Spring days have arrived. The low snow and warm winter contributed to the survival of ticks in nature, and their early activity was noted. Daylight hours have increased, and with it the time residents spend outdoors, the danger of contact with ticks that live everywhere, and the likelihood of contracting infections transmitted to humans through their bites has increased. This year, in February and March, specialists from the Brest Zonal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, during 9 acarological surveys of city parks (“Warriors - Internationalists”, “Peace”, “May 1”, 1000th anniversary of Brest), forest areas (in the area of u200bu200bthe street. Medical, Red Court) ixodid ticks were found. The first ticks were discovered on February 12 (in 2023 - February 20). The first tick bites in Brest were registered on February 11, 2024, from which 12 residents of Brest, including 6 children, have already suffered. Ticks are active from February to November each year. In the city of Brest and the Brest region, ticks were active for 258 days in 2023, 278 days in 2022, and 262 days in 2021.
In 2023, the number of people affected by tick bites increased compared to 2022, when 1,361 residents with tick bites contacted the health care organization (hereinafter referred to as HO) in Brest and the Brest region, of which 907 were children (66.4%) ( for 2022 - 935, of which - 598 children (63.8%). Tick bites were recorded during visits to suburban forests, the banks of the Mukhavets River, in gardening associations, in private farmsteads in the city of Brest and the Brest region. The proportion remains high children among all those bitten by ticks.
Over the past 2 years, infection rates of ticks removed from people with tick-borne encephalitis virus (hereinafter referred to as TBE) and Lyme borreliosis bacteria (hereinafter referred to as LB) remain high; studies were carried out in the laboratory of the State Institution “Brest Regional Center for Geology and Health”. So in 2023, 0.3% of the studied ticks were infected with the TBE virus (0.6% in 2022), and 51.9% with LB bacteria in 2023. (in 2022 - 45.4%). Ticks are carriers of pathogens of infectious diseases such as TBE, LB, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, tick-borne typhus, relapsing tick-borne fever, tularemia, babesiosis and others.
In 2023, in the city of Brest and the Brest region, tick bites were the cause of the disease in 16 cases of TBE, including 1 case in a child 11 years old and 15 cases in adult residents, as well as in 151 cases of LB, including 19 in children under 14 years (in 2022 – in 8 cases of CE and in 123 cases of LB).
In 2022, 4 out of 12 cases of TBE were associated with the consumption of raw goat milk by adult residents of Brest, purchased from residents of the villages of Zbirogi and Zakazanka, Brest region. In this regard, before consumption, raw milk from goats and cows from April to October must be boiled for 2-3 minutes.
Due to the early activation of ticks in nature, in order to protect against them and prevent tick-borne infections, the Brest Zonal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology recommends:
- avoid visiting places where ticks may live. Ticks do not jump from trees; they take refuge in grass and under leaf litter, climb low bushes to a height of 80-100 cm, and wait for their prey along trails. Ticks can smell an animal or person at a distance of 15 meters. Once on clothing, they do not stick instantly. For one and a half to two hours they can crawl over the body in search of the most vulnerable place to bite. Every 1-2 hours, carefully inspect yourself and your clothes for ticks after each exit to areas infested with ticks.
- when visiting forests and the banks of water bodies, it is better to choose places to rest in a pine forest with sandy soil or in sunny meadows devoid of grass (ticks feel uncomfortable in direct sunlight), wear clothes that maximally protect the body from ticks, a hat, repellents are products that repel ticks, which can be purchased in pharmacies and retail chains. Clothes are treated with repellents; when using them, you must strictly follow the manufacturer's recommendations.
- to combat ticks, it is most effective to carry out sanitary and preventive measures such as timely mowing of grass, removing last year's leaves, clearing dead wood, thinning bushes, cleaning landfills and waste accumulations in parks and squares, in courtyards, summer cottages, carrying out systematic (not less than 2 times a year) in the spring and autumn of measures to combat rodents, carrying out treatment of the areas against ticks with approved insecticides.
In 2023, specialists from the Brest Zonal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology conducted 183 acarological surveys of places of mass visits by the population, recreation areas, areas of sanatoriums, healthcare organizations, round-the-clock health camps for children in Brest and the Brest region, parks (“Warriors - Internationalists” and “May 1st” ), memorial complex “Brest Fortress - Hero”. Ticks were found in 45 territories.
According to the recommendations of the Brest Zone of Central Hygiene and Epidemiology, acaricidal treatments were carried out on them by the department of preventive disinfection of the Brest Zone of Central Hygiene and Epidemiology under contracts with enterprises, institutions, and organizations on an area of 17.1 hectares.
What to do if a tick does stick?
First of all, you need to remove the tick. It is better if this is done by a surgeon or traumatologist; for this you need to contact any health care organization at your place of residence. Round-the-clock assistance to victims of tick bites is organized in the trauma centers of the Brest Central City Hospital, the Brest City Emergency Hospital, the Brest Children's Regional Hospital, in the emergency departments of the Brest Regional Clinical Hospital, and the Brest Regional Clinical Hospital. City Hospital No. 2”, as well as in all outpatient clinics during reception hours. If it is not possible to immediately contact a healthcare organization, you can remove the tick yourself using tweezers or a loop of cotton thread. When removing, remember to take precautions - do not pick up the tick with your bare hands. If accidentally crushed, an infected tick can infect you with tick-borne infections through micro-abrasions on the skin. After removing the tick, treat the bite site with any antiseptic.
In the first hours after discovering a tick bite, it is imperative to consult a doctor to prescribe preventive treatment, which is most effective in the first 72 hours after the tick has been bitten. If within a month after a tick bite you feel changes in your health, notice a rise in temperature, muscle pain, headaches or an increasing red spot at the site of suction, then you should urgently consult a doctor for examination, diagnosis and treatment.
You can protect yourself from TB through vaccination; no vaccine has been developed against LB. Laboratory examination of a removed tick is not a mandatory procedure. If desired, the removed tick can be examined at the Brest Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health. On a paid basis, PCR studies are carried out for the presence of pathogens of 4 tick-borne infections (TBE, TB, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis). The ticks to be examined are intact ones, without any foreign impurities, so the removed tick should be placed in a clean, tightly closed bottle with damp cotton wool, which can be stored in the refrigerator. Examination of ticks with a torn abdomen or fragments of ticks may give incorrect results. Reception of ticks and issuance of results is carried out in the laboratory of the Brest Regional Center for State Expertise and Health (Brest, Svoboda Square 9, 1st floor), contact phone number (8 0162) 53 25 17. The cost of examining ticks using the PCR method in the Brest Regional Center for State Expertise and Health for citizens of the Republic of Belarus – 40.10 rubles (upon presentation of a passport), for non-residents of the Republic of Belarus – 85.20 rubles.
Operating mode:
- Monday – Friday from 8.30 to 12.30 and from 14.00 to 16.00, delivery of results from 16.00 to 17.00;
- Saturday from 8.30 to 12.30;
- closed on Sundays and holidays.
To conduct laboratory tests of a tick, it is necessary to provide material (a tick removed from the victim), a passport, fill out an application (agreement), and documents confirming the benefit. Upon receipt of the result, a document confirming payment.
Payment through a bank branch:
BY49 AKVV 3632 0000 0023 9100 0000 Bank: Fl 100 BOU OJSC "ASB Belarusbank" Brest code AKVVVY2Х UNP 200050587
Indicate: - payment for PCR - full name
Payment in ERIP by service code: service code: 1712912 Agreement No. Full name, amount
Payment method according to ERIP: Social. service, healthcare → healthcare → sanitary and preventive centers → Brest→Brest Regional Center for Health and Human Wellbeing → medical services→Contract No.→full name, amount - cost of service 40 rubles. 10 k.
Certain categories of citizens undergo laboratory tests of ticks for Lyme borreliosis using the RNIF method (contact tel. 8 (033) 648 18 00): - with a 30% discount: disabled people of groups I and II, children under 15 years of age (upon provision of a document confirming age), pregnant women, participants of the Great Patriotic War, disabled people, military operations on the territory of other states, citizens affected by the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, other radiation accidents (upon provision of a document confirming the right to receive preferential services (a copy of the certificate of a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a disabled person etc.).
The cost of testing for the presence of Lyme borreliosis pathogens for citizens of the Republic of Belarus, taking into account a 30% discount, is 12.23 rubles.
If your dog has suffered from a tick bite, contact your veterinary service - dogs suffer from piroplasmosis, but do not suffer from LB and TBE. Products to protect animals from tick bites can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy.
Protect yourself and your pets from tick bites!
For questions regarding the prevention of tick-borne infections and protection against ticks, you can contact the Brest Zonal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology by calling 20 49 05.
