“I was scared that I would never get out of bed again.” What happens after a tick bite?

If you think that a tick bite is not serious, then you are mistaken. And very strongly. We have collected for you real stories of people who fell ill after an encounter with a bloodsucker, and also learned from a specialist how a tick can infect a person even if it has not bitten him.
“I couldn’t get out of bed and thought it was forever” Valentina Sergeevna from Bereza suffered from tick-borne encephalitis seven years ago. The avid berry eater still cannot understand how she missed the bloodsuckers that attached themselves to her that day in the forest.

- In July, my friend and I went into the forest to pick blueberries. After we left there, we examined each other for ticks - we always do this. They didn’t see anything suspicious,” the woman recalls. “But two days later I was surprised to find a tick on myself and removed it myself. I felt a lump nearby - there was also a tick there, but it had dug into the skin so deeply that I had to go to the clinic for help. There they pulled him out and told him to take antibiotics . I did so, but it got worse: malaise, weakness appeared, and the temperature began to rise.

Valentina Sergeevna took pills and continued to go to work. But it didn't get any easier. During the week, she visited the therapist several more times, but he only prescribed the patient more and more pills, ignoring the information about the tick bite.

“I was only getting worse; due to constant weakness at work, I was so tired that at home I could only lie on the bed - I had no strength for anything else. The temperature dropped briefly and rose again, and slight memory lapses appeared. Over the weekend, I went to Baranovichi with a fever to get tested for tick-borne infections for a fee. And the next day I couldn’t stand it and called an ambulance. That’s how I ended up in the hospital,” says Valentina Sergeevna.

All she remembers about the first days is that she was constantly on IVs, her temperature was jumping, she was so weak that no strength could lift her out of bed.

- I was afraid that I would never get out of bed again. The medical staff encouraged me: I just need to be patient a little more, and everything will pass, I’ll be as good as new. After a few days I was actually able to get up. But she didn’t do this often: she was afraid to fall, because all the time it seemed as if the ground was disappearing from under her feet, the woman says.

After 10 days she was discharged from the hospital. Valentina Sergeevna recalls that severe weakness persisted for about a month. Afterwards, everything gradually began to return to normal.

“And it was still a mild version of tick-borne encephalitis,” she emphasizes. - My neighbor in the country also suffered from it, but for him everything was more complicated. I was in the hospital several times for a month at a time, and it took a long time to rehabilitate. So, consider me, I got off easy!

Nevertheless, only last year Valentina Sergeevna dared to go into the forest again for the first time since 2017.

“I really wanted to pick blueberries,” she explains. “I dreamed about this for a long time, but the fear of contracting some kind of infection again after a tick bite was stronger. I wouldn’t wish what I experienced then on anyone.
“Now I always carry an antibiotic in my pocket.” Even several years later, Veronica cannot say exactly how she became a victim of a tick. After all, she always takes precautions.

- If I go to a place where these bloodsuckers might be, I choose closed clothes with long sleeves. I make sure to tuck my pants into my socks, my sweater into my pants, and put a cap on my HEAD. I treat myself with repellents, and after returning home I examine my body - just in case. But even that didn’t keep me from getting Lyme disease,” she says.

The girl assumes that the infected tick entered her house through her pets - cats, with whom she spent the weekend in the village the day before.

- Most likely, he fell from the cat's fur onto the bed. Because I discovered a spot on my leg that was very itchy in the morning about three days after returning from the village. Then I thought it was a mosquito bite. Only when the spot grew to five centimeters in diameter did I decide to anoint it with iodine so that it would go away faster. Even then, there was a bump at the site of the bite, and a clear outline began to form around the redness. Now I know that this is what erythrema looks like - one of the most common symptoms of Lyme disease, but then I had never even heard of it. At some point, it seemed to me that iodine was helping: the spot stopped itching and seemed to begin to shrink. But when it suddenly grew to full length just overnight, I realized: I urgently needed to go to the DOCTOR,” recalls Veronica.

At the MINSK City Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, they took a skin sample from the affected area and diagnosed her with Lyme disease , also known as borreliosis.

- When I read on the Internet that people actually die from this if they are not treated, I felt uneasy. Only then did I understand how serious everything was,” the girl admits. Antibiotic

treatment lasted three months. After that story, Veronica made an important conclusion for herself: after visiting places where there may be ticks, pets also need to be examined. She also made it a rule to always carry antibiotics with her, recommended for prevention after a tick bite. From spring to autumn they lie in her pocket. He says it's calmer this way.
Entomologist: “You can become infected with a tick-borne infection not only through a bite” Entomologist of the State Institution “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Leninsky District of Minsk” Svetlana Shimanskaya notes: the bite of an ixodid tick is just one of the possible variants of infection. In fact there are more of them.

- You can also become infected through microtraumas on the skin when removing a tick with unprotected hands or by accidental crushing, when it comes into contact with the conjunctiva of the eye, and you can become infected with tick-borne encephalitis even through homemade unboiled goat’s MILKand products made from it. Just two or three minutes of boiling is enough for the virus in such milk to die, the doctor clarifies . - By the way, ticks get on the human body not only during walks in the forest or a picnic in the tall grass. They can easily enter a house with clothes, a bouquet of wild flowers, a basket of mushrooms and other things brought from the forest.

Svetlana Arkadyevna, having heard Veronica’s story, agrees: ticks could easily have been brought into her apartment by pets. In fact, this happens not so rarely.

- Therefore, be sure to examine not only yourself, but also your pets every hour during the walk and immediately after it. Walk dogs on a leash in designated walking areas. Don’t forget that collars treated with repellents, as well as acaricidal drops that are rubbed into the animal’s withers, can protect them from ticks, advises the entomologist.

She advises people who have been bitten by a tick to immediately take a broad-spectrum antibiotic once without delay:

- The greatest effectiveness of chemoprophylaxis is achieved in the first 72 hours from the moment the tick bites. But the sooner this is done, the better.

The doctor recommends going to the clinic even if you managed to get rid of the tick yourself:

- They will not only prescribe preventive treatment , but will also establish medical supervision. Victims should themselves pay increased attention to their HEALTH for a month after a tick bite. If you feel unwell, weak, have a fever, a spot appears at the site of a tick bite, headache, or muscle pain, you should immediately consult a doctor.

In general, ticks carry nine infectious agents, including tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme borreliosis, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, fever, and rickettsiosis, but only the first two of these are registered in Belarus every year. Moreover, Lyme disease is much more common than tick-borne encephalitis, so ticks are mainly examined for infection with its pathogens.

- Examination of a removed tick is recommended for those who have contraindications to taking antibiotics . In other cases, this happens on a paid basis at will,” notes Svetlana Shimanskaya.

She also reminds that there is a vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis. Our clinics now use the drug "Tick-e-vac", which is suitable for both adults and children over one year of age. But, alas, it is not yet possible to get vaccinated against Lyme disease all over the world. The vaccine is still being developed.

According to statistics, about 200 people suffer from tick-borne encephalitis in Belarus every year
, and more than 2 thousand suffer from Lyme borreliosis. In total, about 50 thousand people apply for help a year.

| Elena Ivashko, newspaper "7 days". Photos from open Internet sources.

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