Lyme disease, precautions should be taken to avoid contact with ticks. The most common symptom of being infected with Lyme disease is a round redness of the skin with raised edges about 3-4 cm in diameter, which appears at the site of a tick bite after 1-4 weeks and disappears shortly. If you find such redness, contact your doctor immediately.

Precaution when going in nature

If you are planning to go for a walk in the forest or to a place with bushes and tall grass, we recommend that you take some precautions to protect yourself from contact with ticks:

wear light clothes so that the ticks are easily visible on them;
the cuffs and collar must be tight so that the ticks cannot get beneath them;
wear closed shoes and put the ends of your pants into your socks;
wear a hat or a scarf on your head;
before the walk spray your clothing and open body parts with a special aerosol against ticks;
after the walk carefully check your clothing and your body.

If the tick is attached to your skin

The tick should be removed as soon as possible. If possible, contact your nearest medical institution or family doctor. If this is not possible, the tick should be removed on your own. It is important to do it correctly:

place a cotton wool moistened in alcohol or alcohol solution to the tick and hold for a few minutes. In no case may oil be used;
using tweezers, catch hold of the tick as close as possible to the proboscis and pull out by bringing it upwards (a special vacuum suction device or a thread may be used instead of tweezers, wrapping it around the proboscis of the tick);
the wound must be treated with a disinfectant solution;
if the proboscis is left in the skin, it cannot be left there. Seek help in the nearest medical institution.

Protect yourself from ticks