Photo of ixodid tick

Among the many thousands of species, we can name several when the activity of ticks turns into aggression towards humans and animals: ear tick, argas tick, cat tick, gamas tick, etc. A small animal can cause great damage to health, crops, and sometimes is a direct threat to human life , infecting it with relapsing fever, Lyme disease, encephalitis, tularemia, Q fever, etc.

Struggle for existence

To survive in a world of dangers and harsh realities, you need to reproduce your own kind as often as possible. For ticks, this process directly depends on the environment: how comfortable the conditions are and the availability of sufficient food. Ticks are of different sexes. Animals mate, depending on the species, on a warm-blooded host, others - in external environment. As a rule, a male that has fertilized several females dies. To begin laying eggs, the female ixodid tick must gain strength: feed on blood for a whole week. When full, it lays eggs: at one time their number can range from one to 5 thousand. From the larva to the adult there are several stages. The larva turns into a nymph only after the first stage of molting. At this stage, sexual characteristics are not yet expressed. Only after the last molt does the transformation into an adult occur. How ticks reproduce cannot be clearly determined full cycle evolution from larva to adult.

The “inner world” of ticks

The digestive tract is capable of processing semi-liquid, liquid food. This explains the sucking appearance of the pharynx. Special glands produce saliva, which has an anesthetic effect: a person or animal may not immediately feel the bite. Ticks breathe with their lungs and have tracheas (they have the shape of holes on the sides of the body). The circulatory “motor” is a heart with cavities or, in other species, there is no circulatory system at all. Blood feeding for arachnids of both sexes is necessary for reproduction.

How long a tick lives is impossible to answer unequivocally, because... the full period of its development can vary from a year to several years. Blood-sucking animals, having drunk blood, accumulate energy, maintain viability for a long time in unfavorable conditions for themselves, even starve until they find “prey” again.

By the way, adult females, preparing to lay eggs, suck 100 times more blood than their own weight. This explains that the male leaves the bite victim before the “girlfriend”. The waiting period can last up to 10 years. The tick is hardy, so it can live a long time.

Habitat

The places where ticks are found are the most unpredictable. These are desert sands, water, grass litter, plants, calorific animals, humans. Comfortable conditions is created not only by nature (global warming, warm or hot weather, humidity), but also people. Cutting down conifers and planting deciduous trees in this area is a fertile environment for reproduction. This is what all the invasions are connected with. more ixodid bloodsuckers. Traces of ticks are found throughout the forest-steppe and forest zones of Russia, in public gardens and city parks.

Argas mite

The main time of a tick's life is waiting. It settles on a branch, in a mattress, folds of linen, etc. Seeing a “target”, it tries to fall and cling to the body with its paws, which react to the heat and smell of the body. This is the answer to the question, do ticks fly? No, they swoop or crawl towards a potential food source. In nature, a tick larva cannot rise higher than 0.3 m above the ground, and an adult bloodsucker overcomes only 1.5 m.

The period of tick activity ranges from May (although the first bites were recorded in April) to the end of June. At this time, the ground temperature is more than +7 degrees, the sun's rays are warm, and there is sufficient humidity. Then there is a slight decline, after which in August-September there is a surge in bites in areas where ticks live, especially on animals. A drop in outside air temperature below 5°C is a signal to stop activity and enter a state of stupor.

FYI. Recently, due to global warming these time boundaries have expanded. Today, even in November, cases of tick bites are recorded.

The natural environment and ecology are changing on the planet and by no means better side. Ticks also adapt to external changes. They easily adapt to them, demonstrating an example of survivability and adaptability to survive in the harshest conditions.

Despite popular belief, ticks are not insects; in fact, they are animals belonging to the class “arachnids”. Spiders and scorpions are considered their close relatives. Ticks are characterized by a stationary lifestyle; very often they move no more than 10 m.

Types of ticks

Modern science knows more than 50,000 subspecies of ticks, but most of them are not of interest to us in this article.

We will only consider dangerous species ticks for humans or domestic animals that are found in our latitudes. Below are descriptions of the types of ticks you may encounter.

In our region, this tick is one of the most common and poses a serious danger to people and animals, as it is a carrier of encephalitis infection. By the way, this is not a separate breed or subspecies of ticks; the carrier of the disease can be different representatives subspecies of Ixodidae.

Encephalitis is very dangerous disease, which can lead to death if measures are not taken in time. Unfortunately, one cannot determine by “appearance” whether he is infected or not. Therefore, you should always be aware of the potential danger and do everything possible.

The Ixodid tick is also often called the hard tick. This name arose because of the special shell that covers its body. This tick can carry encephalitis infection; dog and taiga ticks are the most common representatives of this subspecies.

Peculiarities:

• Mite size: can reach 25mm.
• It begins to activate at a temperature of about 3-5 degrees Celsius.
• It has a characteristic chitinous shell.

Ixodid ticks are also called forest ticks, which indicates their habitat. They love shady, damp areas, so when going for a walk in the forest, especially in the spring, do not forget about precautions.

This breed of mite is the causative agent of scabies. Previously, there were two versions of how such a tick changes its owner:

• He can move from one victim to another.
• Moves through household objects.

But scientists have found that ticks actually do this only in the first way.

Scabies mites can use not only humans, but also pets or livestock as hosts. If such a mite attacks a person, then the manifestations of scabies may be less pronounced and not so painful.

Peculiarities:

• The female tick usually reaches no more than 0.5 mm in length.
• To transmit a tick from one host to another, sufficiently prolonged physical contact is required. Usually a fertilized female moves to a new victim; for this migration she needs about half an hour, during which she manages to make a hole in the skin of the new host and gain a foothold there.
• These ticks feed on lysate, a substance that is formed when their saliva interacts with the host’s skin secretions.

As the name suggests, this type Ticks live in places very close to humans. It is attracted to accumulations of dust and fluff, so most often it can be found in bed, but it is also found in public places: cafes, hairdressers, hotels, theaters.

These ticks do not bite humans or use them as hosts. They feed on exfoliated epidermis. Although at first glance they seem less dangerous, this is not the case. The life span of such a tick reaches 4 months, during which time it manages to excrete a huge amount of excrement, approximately 200 times its own weight. It is excrement that causes irritation and itching on the skin of people who come into contact with surfaces affected by dust mites. In fact, this is an allergic reaction and not the result of a bite.

Also bed mite leaves abundant offspring, the female gives birth to up to 300 new individuals.

Ear mite

Ear mites do not pose a great danger to humans since their main victims are pets. Such mites start in different ways: An animal can pick it up on the street, or you can bring it into the house by petting someone else's animal.

These mites feed on earwax and sebum. All life cycle lasts no more than 2 months.

What is the danger of this tick? Ixodid ticks, which can carry encephalitis, are sometimes mistaken for ear ticks, which is why they are not accepted by everyone necessary measures precautions. Therefore, it is very important to learn to distinguish between these two breeds, or better yet, contact a specialist.

Another subspecies of mites that does not pose a danger to humans, but can seriously harm plants. It, as a rule, is fixed in the lower part of the plant, begins to suck the juice from it and entwine it with cobwebs. As a result, such a plant literally dries out and can also become infected with gray rot.

The life cycle of such a tick ranges from a week to a month.

We hope that photos and names of tick varieties will help you navigate their diversity and learn to distinguish them.

How dangerous are ticks to humans?

The greatest danger to humans are ixodid ticks, which can be carriers of encephalitis and many other very dangerous diseases, including: Lyme disease, typhus. Each subspecies of these animals has its own characteristics of existence, but usually proximity to them does not bring anything good. Therefore, it is very important when ticks are detected to immediately begin taking action to neutralize them.

We looked at the most common types of insect mites and found out what their danger is. It is very important to understand this when you encounter them in order to take adequate measures.

These bloodsuckers belong to the family of ixodidae, that is, ticks with hard covers. It is dog bloodsuckers that spread the largest number infectious pathogens that pose a significant danger to both humans and animals.

External signs of dog ticks

Externally, dog ticks are similar to their ixodid “brothers”, but have a uniform brown-red color not only on the back, but also on the limbs.

• Females are fundamentally different from males not only in sexual characteristics, but also appearance. As the female dog bloodsucker becomes saturated, it changes color and becomes yellowish-gray.
• In males, a large area of ​​the back is covered with a hard chitinous scute that extends onto the abdomen, while in the female such a scute is present only in the area of ​​the head.
• The rest of the female’s soft body is adapted to significant stretching when feeding on blood in order to accommodate significant volumes of it.
• Satiated nymphs also have sexual characteristic features, but the hard coverings of future males appear only after molting and transition to adulthood.
• The larvae are small, reddish, and when saturated they darken significantly, changing color to a more saturated one.

The ability to stretch the body varies significantly at each stage of development. The larva is capable of doubling its body size when feeding, the nymph and female - three times or more, the male - 1.5 times.

Period of dog tick activity

The general activity of dog ticks occurs when the earth surface warms up to 5 degrees, but the peaks for each stage of transformation differ.

While for adult bloodsuckers imago the characteristic time of activity falls in the last months of spring and the beginning of autumn, larvae and nymphs, on the contrary, go hunting in the season that falls in mid-summer.

Considering the theoretical possibility of a nymph attaching itself to a person, since it can climb up a plant to a meter height, it is not advisable to lose vigilance even in the hot summer months. Protecting yourself, children and pets as carefully as in spring and autumn is becoming a necessity.

Distribution area of ​​dog ticks

Dog tick distribution areas in middle lane In Russia they coincide with their taiga “brother”, and throughout the world the dog bloodsucker is found much more widely - throughout the Northern Hemisphere of the planet.

It has another name - “European forest tick”, although in Latin it has the same name - Ixodes ricinus.

This suggests that the dog tick is rampant where there is vegetation. IN recent years There is a steady migration of ticks closer to humans and their households.

The canine bloodsucker, which previously traditionally fed on the blood of forest and steppe inhabitants such as foxes, wolves, jackals, can now easily be found in close proximity to people:

• personal plots;
• dacha areas;
• tourist centers;
• pastures;
• city ​​green areas - parks, squares, plantings, alleys;
• cemeteries.

This bloodsucker loves to live in dog kennels and kennels where purebred dogs are bred.

Who can become a victim of dog ticks?

This representative of ixodid bloodsuckers is no exception and also belongs to the polyphagous arachnids. That is, it does not matter to him whose blood he sucks for saturation and further development.

Therefore, in principle, any warm-blooded animal or person can become a victim of tick attacks.

• The larvae, which can climb up plants no more than half a meter, feed on small rodents, birds and reptiles.
• Nymphs, who can reach a height of about a meter, are already accessible to medium-sized animals, as well as people, especially children.
• Adult ticks, which can climb bushes and tall plants, have the opportunity to attach themselves to large mammals and humans.

Since it is enough for ticks to feed once in each of the stages of transformation, they stick to the host for a long time. The female takes the longest to satiate - she can suck blood for about 14 days, after which she will lay a clutch and die.

What is the danger of a dog tick bite?

Dog ticks are more dangerous than taiga ticks and pose a risk of becoming infected with health hazards infectious diseases both for humans and for domestic animals - dogs and livestock.

These bloodsuckers transmit pathogens of the following diseases to people when they puncture the skin and inject their own enzymes:

1. tularemia;
2. tick-borne encephalitis;
3. Marseilles fever;
4. tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease).

Increasingly, cases of simultaneous infection with encephalitis and borreliosis are being recorded. Without proper treatment, the bite victim is doomed, at best, to remain disabled for life, and at worst, to die.

For dogs and cattle, dog ticks pose a threat of infection with piroplasmosis, which causes painful and rapid death of the animal. To prevent such damage, farm livestock are treated with repellents. Competent dog breeders do the same.

Measures to protect against tick bites

During this dangerous season for tick attacks, the threat of being bitten should not be taken lightly. You definitely need to protect yourself and protect your children or your own dog.

People need to take the following measures during peak waves of tick attacks:

1. repellents in any form available and convenient for application - creams, gels, sprays;
2. closed clothing in light colors, completely covering the limbs and tucked into shoes or socks;
3. for residents and guests of encephalitis endemic areas best protection There will be vaccination, which can be planned or urgent.

There are protective ones for dogs effective means in the form of drops on the withers, sprays, collars and tablets for oral administration.

Once you find yourself in nature, it is important to adhere to simple protective rules - avoid walking along the edges of paths overgrown with grass and bushes, and stop for the night not in the grass, but in places devoid of vegetation.

Photo of a dog tick

Differences between dog ticks and other representatives

Life cycle

A tick requires a portion of blood once at each stage of development. Next, either molting occurs before the next stage, or (if we are talking about an adult female) egg production.

Spreading

The main conditions for the survival of the dog tick are the presence of hosts and a humid microclimate.

Danger to people and control measures

Despite the name, the dog tick does not care whose blood it feeds on in order to get enough and continue further development. Theoretically, a dog tick can bite any warm-blooded animal or person:

• The larvae climb plants and shrubs no higher than 50 cm and usually bite small rodents and birds.
• Nymphs climb plants up to 1 meter in height, bite medium-sized animals, people, but most often children (due to their short stature).
• Adult ticks easily move through tall bushes and plants and bite large animals and humans.

Ticks are arthropod invertebrate animals from the class of arachnids. Now there are about 50 thousand species.

Thanks to their microscopic size, they were able to easily adapt to their environment.

Ticks cause a number of diseases in humans called acariases. There are many of them. These include: tick-borne encephalitis, scabies, demodicosis, allergic manifestations, various dermatitis.

In addition, arthropods are carriers of many infectious pathologies, including, for example, Lyme disease, piroplasmosis, bartonellosis, and tularemia.

• sarcoptoid;
• demodexes.

Ticks feed on blood, lymph and skin

The usual route of infection with ticks is contact with an infected person or animal, the use of shared hygiene items, clothing that belongs to the patient, and walks in nature.

Common symptoms of ticks in humans are: itching, often worsening at night, redness of the skin, and rash on the body.

Scabies mite

Scabies itch is one of the types of sarcoptic mites (other types of these arthropods mainly live on animals). He lives in upper layers epidermis. It cannot live in the external environment: it dies within a day and a half. Tick ​​saliva contains an enzyme that dissolves skin keratin. This creates a lysate that the itch feeds on.

The male fertilizes the female on the surface of the skin, after which he dies. After this, the female gnaws passages in the epithelial cells, where she lays eggs. The larvae appear after 2 - 4 days and begin to make their passages. An adult tick develops in 2 weeks. In general, the female lives no more than one and a half months.

If the patient constantly scratches them, the rashes become polymorphic, and ulcers may form.

Most often, scabies bites can be found between the fingers

Infection occurs through contact with the patient’s body, often during sexual intercourse (due to close contact of bodies), through bedding. After treatment there are usually no relapses.

To avoid contracting scabies, you should not use other people's personal belongings and clothing.

Acne ironwort

We will talk about demodex, which constantly lives in human skin. Its body dimensions are no more than 0.4 mm. It lives near hair follicles and in the sebaceous glands.

If their number is not critical, they do not make themselves felt. But if a malfunction occurs in the human body, demodex activates its activity, begins to multiply and the disease demodicosis develops.

The proliferation of mites is facilitated by dysfunction of the sebaceous glands. Therefore, the tick manifests itself where there are most of them. Demodicosis never occurs on the feet, but most often occurs on the face and scalp.

In men, demodicosis can occur on the back and chest because they sweat when they are physically active.

But they have practically no facial disease. This is explained by regular shaving, as a result of which a significant part of the mites is removed from the skin with a razor. The reproduction of Demodex is facilitated by the use of cosmetics - it is one of the causes of the disease on the face in women.

Demodex can live in eyelash follicles. Then redness and inflammation of the conjunctiva, purulent discharge, and loss of eyelashes occur.

Some types of demodicosis, which are caused by these mites, have symptoms similar to other diseases: blepharitis, seborrhea, rosacea.

Demodicosis can be diagnosed after microscopic analysis of scrapings from the affected skin. Unfortunately, demodicosis can recur, since the body does not develop immunity to this disease.

Demodexes are not inherited. They are rare in children and young people and are acquired by a person throughout his life. It is believed that every adult has these arthropods.

To prevent demodicosis, you need to eat right, strengthen your immune system, and take proper care of your skin.

Sarcoptoid mites

Sarcoptoidosis is milder in humans than in animals

Just like scabies, sarcoptoids dig tunnels in the epidermis of animals. When the mite gets to a person from an infected mammal, it causes pseudoscabies. It is accompanied by itching and redness of the epidermis, but the tick does not bite into the skin: conditions for reproduction are not suitable for it. Therefore, arthropods leave humans, and the symptoms of the disease go away on their own without treatment.

Sarcoptoid mites can appear in humans after contact with an infected animal, most often a dog.

There is a high risk of infection among livestock farmers caring for cattle, pigs and sheep. The palms, arms, and chest are most often affected. The skin turns red, a papular rash and itching appears. These symptoms go away on their own after some time. Those who have recovered from the disease develop hypersensitivity to ticks, which manifests itself as a periodic rash.

Other types of ticks

There are types of ticks that live separately from humans, but cause harm to them: they feed on the sap of agricultural crops, destroying them, and spoil food (flour, cereals, cheese, sugar). They enter the human stomach with food or dust and cause intestinal disorders - the so-called intestinal acariasis.

Dust mites live in carpets, mattresses, pillows, upholstered furniture, are always present in room dust. They feed on dead epidermal cells and hair that falls from a person. Their excrement causes allergies.

When going outdoors, you need to take precautions: wear long sleeves, trousers, a hat, and closed shoes.

There are 6 types of ticks that carry the virus tick-borne encephalitis. This disease is so dangerous that there are vaccines against it. The disease affects the brain nervous system, can be fatal. Accompanied high temperature, headache, body aches, gastrointestinal disorders.

Cheyletiella, like sarcoptoid mites, cannot live long on humans; their main host is animals. But when they get on people’s skin, they cause rashes at the points of contact, which then turn into blisters and pustules. All this is accompanied by unbearable itching. Cheyletiella live on humans temporarily.

You cannot treat ticks with disdain. They can cause serious harm to health. To protect against tick-borne diseases, those interested can purchase a special insurance policy.