The village tick of the Agras family belongs to the class of arachnid, parasitomorphic mites, very common in the territories of the post-Soviet space. It is for this reason that each person must definitely know what actions must be taken when bitten so that the tick does not become the causative agent of serious diseases. It is noteworthy that the tick can bite both people and pets that are in constant contact with family members and especially young children, who are the most vulnerable, because not understanding the seriousness of what is happening, they often do not tell their parents about the bite.
Description
Argas mites are carriers of many diseases, the most dangerous and common of which are spirochetes and the Central Asian form of tick-borne spirochetosis. In addition, they can carry:
- Taiga encephalitis.
- Tularemia.
- Sypnotyphoid fever.
It is noteworthy that diseases carried by adults can be transmitted to larvaeby inheritance. This mainly concerns infectious or parasitic diseases that penetrate directly into the egg. It is for this reason that the tick population is often a serious threat to a stable epidemiological situation. By creating a so-called reservoir of serious viruses that can suddenly appear almost anywhere in the world.
Building
In order to timely take first aid in case of a bite, each person should know what a settlement tick looks like, the structure of which makes it possible to distinguish it from most blood-sucking insects. The body of this tick is longitudinal or oval in shape, outwardly resembling an egg. The proboscis is located on the ventral side, while the dorsal shield is completely absent. The body cover of the argas mite is chitinous and small-humped.
It is quite difficult to determine the gender of an individual without special knowledge and appropriate instruments, because sexual dimorphism is very weakly expressed. In addition, this variety received from nature a characteristic welt that runs along the edges of the body and creates a visual edge on it.
Food
The village tick can eat the blood of any vertebrate, regardless of age and individual characteristics. At the same time, the time required to completely fill the stomach ranges from 3 minutes to a whole hour, it all depends on the temperature conditions in which the bite was carried out. While on the body, a tick can consume up to 12 times its own weight in blood.
Be sure to keep in mind that if you have a tick on your body, then you can become a direct carrier of serious diseases. Scientists managed to find out that it is ticks belonging to the argas family that can infect you with tick-borne typhus, and the causative agent of the disease is transmitted in several ways at once, transovarial and transphasic.
Reproduction
Bisexual reproduction allows stable reproduction, which has a significant impact on the rate at which the settlement tick develops. The cycle of development includes a phased transformation. First of all, a larva is formed from an egg, which, through repeated rebirths in the nymphal stage, transforms into a full-fledged argas tick.
The female lays eggs immediately after she finishes drinking blood. At the same time, he tries to choose the most secluded place for them. On average, their number does not exceed a hundred at a time, but during her life she can lay about a thousand eggs annually, each of which will later grow a new tick that needs food.
Maggots
After leaving the food source, ticks begin to mate. Within a month, fully formed larvae begin to emerge from the eggs laid by the settlement mite, which immediately begin to look for the first sources of food for themselves. In the future, it is the first blood that they consume that will serve as the main impetus for further development into a full-fledged individual. At this stage of development, the size of the tick does not exceed 2 mm, and inthe color is dominated by a beige or light brown shade.
If the temperature remains favorable when they find a source of food, the standard development cycle is about a year, under adverse conditions it can increase to two years. At the same time, their body weight increases by more than 20 times within a few days. The body of the tick is covered with small spines that molt as they mature.
In the future, a fully developed tick may not eat for up to 10 years, without experiencing much discomfort from forced starvation. In general, the time it takes for a tick to go through all stages of development is up to a quarter of a century.
Main types and features of ticks
In order to be able to distinguish the argasid tick from the rest and apply the most appropriate treatment in a timely manner, it would not be out of place to know what the rest of the representatives of the ticks are, the most common among which were:
- Argas mites - prefer to live indoors, the role of which is played by a variety of cracks, holes, caves, as well as living quarters.
- Gamas mites are small eyeless mites, the size of which does not exceed 5 mm. Most often they parasitize on birds and small mammals, through which many different viral pathogens are transmitted to humans.
- Tyroglyphics - most often found at home. The main places that suit them for breeding are variousfood stocks, in particular various cereals and flour. The main problem that occurs in a person who eats food infected with these mites is intestinal necrosis. In addition, coming into direct contact with human skin, these mites leave a rash and irritation on it in most cases. Some individuals can even take root on the body of a person or pets, causing constant discomfort.
Life periods
The village tick, whose life cycle in most cases is short, ranging from several months to several years, is a real threat, because under favorable conditions, life expectancy increases to 20-25 years.
Fully developing into an adult, the village mite changes its bumpy skin cover, but the spikes on it are completely absent. There are 8 limbs, while the genital opening is located between the first and second pair of legs, on the lower part of the body. At the same time, in females it is a gap, and in males, the hole is covered with a special shield.
Bite
A tick on a human or animal body is a temporary ectoparasite. At the site of a direct bite, the formation of a small dark red nodule with a pronounced edging of pale color is usually observed. If timely measures are not taken to eliminate the tick, then the nodule grows and transforms into a hemorrhagic papule with a characteristic hemorrhage, the diameter of which usually does not exceed 8 mm.
Settlement tick,when biting, it irritates the tissues of the body, as a result of which there is severe itching at the site of the bite, which is the main stimulus for prompt medical attention in most patients.
This is due to the fact that often a tick bites a person in places where a person cannot see it and, as a result, take timely measures to eliminate it.
Precautions
Since the settlement tick is the causative agent of most serious diseases, it is important to take not only timely measures to treat the bite, but also to carry out much-needed prevention in the warm season. Going to nature, you should make sure that most of the parts of the body are covered with clothing, such protective measures will not be superfluous when examining caves, both for tourism and research purposes.
It must be remembered that even with timely measures taken, a person is not immune from the dangerous consequences of a bite, which in rare cases can even lead to serious diseases of the brain or spinal cord, affecting neurological or mental abnormalities.
In the event that you plan to spend some time in a clay house, for example, going on vacation, treat the room before moving in with acaricides, which will not only help to quickly destroy existing ticks, but also prevent the emergence of new ones.
Treatment
When you find a bite on the body, you must immediately proceedto disinfect the affected area by treating it with hydrogen peroxide or brilliant green in order to reduce the risk of an allergic reaction. Remember that it is strongly not recommended to comb the bite site, because in the future it can even lead to ulcers and secondary foci of infection.
It would be best, after consulting a doctor, to reduce its effect with an antihistamine. At the same time, the duration of healing of the bite itself takes no more than 2-3 weeks. In any case, you should not self-medicate, it would be best to consult a doctor in a timely manner, who will be able to identify and promptly eliminate possible consequences.
