How to protect yourself from ticks

1. Use special repellents before going to the forest.
2. Do not get unnecessarily into impassable thickets of undersized raspberry alder, or hazel bushes. Avoid withered branches: ticks love dead wood more than living trees.
3. When moving along a forest road, do not pluck branches: by acting this way, you can shake off the ticks on yourself.
4. Your lower body must be completely covered, so wearing shorts is not recommended. The best option are smooth-textured sweatpants, provided that their legs are tucked into your socks.
5. Be sure to wear a headdress: a cap or a headscarf.
6. If you have long hair, you better hide it under a headdress.
7. Every hour of your stay in the forest must end with you inspecting your and your companions’ clothing and open areas of the body.
8. Once you have returned from the forest, shake off your outerwear and underwear. Also be sure to check your bags and baskets, bouquets picked in the wild, cats and dogs if you took them with you.
9. Run a fine-tooth comb through your hair.

If you notice a bite, first of all you should go to the nearest medical institution for the removal of the tick and its subsequent delivery to a virological laboratory.

In a laboratory, specialists will test the tick for the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus. This measure is necessary to make a decision on the need for prevention of the disease by using human immunoglobulin, which is injected no later than 96 hours after a tick bite.

In Syktyvkar, tests are carried out in the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology: Ordzhonikidze st., 71. Phone number: 8 (8212) 21-87-30.

If you decide to remove the tick yourself, you should follow the recommendations set out below.

1. In no case you should pull the tick: by acting this way, you can tear off its body from its head, which not only does not cause the parasite’s death, but can make the whole situation worse.
2. Pour the tick with camphor or vegetable oil: after 10-15 minutes in it the parasite will weaken its hold due to lack of oxygen, and it will be possible to carefully pull it out with tweezers.
3. Once the tick has been removed, the bite site should be anointed with iodine or brilliant green.
4. Be sure to contact the nearest medical institution as soon as possible.