The child was bitten by a tick - what to do?

Unfortunately, in the spring and summer, no one is insured against tick bites. Particularly high probability to catch this insect on small children, because they constantly run and play in high grass, without worrying about the consequences. In this article we will tell you what to do and where to go if the child is bitten by a tick, and how you can try to avoid meeting him.

Necessary prevention measures

If you are in a countryside where there is a rather high probability of meeting a Borrelia or encephalitic mite, be sure to spray yourself and your child with a special spray that is not prohibited for use in children. Do not forget to update the tool after the expiration time.

Even in hot weather, try to dress the baby so that, if possible, cover all of his body. Finally, after the walk is over, completely undress the baby and carefully inspect his entire body, paying special attention to the scalp, armpits, neck and stomach.

What could be the consequences if the child was bitten by a tick?

Fortunately, not all mites are equally dangerous, and very often the bite goes without any consequences. However, in some regions, most of these insects are infected with the virus of encephalitis or borreliosis - ailments that can lead to severe disability or even death.

In addition, after a tick bite, other diseases can occur, for example:

Tactics of action with a tick bite

In the event that, despite all the precautions, you still found on the body of your son or daughter of a sucking tick, it is necessary, first of all, to take it out carefully. Regardless of where the tick bites the child - in the head or any other part of the body - it should be taken with two fingers as close as possible to the skin and, slowly rocking, slowly pull on yourself. You can also use a small pair of tweezers. After removal, the insect must be placed in a plastic bag and tightly tied to its neck, or else the mite is dropped into a hermetically sealed container, for example, a vial of medicines.

The wound on the body of the child should be treated with cologne or green, and the container with the body of the insect - taken to the laboratory of Rospotrebnadzor, which is in every city. The address and phone number of this specialized agency you can easily find on the Internet. They will conduct a study to identify pathogens and explain in detail what to do if the results show that the child was bitten by an encephalitis or borreliosis mite. In Ukraine, similar functions are performed by regional sanitary-epidemiological stations.

In case of poor results of the analysis, the child is immediately sent for emergency prevention of these diseases. Such a measure very well helps to prevent encephalitis infection if it is done in a timely manner - no later than 72 hours after contact with an insect. If a child bitten by a tick infected with borreliosis, such prevention can also help, however, in most cases it is not done, because this disease is very good and is quickly treated at an early stage.

In any case, if within 2-3 weeks after the bite the baby has such symptoms as a significant fever, chills, fever, aches in the bones, you should immediately contact the doctor.

A tick, infected with one of the severe infections, can bite not only the baby but also the nursing mother. Opinions of doctors on the issue, whether it is possible to feed the child, if the tick is bitten, diverge. Meanwhile, most doctors believe that it is better to wait until exclusion of the diagnosis of tick-borne encephalitis, since this disease can be transmitted with breast milk.