Ticks

[AndyC]

More reasons for us to enforce leg cover rules in Summer http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9432000/9432605.stm

[EddieH]

All the more reason for the government to offer TBE innoculations on the NHS.

Interesting that in Eastern Europe where TBE is common is where shorts are most commonly worn.

[Gross]

I have twice had the TBE jabs on the NHS

I have orienteered all over Eastern Europe where ticks are a 'problem' and never encoutered one.... on a training event in the Trossachs some years ago I came away covered in around 50 of the wee buggers

[frog]

I started orienteering in New Zealand where full body cover is obligatory most places due to the hep B risk so have tended to keep covered up in forests in the UK.
I still managed to get coated in ticks at Ardnaskie in 2009 and was still discovering them 2 days later.
One had managed to travel inside my bra, don't remember wading through neck high bracken, must have got particularly lost that day!
It's a course of 3 vaccines for TBE cover then booster after 3-5 years, so I'd be inclined to just check vigilently for ticks after orienteering as if removed carefully within 12 hours the chance of transmission of any infection is minimal.

[frog]

blank

[graeme]

... said Miss Smith.
"Ticks don't actually start to transmit infections until 24-48 hours post attachment.

Is that correct?

[frog]

http://www.travax.nhs.uk/registered/index-wn.asp
travax says they transmit afte 12-24 hours.
If I pull one off I usually rub some antibiotic cream (generally mupirocin as I keep that in my o bag) in the site

[frog]

Just realised that I can only access this stuff because I have a password so the cut and pasted bit from the site is

"Ticks


Ticks are the vector of lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne typhus, congo-crimean haemorrhagic fever, babesiosis, tularaemia and some other rickettsial and arboviral infections. The bite itself can cause an itchy and erythematous local reaction especially if the mouth parts are left in-situ. An adrenaline 'pen' should be carried by those with a history of anaphylaxis. Flaccid paralysis due to tick bites is reported from Australia, South Africa and occasionally Europe and North America; prompt removal of the offending tick is important.

•Bites from these insects are unusual in package tourists staying in urban or developed tourist resorts.
•Ticks normally become attached to skin or clothing after brushing against bracken or long grass and then migrate to warm moist areas of the body such as groins or axillae to feed.
•Avoid unnecessary exposure in infested areas. Keep to paths.
•Clothing should cover the legs with "socks outside trousers". Insect repellents can be used to impregnate exposed clothing such as trousers and socks.
•Ticks should always be removed as soon as possible, ideally with tweezers hooked around the mouthparts under the tick's body. A long fingernail can also act as a lever to prize the tick off. Do not squeeze the body of the tick.
•Ticks do not normally feed for about 12 - 24 hours after attaching themselves during which time infection risk is small. "

[Copepod]

When I worked in a a travel health clinic, I remember a couple, heading to a walking holiday in Eastern Europe, aged in their 50s - their eyes lit up when I suggested that the best way to remove ticks was to help each other My partner & I have checked the bits we can't see ourselves.