Where do ticks live, what are they for, and who feeds on them?

What harm do they do?

The most dangerous ticks for both people and animals are ixodid ticks.
And in first place among them is the taiga (encephalitis) tick, which is a carrier of encephalitis, borreliosis, ehrlichiosis and other equally dangerous diseases. Since these arthropods feed exclusively on blood, infection occurs after a bite; viruses and pathogens of terrible diseases enter the victim’s body along with saliva. In addition to blood-sucking arachnids, human health can be threatened by subcutaneous, scabies and other mites, which are carriers of such unpleasant diseases as scabies, dermatitis and others.

Not only parasitic mites harm humans, but also saprophages, which are quite harmless at first glance. Moreover, the possibilities of these arthropods are almost limitless, due to their tiny size, extraordinary vitality and enormous fertility. There are no places that are inaccessible to them; they are in gardens, orchards, in ponds, in food, on beds, in sofas, in a word - everywhere.

• Flour mite - feeds on flour, grain, cereals and is capable of destroying a lot of food.
• Dust mite - eats the remains of the epidermis, dust, and is often the culprit of asthma in people, especially in people with allergies.
• Ear mites - mainly cats and dogs suffer from it, experiencing incredible itching and scratching their ears until they bleed.
• Spider mites are a threat to gardeners and indoor plant lovers. If measures are not taken in time, it can destroy the plants completely.

Why are ticks needed in nature? Apparently, in order to occupy a clearly assigned ecological niche and fulfill their direct responsibilities that appeared to them in the process of evolution.

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What do ticks eat?

According to their diet, ticks are divided into:

• saprophages, they feed on organic debris,
• predators that feed on the blood of people and animals that are parasites.

Saprophage mites do not pose a threat; moreover, they also bring benefits, as they participate in the formation of humus.

Blood-sucking ticks are a completely different matter; these parasitic ticks wait for the victim, hiding in ambush on blades of grass and tree branches. Then they quietly jump onto her body, using paws equipped with special suction cups, attach themselves to the victim’s body and slowly drink blood from it. It is interesting that not only various large animals and humans, but also other herbivorous mites or thrips can become victims of ticks.

A tick bite is very dangerous, as they can be carriers of various diseases, especially encephalitis. Despite their unpretentiousness in food (as we wrote above, some ticks can go without it for up to three years), they can be incredibly voracious and can sometimes even increase in weight up to 120 times!

Also, in addition to blood-sucking ticks, there are ticks that feed on plant sap; these ticks sometimes cause great harm to agriculture. There are granary mites that eat flour and grain, ear mites that feed on juice from the ear canals, and subcutaneous mites that feed on the fat found in human hair follicles.

What is the significance of ticks?

First of all, they act as a regulator of the population of various arthropods - moreover, some types of mites are even used to combat agricultural pests, as well as insects that cause harm to forestry.

They also participate in soil formation processes, but at the same time they can spoil plants, flour and cereals. And yet, as far as the soil is concerned, their benefits are undeniable: these insects play an important role in the process of decomposition of animals and plants, as well as their subsequent humification.

Thanks to them, the porosity of the soil increases, and beneficial microorganisms spread throughout it. In addition, mites act as soil sanitizers: they eat harmful insects, their fellow parasites and some microorganisms, thus cleaning the soil

Without them, these processes would take place completely differently. In addition, they can also clean plants by eating spores of epiphytic fungi and various parasites that settle on them. So they have long been successfully used to combat such troubles.

Interestingly, it is thanks to ticks that warm-blooded animals (including humans) develop immunity to a number of dangerous diseases. True, for this a person must constantly be in the forest. In addition, the activity of these insects makes it possible to contain pandemics of dangerous infections - this is due to the fact that they have the ability to contain the infection by destroying its emerging foci.

They are also part of the important food chain as they are eaten by many birds. Thus, they are part of a natural cycle, and the destruction of this species of insects would lead to the death of a large number of birds.

How to protect yourself from ticks

Despite all the dangers that a tick bite brings, you should not give up walking in the fresh air. In order to protect yourself and your pets from tick bites, it is enough to follow simple rules of protection:

• wear closed clothing with long sleeves and elastic cuffs, such as a tracksuit;
• prefer clothes made of light-colored fabric, as it is easier to spot ticks;
• use special sprays that are marked as suitable for protection against ticks;
• use special tick collars for dogs and cats;
• When you come home, carefully examine yourself and your pets for ticks.

In humans, ticks are most likely to be found in the groin, behind the ears, armpits and on the stomach. In animals - in the neck, abdomen, and also in places where the fur is thickest.

This year my dog ​​was bitten by several ticks, and they all burrowed into the neck area, where her furry “collar” is. Walking with my child in the spring, I was worried that my daughter wouldn’t be bitten by a tick. Of course, we have an insurance policy for such a case, but we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. When getting ready for a walk, I put the girl on a turtleneck with a high collar and long sleeves and tucked it into tights, and on top - regular pants and a windbreaker with sleeves with elastic bands. On the head - a hat. Thus, the only exposed areas of the body were the face and hands.

Protecting your home from mites, including dust mites and bed mites, is very simple. This does not require any special effort; it is enough to simply keep the house clean, avoid the formation of dust accumulations, and periodically wash or dry clean mattresses and bedding.

Why is the taiga tick dangerous for humans?

The taiga tick is a carrier of a number of infections. Viruses come to them from small animals through the blood during a bite. There is no threat to carriers, but infection can cause serious harm to human health. Some diseases were identified not so long ago; parasitologists periodically identify new infections and look for methods to combat them.

The most terrible diseases resulting from the bite of an infected tick:

• Tick-borne encephalitis: the virus affects the central nervous system, sometimes the brain, infection can lead to paralysis, disability and even death. Symptoms usually appear between 7 and 14 days after the bite, most often expressed by high fever, muscle weakness, facial numbness, chills, fever, migraine, nausea, and vomiting.
• Lyme disease or borreliosis: the causative agent of the disease is Borrelia bacteria. After infection, usually within two weeks, they multiply and penetrate the brain, heart, joints and other internal organs, affecting the central nervous system. A sign of infection is redness around the bite site and an expansion of the area of ​​redness up to 10 cm. People do not die from borreliosis, but the disease can lead to disability or become chronic and cause a lot of trouble.
• Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA): an acute infectious febrile disease caused by anaplasma bacteria. Symptoms are similar to the flu, bronchitis, pneumonia: high fever, sore throat, cough, abdominal pain, and liver dysfunction. In most cases, treatment is mild, but deaths have also been recorded due to low immunity.
• Human monocytic ehrlichiosis: an infection caused by microorganisms called ehrlichia. They affect the skin, bone marrow and again the central nervous system. Symptoms: fever, rash, dizziness, temperature, vomiting, loss of appetite, insomnia. The disease can lead to death by affecting vital organs to such an extent that they cease to function.

They also carry tick-borne typhus, Q fever, and tularemia.

Tick ​​eggs.

At the end of spring or beginning of summer, the female tick, having had enough of blood, lays a clutch of 2.5-3 thousand eggs. What do tick eggs look like? The egg is a fairly large cell relative to the size of the female, consisting of cytoplasm and a nucleus, and covered with a two-layer shell, which is painted in a variety of colors. Tick ​​eggs can have completely different shapes - from round or oval, to flattened and elongated.

What do tick eggs look like?

Surprising is the fact that many varieties of ticks are absolutely unpretentious to living conditions. They can settle almost anywhere, even in fresh and marine waters.

What diseases are spread by ticks?

The fight against ticks has been carried out for many years. We studied not only the behavior of these insects, but also a wide range of infectious diseases that they can provoke:

1. Encephalitis. This is usually a neuroinfection that occurs with very serious symptoms, including deafness, paralysis of the limbs, convulsions, and respiratory failure. If a case of encephalitis tick bite is diagnosed late, then a fatal outcome is possible. The disease occurs in three main forms: febrile, meningeal, focal. The highest risk of infection is the spring-summer period, when insect activity is quite high. It is during this period that professional tick control should be carried out at a particularly active pace.

2. Northern piroplasmosis. The disease is mild, practically without any pronounced symptoms, but this is typical only for those people who have a properly functioning immune system. Deaths are also common, and they are usually preceded by fever, abdominal pain, and yellowing of the skin. The main treatment is antibiotic therapy.

3. Hemorrhagic fever. This is an acute viral disease, the occurrence of which is provoked by blood-sucking ticks. The infection enters the body through insect bites or through existing wounds on the skin. During the illness, intestinal bleeding, damage to the nervous system, improper functioning of the kidneys, headaches and muscle pain are observed. Immunoglobulins are usually used for treatment.

In fact, this is just the tip of the iceberg... There are many more diseases caused by tick bites or interactions with these insects. Fortunately, only a few of them are common in Russia and in particular the Moscow region, but this does not mean that the fight against ticks is not relevant.

Specialists

Tick ​​control will be carried out using the most effective chemicals and other drugs. We guarantee that after treating a plot of land or a specific premises, dangerous insects will not return in the near future. But in order to protect yourself as reliably as possible from ticks, you need to periodically carry out preventive actions (wet cleaning, control of clutter in the area, mowing grass and weeds, timely collection of fallen leaves and removal of them from the site).

Every year the distribution area of ​​ticks increases, there are more and more of them. Along with them, the number of deadly diseases transmitted to animals and humans by these dangerous predators is also growing.

Today it is easy to pick up a tick in a city square or park, on a personal plot and in a garden. Creatures in chitinous shells are increasingly compressing the ring around a person.

You can learn about what a tick eats and its habits by reading this article.

Where can I take a tick for analysis? Moscow laboratories

Listed below are laboratories where you can submit ticks for analysis in Moscow and the Moscow region; they conduct tests for encephalitis, borreliosis and other infections.

1. FBUZ "Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the City of Moscow": metro station Alekseevskaya, Grafsky lane, building 4 (entrance from the yard, 2nd floor). Telephone
2. Branch of the Federal State Institution "Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Moscow": metro station 1905 Goda Street, Krasnogvardeisky Boulevard, building 17 building 1. Telephone: 8 (499) 256-24-40
3. Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis: Moscow Region, Vnukovo, Moskovsky village. Telephone
4. Children's Clinical Hospital No. 13 named after Filatov: metro station Barrikadnaya, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya street, building 15. Telephone
5. Infectious Clinical Hospital No. 2: Sokolinaya Gora metro station, 8th Sokolinaya Gora Street, building 15. Telephone

Benefits of arachnids

Despite the fact that people are prejudiced against ticks, there are still benefits from them. In nature and in various industries, they can provide significant assistance:

• While causing enormous damage to agriculture, they still have a positive role. Being mostly saprophages in their diet, they improve the soil by feeding on the decaying remains of plants and animals.
• Predatory representatives of this class are used to exterminate other arachnids, which suck all the juice from plants, destroying most of the crop.
• They can also rid a plant affected by spores of parasitic fungi.
• Scientists have long been interested in the enzymes contained in the saliva of arthropods. Anticoagulants, as they are also called, prevent blood clotting.
• Some types of cheese are made by attaching a microscopic mite to the rind of the product at the beginning of its ripening. This allows cheese makers to obtain a unique pattern and specific aroma, makes it porous, which allows the cheese to breathe throughout the entire ripening process.

Representatives of the arachnid class are part of the food chain and an important link in the ecosystem. For example, the favorite delicacy of some birds and frogs can be called.

Who are ticks

The branch of zoology that studies ticks is called acarology . According to one of the accepted modern classifications of invertebrates, mites belong to the phylum of arthropods, the subphylum of chelicerates, the class of arachnids, the subclass of mites, which currently has a little more than forty-eight thousand species.

In general, ticks represent a large and very important group in practical terms, as they are of great medical, veterinary and agricultural importance. The diversity of habitats and lifestyles of representatives of this subclass is also extremely large. Among them there are both saprophages, that is, those that feed on decaying plant debris, and predators and, finally, various parasites of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.

How are you doing with encephalitis today?

Ticks

If you adhere to conspiracy theories, then it is much easier to see a conspiracy in today’s explosion in the number of ticks

Even in the area of ​​encephalitis 40 years ago, precautions were taken more for the sake of being on the safe side. It was difficult to “find” a tick in the forest

Today for 1 sq. km, researchers remove 40 pieces. arthropods. And ordinary citizens complain that after every walk with their dog, they take off at least 5 of these arachnids from them and themselves.

Where there is no encephalitis, piroplasmosis is rampant. And the number of ticks infected with this disease significantly exceeds the number of encephalitis ones.

If the treatment of forests with pesticides is not restored, then all hope remains only on the very natural factors that restrained the spread of encephalitis before the invention of insecticides.

How to remove a tick yourself

You can try to remove the tick yourself at home, although some sources do not recommend doing this, and this is apparently correct. If you are going to do this yourself, it is most convenient to do this with small curved tweezers.

The tick is grabbed as close to the proboscis as possible, and by pulling and rotating the tick around its own axis, it is removed along with the proboscis. You can use a loop of thread, capturing the tick as close to the head as possible. Do not crush the tick with your fingers, or lubricate it with various fats, such as oil.

Contrary to popular belief, the tick will not crawl out on its own, but will undoubtedly die and, nevertheless, remain in the wound. In addition, if he dies, he may regurgitate part of the intestinal contents, which will increase the risk of infection. After removing the parasite, the wound is disinfected with any antiseptic (preferably alcohol-containing), and hands and tools are washed thoroughly. The wound should heal within a week. There is absolutely no need to be afraid that a tick can get under the skin, since a tick breathes, like you and me, atmospheric air, and it will be extremely difficult for it to do this while under the skin - much like trying to breathe while under a thick blanket.

If the proboscis still remains in the wound, then this is not fatal. If the proboscis is sticking out above the surface of the skin, you can unscrew it with tweezers, or contact a surgeon at the clinic. You cannot cut or pick at the bite site yourself. You should also not try to burn a tick with a cigarette.

Danger and harm

Ixodid representatives of the species pose a great danger to both representatives of the animal world and people. The taiga tick, or, as it is also called, the encephalitis tick, is in first place in terms of danger, as it is a carrier of diseases such as borrelosis, encephalitis, ehrlichiosis and other diseases.

Due to the fact that the food of these arachnids is blood, infection occurs after a bite. The causative agents of fatal diseases enter the human body along with the saliva of arthropods. Other types of arachnids can also harm human health, for example, subcutaneous arachnids, which can be carriers of diseases such as dermatitis and scabies.

Saprophages, which seem harmless at first glance, can also harm people. Due to their small size, there are no places inaccessible to them, so they live almost everywhere:

• flour - feeds on flour, cereals, grains and thereby destroys a large amount of food;
• arachnoid - destroys a garden or indoor plant;
• dust - eats particles of the epidermis, dust, and can also cause an allergic reaction and asthma in humans.
• ear - causes inconvenience to cats and dogs, moving into their ears.

Ticks, as it turns out, can be both beneficial and harmful to humans and nature as a whole. They occupy a certain ecological niche and fulfill their direct responsibilities.

Where does a tick live and what does it eat?

The favorite habitat of ticks is damp, shady places. These include forests and parks. However, ticks can be found in the country house, lawn, and some types of ticks even prefer caves or cracks in buildings.

Ticks do not live at heights, but prefer grass and bushes. From here they crawl onto a person or animal and begin to rise, so they can bite a person, for example, behind the ear. Having found a suitable place, the tick begins to screw its nose into the human skin until its head goes deep into the skin. The respiratory organs of a tick are located in the area of ​​its legs.

Ticks feed on blood, but they are not always able to find a suitable donor. Then the ticks begin a “fasting day”, which can last up to 8 years. During such periods, the tick's metabolic process slows down very much.

Ticks are most active in the summer, because it is at this time of year that they reproduce, but the first cases of tick bites are recorded already in mid-spring.

Now let's talk about ticks, which do not feed on blood, but can also cause damage.

Flour mite

This pest feeds on flour and cereals and can spoil a lot of food. The size of the insect is only 0.3–0.7 mm. You can tell that there is a flour mite in your products by the mint-like smell and sweetish taste of the product. A mite that has settled in flour makes the product unsuitable for consumption.

Dust mite

This arachnid lives in human homes and feeds on dust and dead skin particles. It is because of this that allergy sufferers and asthmatics suffer. The size of these pests is only 0.5–0.1 mm. You can determine that a dust mite is in your home only by a sudden exacerbation of asthma or the appearance of an allergy. A microscopic insect that lives in dust can cause allergies in humans

Spider mite

This small creature parasitizes plants. Spider mites are a nuisance to gardeners and flower lovers and can destroy plants. There are several types of these parasites. Here are the most common of them:

• red spider mite - this pest prefers flowers and is found on roses, callas, and orchids; A mite that parasitizes flowers can harm plants
• cyclamen mite - the favorite victim of this arachnid is, of course, cyclamens; This is what a leaf of a plant affected by a mite looks like
• wide spider mite - loves cacti, citruses and oleander; wide spider mite lives on cacti, citrus and other plants
• bulb mite - affects the bulbs of tulips, hyacinths and other flowers underground, gnawing out its core, which leads to the death of the plant; A mite that starts on the bulb of a plant leads to its death
• Atlantic and Pacific ticks - lives in warm regions, feeding on the leaves of citrus fruits and palm trees; Some types of ticks parasitize palm trees and citrus fruits
• flat orange mite (flat beetle) - mainly violets suffer from it. The mite that infests a violet is distinguished by its orange color

About types of ticks

All mites belong to the order of small arachnids, which unites approximately 20 thousand species. What does a tick eat, besides blood? Some of the ticks presented below also feed on other types of food.

The largest group of soil mites are oribatid mites. They live in forest soils and litter. They chew rotting plant debris with abundant microflora with their gnawing chelicerae. They carry tapeworms that infect livestock.

Small insects that chew with their chelicerae are granary mites (or bread and flour mites). They live in rotting plant debris and soil. In agricultural product storage facilities, they cause spoilage of flour, grain and cereals. For people working in such areas, they can cause severe skin irritation in the form of an allergic reaction. The tick feeds on insect tissues.

It is the best studied and is a serious pest of poultry farms. What does the chicken mite feed on? They are active at night, when they emerge from the cracks of the chicken coop and, attacking chickens, suck their blood. It also happens that when there is a massive infection, birds die from anemia.

To learn more about what ticks feed in nature, let’s get acquainted with the most dangerous ticks for humans.

How to protect yourself from parasites

Vaccination against encephalitis and the use of repellents are suggested as preventive measures. When visiting the forest, it is advisable to choose the right clothes. It should hide the arms and legs; it is advisable to have a headdress. The period of parasite activity is late spring and early summer. The second wave begins with a decrease in temperature in August-September. At this time, you should be attentive to yourself and your pets.

How dangerous are ticks?

In addition to blood-sucking species that spread deadly diseases, there are many ticks that cause trouble. They are a source of irritation and allergies in people and pets. Some are unlikely to cause damage to gardens, fields, and settle on indoor plants. Among the species that exist near humans:

• Gamasidae - parasitize birds and rodents, causing significant damage to poultry farms. Causes feather loss in chickens.
• Scabies is a microscopic parasite that causes an intractable skin disease.
• Ear - settle in the ears of domestic animals - cats and dogs. Cause severe inflammation, itching and scratching. Treatment with acaricidal drugs is required.
• Subcutaneous or demodecos - present in limited quantities on the skin of most people. With pathological spread, they cause itching and redness. Size 0.2 mm.
• Dust or bed - the microscopic inhabitant of house dust provokes allergies with its excrement.
• Arachnoid is a phytophage in the arachnid family, feeding on plant sap. It is a carrier of disease and rot.
• Flour - damages the reserves of granaries, contaminates flour with its waste. Promotes the spread of mold.

The role of ticks in nature and their practical significance

arachnids include ticks

, representing the largest and most practically important group of arachnids. Many of them are of great medical and veterinary importance, as they are parasites of humans and animals.

These are small animals with an oval body fused together. Breathing is cutaneous or tracheal. The circulatory system is poorly developed. The digestive system is adapted to feeding on blood. The salivary glands produce a secretion that prevents blood clotting. Development with incomplete metamorphosis.

Taiga tick

attacks humans and animals. It feeds on blood, greatly increasing in size. After sucking, the ticks fall to the ground. Here the female lays several thousand eggs. The larvae that emerge from them attack small animals. During their development, ticks change their host three times. When sucking blood, they can infect a person with a serious disease of the nervous system - encephalitis, if a person is attacked by a tick that previously fed on the blood of an infected animal. The role of ticks in the transmission of encephalitis was discovered by a group of Soviet scientists led by Academician E.N. Pavlovsky. and L.A. Zilbert.

Control measures:

- it is necessary to take preventative vaccinations;

- after going to the forest, change clothes every time and carefully inspect clothes and the surface of the body; remove ticks found with tweezers and destroy them;

- lubricate the tick with gasoline or any oily liquid. In this case, the tick's spiracles are blocked, it weakens and can easily be removed.

Scabies itching

parasitizes human skin.
It causes a painful disease in people - scabies
. When it lands on a person, it lingers on the more delicate parts of the body: between the fingers, on the bend of the elbows, etc. The tick bores through the top layer of skin, gnaws passages in it, causing severe itching, and lays eggs. A sick person can easily transmit ticks to healthy people through a handshake.

It is necessary to observe the rules of personal hygiene: wash your hands, do not share a towel, bedding, etc.

Many mites are pests of cultivated plants:

· The red spider mite, settling on a number of valuable crops (cotton), reduces the yield and causes the death of the affected plants.

· The flour mite, settling in grains, in flour, breeds there in large numbers - this makes the products unsuitable for food. The germ in the grains is eaten away - the seeds do not germinate.

It is necessary to clean the premises and maintain a certain dryness.

Many soil mites (for example, oribatid mites) feed on plant debris and take part in the processing of organic material, and ultimately in soil formation.

PLIERS. PREVENTION AND PROTECTION AGAINST TICKS. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF BITTEN BY A TICK?

Ticks (order Acarina, class Arachnida) are one of the most diverse and ancient groups of arthropods on Earth. As a rule, ticks feed on plant debris, soil fungi, or other small arthropods. There are more than 40,000 species of ticks in the world's fauna, however, many groups are still poorly studied, and scientists describe dozens of new species every year. Some ticks have adapted to feeding on the blood of animals and have become parasites. Among the parasites, the most famous are ixodid ticks (Ixodoidea). This group contains a total of 680 species, found on all continents, including Antarctica. Ixodid ticks transmit human pathogens with natural focality: tick-borne encephalitis [the main carriers are the taiga tick Ixodes persulcatus and I. ricinus], tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), tick-borne typhus, relapsing tick-borne typhus, hemorrhagic fever and Q fever, tularemia, ehrlichiosis and many others. Despite the significant number of species of ixodid ticks, only two species are of real epidemiological significance: Ixodes Persulcatus (taiga tick) in the Asian and in a number of areas of the European part, Ixodes Ricinus (European forest tick) - in the European part. In the future we will talk specifically about these types of mites.

Ticks (order Acarina, class Arachnida) are one of the most diverse and ancient groups of arthropods on Earth.
As a rule, ticks feed on plant debris, soil fungi, or other small arthropods. There are more than 40,000 species of ticks in the world's fauna, however, many groups are still poorly studied, and scientists describe dozens of new species every year. Some ticks have adapted to feeding on the blood of animals and have become parasites. Among the parasites, the most famous are ixodid ticks (Ixodoidea). This group contains a total of 680 species, found on all continents, including Antarctica. Ixodid ticks transmit human pathogens with natural focality: tick-borne encephalitis [the main carriers are the taiga tick Ixodes persulcatus and I. ricinus], tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), tick-borne typhus, relapsing tick-borne typhus, hemorrhagic fever and Q fever, tularemia, ehrlichiosis and many others. Despite the significant number of species of ixodid ticks, only two species are of real epidemiological significance: Ixodes Persulcatus (taiga tick) in the Asian and in a number of areas of the European part, Ixodes Ricinus (European forest tick) - in the European part. In the future we will talk specifically about these types of mites. The taiga and European forest ticks are giants compared to their “peaceful” counterparts; their body is covered with a powerful shell and equipped with four pairs of legs. In females, the coverings of the back part are capable of greatly stretching, which allows them to absorb large amounts of blood, hundreds of times more than the weight of a hungry tick.

Males are somewhat smaller in size than females and attach only for a short time (less than an hour). In the surrounding world, ticks navigate mainly through touch and smell; ticks do not have eyes. But ticks’ sense of smell is very acute: studies have shown that ticks are able to smell an animal or person at a distance of about 10 meters.

What places are at greatest risk of encountering ticks?

Ticks are moisture-loving, and therefore their numbers are greatest in well-moistened places. Ticks prefer moderately shaded and moist deciduous and mixed forests with dense grass and undergrowth. There are many ticks along the bottom of ravines and forest ravines, as well as along forest edges, in thickets of willow trees along the banks of forest streams. In addition, they are abundant along forest edges and along forest paths overgrown with grass.

It is very important to know that ticks concentrate on forest paths and paths covered with grass along the side of the road. There are many times more of them here than in the surrounding forest. Studies have shown that ticks are attracted to the smell of animals and people who constantly use these paths when moving through the forest.

Some features of the placement and behavior of ticks have led to the widespread misconception in Siberia that ticks “jump” on people from birch trees. Indeed, in birch forests there are usually a lot of ticks. And a tick clinging to clothing crawls upward, and is often found on the head and shoulders. This gives the false impression that the ticks fell from above.

Tick ​​behavior

The first active adult ticks appear at the end of March, at the beginning of April, when the sun begins to warm up and the first thawed patches form in the forest. The number of ticks increases rapidly, reaching a maximum by the beginning of the second ten days of May, and remains high until the middle or end of June, depending on the weather. Then it sharply decreases due to the extinction of ticks, whose reserve nutrients are depleted. However, single active parasites can be found until the end of September.

Ticks lie in wait for their prey, sitting on the ends of blades of grass, blades of grass, sticks and twigs sticking up.

When a potential victim approaches, ticks assume a posture of active anticipation: they extend their front legs and move them from side to side. On the front legs there are organs that perceive odors (Haller's organ). Thus, the tick determines the direction towards the source of the smell and prepares to attack the host.

Ticks are not particularly mobile; they can travel no more than ten meters on their own in their lifetime. A tick lying in wait for its prey climbs a blade of grass or a bush to a height of no more than half a meter and patiently waits for someone to pass by. If an animal or person moves in close proximity to a tick, its reaction will be immediate. With his front legs spread out, he frantically tries to grab his future owner. The legs are equipped with claws and suction cups, which allow the tick to grip securely. No wonder there is a saying: “He grabbed like a tick.”

With the help of hooks that are located at the very end of the front legs, the tick clings to everything that touches it. Ixodid ticks (European forest tick and taiga tick) never pounce and never fall (do not plan) on the victim from above from trees or tall bushes: ticks simply cling to their victim, who passes by and touches the blade of grass (stick) on which it sits mite.

Having settled on the animal, the tick chooses a place to feed. In most cases, this is the area of ​​the head and neck, where the animal cannot reach with its teeth and destroy the parasite. Then it plunges its mouth parts (the so-called proboscis) into the skin and, cutting through it, reaches the subcutaneous blood vessels, from where it sucks blood. The teeth on the proboscis, directed backwards, and the first portion of saliva, which quickly hardens and glues the oral organs to the skin, like cement, help it securely gain a foothold.

Female ticks feed for about 6 days, absorbing an incredible amount of blood, a well-fed female becomes the size of the phalanx of the little finger, her integument acquires a dirty gray color with a metallic tint, and her weight increases by more than a hundred times compared to the weight of a hungry individual.

Males attach themselves for a short time in order to replenish the supply of nutrients and water in the body; they are mainly busy searching for feeding females with whom they mate.

Parasitism

Ticks parasitize almost all species of forest animals and livestock, as well as many species of birds that feed on the ground. The main groups of feeders are: large mammals - ungulates and carnivores, such as, for example, deer and foxes, large and small rodents - hares, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, shrews. Adults readily attack humans. In animals, ticks most often attach themselves to the head, especially behind the ears, on the neck, dewlap and groin area. In humans, attached parasites are usually found in the armpits, groin area and scalp.

How does a person become infected?

The sucked tick begins to secrete saliva into the resulting wound. The salivary glands of ticks are huge, occupying almost the entire body. The first portion of saliva hardens in air and forms the so-called “cement secretion”, which firmly adheres the proboscis to the skin. Liquid saliva, subsequently secreted, contains a lot of various biologically active substances. Some of them anesthetize the wound, others destroy the walls of blood vessels and surrounding tissues, and others suppress the hosts’ immune responses aimed at rejecting the parasite. The blood and particles of destroyed tissue entering the wound are diluted with saliva and absorbed by the tick.

Together with the saliva of the tick, the virus enters the animal or human body, and if the dose of the virus is large enough, a disease may develop. As studies have shown, the above-mentioned “cement secretion” can contain up to half of the total amount of virus contained in the tick. Therefore, even if you remove the tick almost immediately after it has attached itself, you can still become infected, in this case the source of infection will be the “cement” remaining in the skin. It has also been proven that the infection is transmitted by the bite of males. A short and painless bite from a male may not be noticed. Most likely, quite common cases of tick-borne encephalitis, when patients deny the tick bite, are associated precisely with an attack by males.

Natural foci of tick-borne encephalitis existed long before the appearance of humans in Siberia. The most important role in maintaining natural foci of infection belongs to small forest animals - voles, mice, shrews, squirrels and chipmunks. The animals themselves are susceptible to infection; the virus multiplies well in their bodies, but the disease proceeds without visible harmful consequences.

Although the virus actively reproduces in wild forest animals, they do not exhibit pathological disorders characteristic of the human disease.

Infected wild forest animals, which have the virus in their bloodstream, serve as a source of infection for ticks that feed on them.

Adult ticks pose a danger to humans.

Preventing tick bites

Ticks usually wait for the victim, sitting on the grass or branch of a bush, and very rarely rise to a height of more than half a meter. Therefore, they usually cling to a person’s legs and then “crawl” upward in search of a convenient place for suction. By dressing properly, you can periodically remove ticks from your clothes, preventing them from “getting to your body.”

When in tick habitats, avoid dark-colored clothing, as ticks are more difficult to see against a dark background. Tuck your outerwear into your pants and your pants into your socks. If there is no hood, wear a hat.

Carry out preventive examinations. Every 15 min. inspect your clothes, and at rest stops, if possible, do a more thorough check, examining the head and body, especially above the waist; ticks most often stick there.

Use chemical repellents against ticks. Treat clothes, sleeping bag, tent and other items.

In addition to treating clothing, a protective repellent can be applied to bare areas of the body, which, in addition to tick bites, will protect the treated areas from the bites of blood-sucking insects. If you are constantly in a limited area (summer cottage) where ticks live, then this area can be treated with a special insectoacaricidal agent that kills ticks.

There are always more ticks on the trails, so it’s easier for them to find victims. Therefore, you should not rest, “falling” on the grass a meter from the path. There are fewer ticks in sunny, dry glades than in the shade.

When constructing huts and other shelters in the spring, autumn and winter, it should be remembered that ticks overwinter in forest litter and dry grass and, having warmed up, can attack a person.

Inspect clothing and other items upon returning from a hike

After you come home, take off your clothes outside the living area and carefully inspect them, paying special attention to folds, seams, and pockets.

Leading Russian entomologists have developed special anti-encephalitis suits (for example, BioStop®). Today, thanks to the combination of mechanical and chemical protection principles, these suits are an effective remedy against ticks. Special flounces located on the suit act as traps for ticks crawling upward. Inside the shuttlecock there is an insert impregnated with an acaricidal substance that is lethal to ticks. Under its influence, the tick dies within a few minutes and falls off the clothing.

Thus, when using anti-encephalitis suits, there is no need to use repellents and conduct frequent inspections of clothing.

Tick ​​protection

All commercially available products, depending on the active substance, are divided into 3 groups:

Repellent - repels ticks.

Acaricidal - kill

Insecticidal-repellent - preparations of combined action, that is, they kill and repel ticks.

Repellents

Repellents include products containing diethyltoluamide: “MEDILIS-from mosquitoes”, “Biban”, “DEFI-Taiga”, “Off! Extreme", "Gall-RET", "Gal-RET-cl", "Deta-VOKKO", "Reftamid maximum". They are applied to clothing and exposed areas of the body in the form of circular stripes around the knees, ankles and chest. The tick, avoiding contact with the repellent, begins to crawl in the opposite direction. The protective properties of treated clothing last up to five days. The advantage of repellents is that they are also used to protect against midges, applied not only to clothing, but also to the skin. Preparations that are more dangerous for ticks should not be applied to the skin.

To protect children, drugs with less toxic components have been developed - these are the MEDILISIC anti-mosquito aerosol for children, Fthalar and Efkalat creams, Off-children and Biban-gel, Pikhtal and Evital colognes, "Camarant".

Acaricides

In acaricidal agents, the active substance is the insectoacaricide alphamethrin (alphacypermethrin), which has a nerve-paralytic effect on ticks. Upon contact with treated clothing, ticks become paralyzed in their limbs and fall off the clothing.

These products are intended only for the treatment of clothing due to toxicological indicators and should not be applied to human skin!

The main form of application: aerosol packages containing propellant and with a mechanical sprayer (propellant-free packaging - BAU). These are “Reftamid taiga”, “Picnic-Antiklesh”, “Gardex aerosol extreme”, “Tornado-antiklesh”, “Fumitox-antiklesh”, “Gardex-antiklesh” and others. Currently, about 30 such drugs are registered. An exception is the acaricidal block "Pretix", produced in Novosibirsk. They draw several encircling stripes on trousers and jackets before going into the forest. You just need to ensure their safety, as the strips fall off quite quickly.

Do not treat clothing worn by people with products in aerosol containers. The clothes are laid out, processed and, after they have dried, put on. The protective properties of clothing treated with an acaricidal substance last up to 14 days.

Insecticidal and repellent agents

Insecticidal-repellent preparations combine the properties of both repellent and acaricidal agents - they contain 2 active ingredients: diethyltoluamide and alphamethrin, therefore they protect against ticks and blood-sucking flying insects (the “gnus” complex).

Insecticidal and repellent products are produced in aerosol packages: “Medilis-comfort”, “Kra-rep”, “Moskitol-spray Special protection against ticks”, “GardexExtreme Aerosol against ticks”, “Tick-kaput aerosol”. Just like acaricides, insecticidal-repellent agents are applied only to clothing.

General recommendations when using chemical protection products

You can reliably protect yourself from tick bites only by “dressing correctly” and thoroughly treating your clothes with a chemical protective agent.

When choosing a means of protection against ticks, it is better to give preference to acaricidal or insecticidal-repellent agents.

The products should be applied to clothing in circular strips; clothing should be especially carefully treated around the ankles, knees, hips, waist, as well as sleeve cuffs and collars.

When using this or that product, be sure to read the instructions and follow their instructions. Do not forget to reapply the product after the time indicated on the package.

We must remember that rain, wind, heat, sweat, etc. reduce the duration of action of any chemical protective agent.

Treating the area against ticks

To treat the territory against ticks, the following insectoacaricidal agents are currently allowed in the Russian Federation: “Medilis-tsiper”, Taran, Samarovka-insecticide, Breeze, Akaritoks, Alfatrin, Actor, Akarotsid, Cypertrin, Yurax, Akarifen, Baytex 40% SP, and so on.

What to do if ticks are indoors

For most types of ticks, human housing is not suitable for comfortable living and procreation, however, for a sufficiently long time (up to several weeks), ticks found in the room can pose a danger and, if the opportunity arises, attack a person.

The Institute of Disinfectology does not recommend treating residential premises against ticks (including from a toxicological point of view); the instructions for use of any acaricidal agent say: “treatment against ticks only in natural areas.”

If ticks are found in the room, carpets should be removed from the floor and thoroughly cleaned using a vacuum cleaner.

Prevention of tick-borne encephalitis

Before traveling to an area with an increased risk of contracting tick-borne encephalitis, you should get vaccinated in advance; it can be given at the district clinic.

To prevent tick-borne encephalitis, the following vaccines are approved for use in Russia: tick-borne encephalitis vaccine, culture purified concentrated inactivated dry (produced in the Russian Federation); EnceVir (produced in the Russian Federation); FSME-Immun Inject/Junior (made in Austria); Encepur Adult and Encepur Children (made in Germany).

For the majority of vaccinated people to develop immunity, 2 vaccinations with an interval of 1 month are enough. If necessary, this interval can be reduced to 2 weeks. However, to develop full and long-term (at least 3 years) immunity, it is necessary to receive a third vaccination after 9-12 months. If the need to go to an endemic area does not allow you to wait 2 weeks, then emergency prophylaxis can be carried out using immunoglobulin. In this case, the protective effect occurs within a day, but does not last more than 1 month.

Buy the drug Yodantipirin in advance (used for emergency prevention of tick-borne encephalitis in adults and children over 14 years of age). Theoretically, this drug is capable of destroying the tick-borne encephalitis virus within several days from the moment of infection (tick bite), but it is better to start taking it on the first day.

In the event of a tick bite in children, for the purpose of emergency prevention of tick-borne encephalitis, it is recommended to use “Anaferon for children” in doses: at the age of up to 12 years, 1 tablet 3 times a day, at the age of over 12 years, 2 tablets 3 times a day for 21 days (incubation period period of tick-borne encephalitis), which prevents the development of the disease.

When in mountainous and wooded areas, wear light-colored clothing (it makes ticks easier to see) with long sleeves and a hood, and tuck your pants into your socks. If there is no hood, wear a hat.

Use repellent.

Every 15 min. inspect your clothes, and periodically conduct a thorough check, paying special attention to the following parts of the body: neck, armpits, groin area, ears - in these places the skin is especially delicate and thin, and the tick is most often attached there.

Avoid drinking raw milk from goats and cows in areas with increased risk of infection.

If you find a tick, you should not crush it, as through microcracks on your hands you can become infected with tick-borne encephalitis or other tick-borne infections.

What should I do if bitten by a tick

If tick suction does occur, an initial consultation can always be obtained by calling 03. To remove the tick, you will most likely be sent to the district SES or the district emergency room. If you do not have the opportunity to seek help from a medical facility, then you will have to remove the tick yourself.

It should be borne in mind that the likelihood of contracting infections transmitted by ticks depends on the amount of infection that penetrated during the “bite” of the tick (that is, the time during which the tick was in an attached state) - the sooner you remove the embedded parasite, the better.

It is convenient to remove ticks with curved tweezers or a surgical clamp; in principle, any other tweezers will do. In this case, the tick must be grabbed as close to the proboscis as possible, then it is carefully pulled up, while rotating around its axis in a convenient direction. Usually, after 1-3 turns, the entire tick is removed along with the proboscis. If you try to pull the tick out, there is a high probability of it breaking.

There are special devices for removing ticks.

These devices have an advantage over clamps or tweezers, since the body of the tick is not compressed, squeezing the contents of the tick into the wound is prevented, this reduces the risk of contracting tick-borne infections.

The devices for removing ticks Uniclean Tick Twister (UNICLEAN TICK TWISTER), a lasso handle for the Russian-Swedish one, have proven themselves well.

If you have neither tweezers nor special devices for removing ticks at hand, then the tick can be removed using a thread.

A strong thread is tied into a knot as close as possible to the tick's proboscis, then the tick is removed by slowly swinging and pulling it up. Sudden movements are unacceptable - the tick will burst.

Removing a tick must be done with care, without squeezing its body, since this may squeeze the contents of the tick along with pathogens into the wound. It is important not to tear the tick when removing it - the remaining part in the skin can cause inflammation and suppuration. It is worth considering that when the head of the tick is torn off, the infection process can continue, since a significant concentration of the tick-borne encephalitis virus is present in the salivary glands and ducts.

If, when removing the tick, its head, which looks like a black dot, comes off, wipe the suction site with cotton wool or a bandage moistened with alcohol, and then remove the head with a sterile needle (previously calcined in a fire) in the same way as you remove an ordinary splinter.

There is no basis in some advice that for better removal one should apply ointment bandages to the attached tick or use oil solutions. The oil can clog the tick's respiratory openings and the tick will die, remaining in the skin. After removing the tick, the skin at the site of its attachment is treated with tincture of iodine or alcohol. A bandage is usually not required.

What are the dangers of a tick bite? Medicines and vaccines

Even if the tick bite was short-lived, the risk of contracting tick-borne infections cannot be excluded, therefore, after removing the tick, save it for testing for tick-borne infections. Usually this can be done in an infectious diseases hospital, in special laboratories. The tick should be placed in a small glass bottle along with a piece of cotton wool lightly moistened with water. Be sure to close the bottle with a tight lid and store it in the refrigerator. For microscopic diagnosis, the tick must be delivered to the laboratory alive. Even individual tick fragments are suitable for PCR diagnostics.

You need to understand that the presence of an infection in a tick does not mean that a person will get sick. A tick analysis is needed for peace of mind in case of a negative result and vigilance in case of a positive result.

The surest way to determine the presence of the disease is to take a blood test. There is no need to donate blood immediately after a tick bite - tests will not show anything. No earlier than 10 days later, you can test your blood for tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis using the PCR method. Two weeks after a tick bite, test for antibodies (IgM) to the tick-borne encephalitis virus. For antibodies (IgM) to borrelia (tick-borne borreliosis) - in a month.

Tick-borne encephalitis is the most dangerous of tick-borne infections (consequences can even lead to death). Emergency prevention of tick-borne encephalitis should be carried out as early as possible, preferably on the first day.

Emergency prevention of tick-borne encephalitis is carried out using antiviral drugs or immunoglobulin. In the Russian Federation this is Yodantipirin for adults and children over 14 years old. Anaferon for children under 14 years old. If you could not find these drugs, theoretically they can be replaced by other antiviral drugs (cycloferon, arbidol, remantadine...).

Immunoglobulin is advisable only during the first three days. Disadvantages include high cost and frequent allergic reactions.

No earlier than 10 days later, you can test your blood for tick-borne encephalitis using the PCR method. Two weeks after a tick bite, test for antibodies (IgM) to the tick-borne encephalitis virus. If a person is vaccinated against the tick-borne encephalitis virus, no action needs to be taken.

Tick-borne borreliosis is the second most dangerous and most common tick-borne disease in the Russian Federation. Emergency prevention of tick-borne borreliosis, as a rule, is not carried out if it is possible to donate blood for antibodies to tick-borne borreliosis (IgM). It is better to take the test 3 weeks after the tick bite. If the result is positive, you need to contact an infectious disease specialist.

Hemorrhagic fevers are a group of naturally focal viral diseases transmitted from animals to humans, united by common clinical signs - increased temperature (fever), subcutaneous and internal hemorrhages. Depending on the causative agent, as well as on the method of spreading the infection, several types are distinguished.

Omsk hemorrhagic fever was first described among residents of lakeside villages in Siberia, among hunters and members of their families, in the Barabinsk steppe. Natural foci of Omsk hemorrhagic fever were found in the Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kurgan, Tyumen and Orenburg regions. It is possible that they are also present in some neighboring territories (Northern Kazakhstan, Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories). It occurs in the autumn-winter period in the form of outbreaks that are associated with epizootics in commercial animals. The main vectors of the disease are Dermacentor ticks. The incubation period is 3-7 days. In humans, the virus is detected throughout the febrile period. Currently, cases of the disease are reported extremely rarely. Yodantipyrine can be used for emergency prevention of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

Features of character and lifestyle

Depending on the species of the tick, its diet consists of different ingredients; sometimes arachnids live quietly next to us, and we are not even aware of such a neighborhood.

Each link of the ecological system has its own function. Millions of ticks inhabit the earth, water, plants and living organisms. They are an integral part of natural balance. Like other representatives of the fauna, arachnids are part of the food chain. What importance do ticks play in nature and human life? Soil species process organic matter in the soil. Through the efforts of small arthropods, fertile humus appears. As food for reptiles, birds and insects, mites contribute to the survival of these species.

Arachnids eat fungal spores, algae and bacterial plaque. Predators reduce the number of insects, nematodes, and worms. This feature makes them plant orderlies. Infecting animals with various diseases is a kind of natural way to control their numbers.

Families that live on agricultural crops, grain and flour reserves, and dairy products are harmful to humans. Ectoparasites of domestic animals and birds are also considered harmful species. Of the total number of existing groups of ticks, only a small part poses a direct threat to human life and health. These are ixodid and argasid species. It is necessary to dwell in more detail on where these ticks live, how they reproduce and feed.

Blood-sucking species

Ticks reproduce in a unique way. Males fertilize females who feed on the animals' bodies. Bloodsuckers hold the record for the number of eggs they lay. One female leaves up to 17 thousand eggs in the ground. It is good that only a small part of the offspring survives. After birth, the larva feeds once, choosing a rodent as its host.

Argas species - the body of the adult is 3-30 mm in size, it is flat and oval in shape. A hungry individual is gray in color, but after feeding it turns purple. Argas parasites live on birds, cats, and bite humans. Their saliva is extremely toxic. Mexicans compare Ornithodorus coriaceus bites to a rattlesnake attack.

Attention. The risk of contracting one of the diseases carried by parasites increases with the amount of saliva carried into the bite site

It is necessary to conduct a thorough examination of the body after visiting forests and meadows. If the bloodsucker is removed in the first hours, the likelihood of the virus entering the blood is minimal.

How a tick bites

A special feature of the bite is the simultaneous administration of active painkillers, so the victim does not feel it. Ixodids do not bite immediately; they can search for a convenient place for up to two hours. On the human body the parasite prefers:

• area behind the ears;
• neck;
• groin and armpits;
• scalp;
• small of the back.

A special suboral outgrowth of the hypostome, which has sharp hooks directed backwards, helps to firmly anchor itself in the chosen place. This structure makes it difficult to remove the parasite. With the help of sharp chelicerae, the bloodsucker immerses the head into the skin. Its saliva acts as an analgesic and anticoagulant. You can remove a tick from a person using tweezers, a loop of thread, or a device purchased at a pharmacy.

Where do ticks live?

The fluctuation in size is similar. Both groups have representatives invisible to the naked eye with a body length of 0.3 mm. They have the same number of limbs - 4 pairs of walking legs. They have spikes and suction cups to hold them on the host's body. Both species are armed with claw-like processes - chelicerae. Most arachnids are covered with a chitinous shell. Their respiratory organ is the trachea; only small species breathe with their whole body.

And a few more facts:

• The smallest tick measuring 0.08 mm is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
• In the absence of food, the argas species engages in omovampirism - it sucks blood from an engorged individual.
• The number of ixodid ticks is controlled using hedgehogs. Animals cannot get rid of the parasite on their own. Observers count how many parasites cling to a hedgehog per hour.

Myth. Ticks jump from trees. You can become infected even while walking along the alleys of the park.

In fact . Ticks live near the ground and attack only from grass and small bushes. Therefore, if a person walks along a path without turning into the grass, he is not afraid of ticks. But sometimes owners can get ticks from their pets, from whose fur the ticks quickly run towards them. Climbing up the human body, ticks look for places convenient for suction. They often settle in the groin, under the arms, and on the neck. Therefore, upon returning from “risky” walks, it is important to completely undress and carefully examine yourself and your children, pets, and the clothes you have removed too.

Why is a tick dangerous?

How to protect yourself from ticks in nature. Dust mites do not feed on human blood, but can cause allergies in people. This may be a reaction of the human body to the waste products of these insects, to their bites, to the chitinous shell of dead ticks. Among the blood-sucking ticks, the most dangerous are:

1. Ixodid ticks are those that live in forests and are the main carriers of encephalitis.
2. Argasid mites - living in caves, grottoes, cracks in stones, sometimes they live near a person in a barn or other fairly warm room; attack mammals at night and can become a source of tick-borne relapsing fever.
3. Gamasid mites - feed on the blood of reptiles, birds, and mammals (including domestic ones).
4. Mouse mites - It is they, parasitizing on rodents, that can transmit the causative agent of smallpox rickettsiosis to humans.
5. Armored mites are intermediate hosts of tapeworms. They live in grass litter. Herbivores (sheep, goats) swallow ticks and helminth larvae inside them along with the grass.
6. Scabies mites - they gnaw passages in the skin layer and lay eggs; they parasitize mammals.

Types of ticks, photos and names

The zoological classification of ticks includes more than 4,000 species, which scientists have roughly divided into three groups:

• parasitomorphic (this includes gamasid, argasid, nuttalium, ixodid ticks).
• acariform (scabies, hair, feather, marine, freshwater, thyroglyphoid, acaridia, oribatiform, sarcoptiform, thrombidiform mites).
• Haymaking mites are classified into the third group.

Below we describe some interesting types of ticks.

Ixodid ticks

The body of these ticks is covered with hard chitinous plates and has quite impressive dimensions for ticks - they reach 2.5 cm in length. These ticks live in temperate latitudes, almost throughout Eurasia. Waiting in the foliage and various bushes for their victims, they parasitize many forest and domestic animals, including humans. Having clung to the skin of its victim, the ixodid tick is able to drink blood from several days to two to three weeks.

Argasid mites

These mites, which live in the cracks of houses and outbuildings, parasitize domestic animals and birds, preferring chickens most of all. They can also attack humans. The bite of an argas tick is very painful, accompanied by severe itching and a rash at the site of the lesion. It lives over a wide geographical range, almost throughout Eurasia.

Armored mites

These mites mainly live in the soil, although there are subspecies among them that prefer to live in trees. Also, oribatid mites are not predatory parasites; their food source is mushrooms, lichens and other plant debris. Despite this, the oribatid tick poses some danger to other animals, as it is a carrier of helminths and tapeworms.

Gamasid mites

These mites live in the nests of birds, as well as in the burrows of rodents, mice and rats, and for good reason, because they parasitize on them. Gamasid mites cause great harm to poultry farms, as they love to parasitize chickens, causing them to lose feathers and have huge scratches on their skin.

Subcutaneous mite

This mite is especially insidious, since, crawling under the skin of both humans and animals, it can remain unnoticed for a long time, causing itching and irritation in the affected area.

Scabies mite

This mite is also very unpleasant; it is the mite that causes scabies in humans and animals by making small passages in the skin. It feeds not on blood, but on skin secretions, causing severe itching and redness.

Ear mite

Ear mites cause the most trouble to beloved human pets - cats and dogs - it is in their ears that their food source comes. This tick is safe for humans, but animals have a hard time with it. To remove it, cat and dog owners often have to contact veterinarians.

Dust mite

Dust mites are not parasites; they feed mainly on accumulated dust, fluff and feathers. Therefore, it is sometimes also called bed or linen flare.

Spider mite

This tick is completely harmless, as it is a true vegetarian among ticks, feeding exclusively on plant juices. It is also a carrier of a disease that is dangerous for many plants - gray rot.

Water mite

It is also a sea mite, it lives either in flowing fresh water bodies, and some subspecies also love salty sea water. They parasitize shellfish and some aquatic insects.

Predatory mite

This is a real cannibal tick, as it feeds on its relatives, other ticks. For this reason, it is sometimes specially planted by people in greenhouses and gardens to combat spider mites that are harmful to plants.

Pasture mite

This tick usually lives in forests and forest-steppes. It is dangerous for both humans and animals, as it is a carrier of encephalitis, plague, and fever.

The most active representatives of entomophages

Ladybug (coccinellidae)

The most effective enemy of any variety of aphids.
Moreover, the greatest damage is caused not by the adult beetle, but by its larva. If an adult destroys up to 50 aphids per day, then a larva destroys over 500. Great fertility is another advantage of this bright, cute bug. One female lays up to 300 eggs per season. In addition to aphids, it preys on whiteflies, mealybugs and Colorado potato beetle larvae.

Fast, predatory beetles, actively feed in the evening and at night. They are distinguished by an elongated body of dark colors with a metallic sheen. It is one of the most useful predators in the fight against plant pests.

One adult beetle can eat up to 350 caterpillars over the summer. Having found the victim, it releases a toxic liquid on it, which quickly dissolves the organs and tissues of the insect. The beetle eats the resulting liquidy homogeneous mass. The larva is even more voracious and destroys many more pests.

A spectacularly colored flying predator, often pretending to be something else, such as a wasp. Disguise is needed to escape from enemies. The adult fly feeds on flower nectar, while the larva benefits.

It eats spider mites, aphids and the eggs of many insects. While the larval stage lasts, the individual eats up to 2000 pests. Flies can be attracted by planting hogweed, carrots, dill and some other umbelliferae.

Lacewing

An insect with a long bright green body. Quite prolific, some species can produce up to 1500 eggs per season. The larvae are very voracious and happily destroy eggs of pests, aphids and herbivorous small mites. They are often used to kill insects not only in garden plots, but also in greenhouses.

After emerging from the eggs, the riders begin to feed on the internal organs of the victim, leading to their death.

Birds

To destroy pests, tits, swifts, flycatchers, pikas, starlings, wagtails, nuthatches, and redstarts should be attracted to the areas. All of them feed on numerous caterpillars, beetle larvae and adults, bringing very tangible benefits in the fight against harmful insects.

Birds are well attracted to hedges made of branching shrubs such as acacia, rose hips, and gooseberries. You can arrange feeders and bird houses (birdhouses and titmouses).

The tick (lat. Acari) is one of the oldest inhabitants inhabiting our planet. Contrary to erroneous belief, ticks are not insects, but are representatives of the arachnid order.

What types of ticks are not beneficial, but harmful to nature?

The first signs of ticks appearing in a garden plot are

• cobwebs on plantings;
• growths;
• fuzzy light spots.

This indicates that the trees are under threat of destruction.

There are several types of ticks, some of them are partial to coniferous trees and shrubs, such as boxwood or pine. There are varieties of these arthropods that live only on broad-leaved trees. In nature, there are superfamilies of garden herbivorous mites

• gall;
• brown;
• arachnoid.

They settle on fruit and berry crops.

Garden mites are small arachnids. Males are smaller than females, their length ranges from 0.03 mm to 10 mm. The body is divided into two parts, the abdomen and cephalothorax. It has a round shape and is covered with bristles. The tick has two pairs of eyes. It moves with the help of 6 pairs of appendages. It sucks juice from plants and fruits using its piercing-sucking mouthparts.

There are more than 1,200 species of spider mites in nature. These are very small insects that lead a hidden lifestyle. Males range in size from 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm, and females up to 1 mm. You can recognize the infestation of this type of mite by a change in the color of the leaves on the plant, which turn brownish-brown. Then they curl and fall off. This type of pest can destroy 80% of the crop. It is also a carrier of gray rot and various viral infectious diseases of agricultural plants.

Gall mites differ from their other counterparts in the absence of hind legs. Most often this variety can be found on cherry plum, plum and pear. Growths form on tree leaves where mites live. Affected branches are cut off and burned.

The brown mite mainly lives on garden crops. Most often it can be seen on apple trees. Color – red-brown. This species reproduces very quickly. By the end of summer, there are many pests on the tree that dehydrate it. As a result, the apple tree dries up.

General description of ticks

Ticks belong to the subclass of arthropods of the arachnid class. The mite order has more than 54,000 species. By size they are classified as small, small and microscopic spiders. Their size allowed them to settle into the top layer of soil, rich in decaying organic matter, which led to such a diversity of species.

Appearance

Ixodid tick photo

The structure of mites is not diverse. Animal and domestic ticks have undergone some internal changes compared to their wild counterparts. These arachnids have both a non-segmented body and an oval or spherical body divided into an abdomen and head. It is covered with hard chitinous plates or shell. Ticks have 6 pairs of limbs, the first 2 form a kind of proboscis, the remaining 4 are used for movement. The first pair has a claw-like shape; under a microscope, the mite resembles a kind of crab (photo is provided).

All ticks are divided into 2 sexes; development occurs with metamorphosis. Ticks reproduce at different rhythms depending on living conditions. The first stage is the laying of eggs, from which the larvae emerge. During its development, the tick larva molts several times. After the first molt, she enters the nymph stage, after the last she is considered mature (imago). Different types of ticks at the larval stage go through several periods of transformation, marking the next stage of development. Ticks reproduce where they live. Ticks feed on liquid or semi-liquid food.

Nutrition and threat to humans

The vast majority of arachnids are free-living in the natural environment; only a few species of ticks live off humans. Parasites feed on the blood or biological material of people and animals; so-called saprophages consume plant or animal remains. Some types of mites prefer living plants.

House ticks have adapted to living near humans or on their bodies. Most ticks live in natural conditions, including the most dangerous species - the taiga tick (also known as the ixodid tick). It is he who is the carrier of many dangerous diseases. Ticks choose damp places, ravines, and prefer tall, dense grass and shady places. Having a good sense of smell, they set up ambushes along forest paths. Information about where ticks live, what types of ticks are found specifically in your area, which areas are treated and safe, and when the highest tick activity is achieved can be obtained from the sanitary and epidemiological station.

Bottom view of a tick

Ticks are most active in May and June. It is believed that in September the taiga tick and other types of parasites dangerous to humans and animals no longer attack and do not pose a danger. Are ticks dangerous in the fall? In fact, activity directly depends on weather conditions. Warm summers and autumns significantly prolong the period of tick activity, which may end in October, although bites are especially dangerous in spring and early summer. It is safe to say that ticks do not attack or be active in winter in any case, but the full range of “hunting” is recorded from April to November.

At what temperature ticks die depends on the living conditions. When ticks are outside the donor’s body, they can die at a temperature of +7ºС…+14ºС within 2-3 weeks, at +60°С - within an hour. In cold weather, the parasites go into suspended animation and lay eggs in the spring, thereby completing their life cycle. Where ticks overwinter also depends on the conditions and the specific species. In the natural environment, they burrow into the grass and leaves of the ground layer. This allows you to overwinter at the lowest temperatures. Life expectancy, depending on the species and taking into account periods in suspended animation, can reach 10 years.

How dangerous are ticks to humans? The likelihood of transmitting serious diseases acquired from wild animals through saliva is too high. The activity of ticks in the spring-summer period leads to the fact that in Russia 2000-3000 people become infected with encephalitis per year. A tick bite can also cause:

• epilepsy and hyperkinesis;
• Lyme disease (borreliosis);
• nephritis;
• arthritis;
• indigestion;
• blood pressure surges and arrhythmia;
• pneumonia or pulmonary hemorrhage;
• complete loss of legal capacity and ability to move and care for oneself (in the worst cases).

Are there any benefits from ticks?

The concept of “benefit”, of course, is inseparable from human culture, therefore, despite people’s prejudiced attitude towards ticks, the latter provide tangible assistance in various industries.

• Agriculture: the damage caused by ticks to agriculture is enormous, but, in fairness, it should be noted that the benefits are also very significant.
• The overwhelming majority of mites are small saprophages; they process organic matter, thereby increasing soil fertility, and in agriculture this is one of the priority tasks.
• Predator mites are used in the fight against arthropod pests of agriculture, for example, spider mites, which can destroy up to 70% of the crop.
• Mites are able to clean plants infected with spores of parasitic fungi.
• Certain types of mites are used in the production of certain types of cheese.
• Of interest to scientific medicine are the enzymes contained in the saliva of arachnids, the so-called anticoagulants, which prevent blood clotting. In addition, antigens that promote enhanced formation of antibodies and other protective reactions in the victim’s body are also being actively studied.

In addition, ticks are an important link in the ecological system, helping to carry out natural selection and maintain balance, and they are also part of the food chain, for example, ixodid ticks are happily eaten by birds and frogs.