Spring time is the season when we again pay attention to nature and it is the time for the insects to wake up and so do the ticks.
A tick is a parasite which lives on worm blooded creatures, mostly domestic animals, but sometimes human beings too. When an animal goes through the grass area, a tick catches on. The ticks are mostly found in humid, high grass and bushes. If you are planning to spend spring holidays in the countryside, we recommend avoiding such places where ticks use as a habitat.
In case you have already noticed a tick on your skin, you can visit our Health Centre where our experts will provide for you the necessary medical assistance. Do not try to remove a tick by yourself, never use alcohol, petroleum or oil for removing a tick, because this will only make the parasite to release more damaging substances. When you have a tick removed by our Health Centre experts, it is necessary to perform a direct test of the insect relating the existence of Lyme disease. In this way, all patients who come to the Health Centre will be provided with an efficient test and test results in very short period of time, so they can take further adequate steps if necessary. However, in some cases health centers may be far from the place you chose for holidays and you decide to remove a tick by yourself. If so, take a pair of pincers (tweezers) and catch the tick proboscis as close to the skin as possible and remove it slowly. Avoid pressing the body of the tick as it may lead to breaking or squeezing of the tick and some part of it will stay under your skin. After the removal of the tick, you have to disinfect the tick bite spot on the skin using medical alcohol. Just to be sure you are safe from Lyme disease, even when you remove a tick by yourself, it is possible to bring the tick to ‘’Dr Ristic’’ Health Centre Laboratory for the analysis. Just put the tick in a glass pot with a piece of cotton inside.
The moment a tick sticks, it starts secreting a sort of anesthetics and this is the reason why we cannot feel it, but notice the parasite only while having a shower or changing our clothing. It is always important to examine well ourselves and our children after spending a day in nature or the countryside. You should pay special attention to some places that are particularly ‘vulnerable’, the places where human skin is thinner – behind ears, on the neck, under the arms, on the belly, on the back side of knees, but also on the back side of the head, considering the fact that a tick sometimes ‘catches’ hair.
This parasite also spreads certain bacteria and viruses on the sting spot as these bacteria and viruses are usually located in tick’s saliva glands or intestines. That is why it is very important to remove a tick completely from the skin. The risk of infection increases as long as the parasite is ‘connected’ to human body, so the best solution is to have it removed within the first 24 hours.
In case you have already noticed a tick on your skin, you can visit our Health Centre where our experts will provide for you the necessary medical assistance. Do not try to remove a tick by yourself, never use alcohol, petroleum or oil for removing a tick, because this will only make the parasite to release more damaging substances. When you have a tick removed by our Health Centre experts, it is necessary to perform a direct test of the insect relating the existence of Lyme disease. In this way, all patients who come to the Health Centre will be provided with an efficient test and test results in very short period of time, so they can take further adequate steps if necessary.
If you decide to remove a tick by yourself, take a pair of pincers (tweezers) and catch the tick proboscis as close to the skin as possible and remove it slowly. Avoid pressing the body of the tick as it may lead to breaking or squeezing of the tick and some part of it will stay under your skin. After the removal of the tick, you have to disinfect the tick bite spot on the skin using medical alcohol. The removed insect should be put in a glass pot with a piece of wet cotton and you can bring it to ‘’Dr Ristic’’ Health Centre Laboratory for the analysis.
The microbiology laboratory analyses that can help discovering the accurate diagnosis include blood analysis of Borrelia burgdorferi and these tests are performed in Dr Ristic Health Centre Laboratory.
Etiology and parthenogenesis
Lyme-borreliosis was described for the first time in 1975, after a number of children from the city of Lyme, Connecticut, USA, were diagnosed youth rheumatic arthritis related directly to ticks bites. Today, Lyme-borreliosis is frequently discovered in localized areas of Europe, USA, former Soviet Union, South Africa, Australia and Asia.
In this country, Lyme disease has become the subject of research and follow up of many experts in various fields of expertise:(clinic experts, microbiologists, epidemiologists, vets, biologists, etc) since the end of 80s in the last century
Borrelia burgdorferi was isolated for the first time in this country in 1992 out of a rodent - Apodemus flavicollis found at the location of Košutnjak forest in Belgrade. This area is close to urban and residential area, so there are conditions for existence of Lyme disease vector. By isolating the borrelia, it has been proven that the area is still focal locality for Lyme borreliosis.
The infectious ticks on the wider area around Belgrade has been permanently monitored for several years already and it has discovered the rate of 30%.of infectious ticks. Such a high level of ticks infection, as well as more and more infected humans resulted in the need for constant improvement of diagnostics procedures and most of all prevention of Lyme disease.
Microbiology and parasitology department of ‘’ Dr Ristić’’ Health Centre
