We are in the months where tick infestations are most frequent , although we must not forget that they are there throughout the year. They are generally found when walking through areas where there is brush and tall vegetation . Taking into account the severity of the diseases they transmit, we are going to give 10 measures to avoid their bites .
- Clothing : the most appropriate clothing is long-sleeved t-shirts , pants , also long sleeves ; hat and slippers. Never go in sandals . Long-sleeved clothing , in addition to protecting us from the sun, also protects us from ticks and other insects. Make sure to tuck the shirt into your pants and cover the bottom of the pants with socks . Therefore, even if it is summer and we are tempted to wear ankle or invisible socks, to avoid these unpleasant companions, we recommend wearing socks with a height higher than the high ankle . In clothing , wearing light colors also helps to locate these unpleasant insects.
- Permethrin : a very interesting option is to wear clothing with Permethrin treatments . What this treatment does is that the clothing itself repels these insects . Brands that use this technology are, for example, Craghoppers. Exofficio and OR, for example.
- Use of repellents : For exposed areas of the skin , pharmacies can advise us on products to apply to areas of the skin that we cannot hide.
- Be careful where we sit : when resting , do not sit directly on the ground , especially in areas with vegetation.
- Go through the middle of the path : when we walk, always try to go through the central part of the paths , trying to avoid rubbing against the vegetation . Ticks do not fly or jump, they are in the undergrowth and when they pass they stick to our skin.
- Periodic checks : if we go through areas with brush where forest animals or livestock pass through, it is advisable to do periodic checks because the ticks spend between half and an hour crawling before getting into the skin .
- Check the backpack : At the end of the day check the backpack as some may remain in the backpack.
- Clean arms and legs : If you do not wear long-sleeved clothing, check your legs and arms from time to time more frequently than if we were wearing long-sleeved clothing.
- End of day check : Dark , hidden and hairy places are the favorites of ticks, therefore the areas to check would be the armpits, scalp, groin, waist, navel, back of the knees and the part of the back where it loses its name, yes, in the piggy bank ... 😉.
- Walking out of season : another way is to walk when the weather becomes cooler , but taking these recommendations into account it is difficult for us to fall into the tick ambush.
You have to be very careful with ticks since they transmit more than 50 serious human pathologies , including Lyme disease or Crimean-Congo Fever (which is fatal ). A few days ago, a case of a male in Salamanca was detected. contracted this last disease . The presence of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus has been detected in ticks captured on wild animals in the autonomous communities of Extremadura, CyL, Castilla La Mancha and Madrid . Therefore, be very careful .