This year marks the 70th anniversary of the opening tick-borne encephalitis. The first official victims of the disease were logging workers in the Khabarovsk region. The very discovery of the terrible disease belongs to the expedition of Dr. Lev Zilber, several people from which fell ill from tick bites, and some even died.
Currently, after a long break, a significant increase in the number of victims of encephalitis tick bites is being registered in Russia, said the chief sanitary doctor of our country, Gennady Onishchenko. It is noted that the disease has a ten-year cycle. The wave of tick spread covers 46 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Cases of the spread of the disease are registered in 24 of them. For example, residents of the Moscow region are practically not afraid of tick-borne encephalitis. It usually appears in the northern regions of the Moscow region. Specialists from the Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis managed to identify it in several places. In particular, in the area of the city of Dubna, whose residents several times complained of tick bites. According to Dr. Galina Karganova, despite the fact that tick-borne encephalitis does not pose a serious danger to Moscow and the region, the threat may still increase every year, since the neighboring regions - Tver and Yaroslavl - are real hotbeds of tick-borne encephalitis.
"The realest misconception"
According to Dr. Karganova, any ticks that attack a person are dangerous. The tick-borne encephalitis virus with a high degree of probability may be contained in them. There are a great variety of ticks themselves – as many as 850 species. But only a few of them attack people, or rather just two, which are carriers of the tick-borne encephalitis virus and borelliosis (Lyme disease). And if the latter is treated with antibiotics, then the tick-borne encephalitis virus is not. The only effective protection against it is vaccination. But if the tick has stuck, then it must be removed immediately. There is a common belief that a little oil is required during this difficult operation. “And this is a real misconception,” says Galina Karganova, a specialist from the Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis. It turns out that the more you lubricate a tick with oil, the more it secretes saliva that carries the tick-borne encephalitis virus, which is why the likelihood of infection increases. It is better to consult a doctor immediately if possible. Or - if you can - “you tie a knot with a thread at the very base of his nose - in the place where he was sucked in - and with rotational (as if twisting) movements, pull it out. Moreover, this must be done in the very first minutes. But still, if the nose remains, it’s better to see a doctor, otherwise it will break out,” the doctor convinces.
“Ticks can also carry a host of other germs.”
If the tick contains the tick-borne encephalitis virus, then infection occurs literally in the first minutes. That is, simply pulling the insect out quickly will not save you, explains a tick expert. The likelihood of infection will still remain quite high. Although, for example, “for Borella it is necessary to reorganize antigenically, for which the tick requires about 17 hours (in the Moscow region). That is, the faster you pull out this tick, the less likely you are to get borreliosis. By the way, a tick may have a lot of other microbes on its nose,” explains Galina Karganova. After you have managed to pull out the tick, you need to put it in some handy jar along with a blade of grass, and then put it all in the refrigerator, so that you can then take it for analysis where it should be. Ticks require moderate humidity to survive. But still, the most important thing is to quickly show him to the doctors. If a tick is accidentally crushed, take it with you anyway, putting it in a plastic bag. Next action after the tick is pulled out, treat the bite site with any disinfectant solution. And only then it makes sense to lubricate the site of the bite (suction) with an ointment containing antibiotics (tetracycline or levomecithin), covering it with a band-aid for a day. If borrelia did not manage to get into the blood, then they will be easily destroyed, and the likelihood of infection with borreliosis will be seriously reduced. But that's not all. Monitor your temperature, as with both encephalitis and borreliosis, the first signs of the disease are high temperature, which may seem like a sign of a cold. It should be noted that tick-borne encephalitis does not have a clear pattern of the course of the disease, since it can look like a common acute respiratory infection. Catarrhal symptoms and diarrhea are also possible, which may well be perceived as poisoning. Borelliosis can cause high fever. But in any case, if you have a fever, consult a doctor immediately, Dr. Karganova strongly advises.
Tip: Don't drink fresh milk!
Tick-borne encephalitis affects one tenth of those who have been bitten by a known infected tick. But nothing serious may happen at all - the temperature rose, went away and you forgot about it. But if trouble does happen, then tick-borne encephalitis itself is characterized by a “two-wave” rise: the temperature subsides - you feel better, when suddenly meningeal phenomena occur (when the virus enters the brain). Disability, which frightens everyone so much, threatens a person with a severe form of the disease, which is associated not only with a rise in temperature and meningeal phenomena. That is, the likelihood of disability is high if the disease progresses extensively. The risk of disability threatens five percent of those who have suffered severe forms tick-borne encephalitis. It is important that one of the little-known ways of contracting tick-borne encephalitis can be drinking unboiled milk. Milk becomes contaminated after a goat or cow is bitten by a tick infected with the tick-borne encephalitis virus. However, if milk is boiled, illness can be avoided. The fact that an animal is infected is most often seen in the example of goats, since cows most often do not succumb to infection. Remember that milk can infect your entire family. In this case, the symptoms of illness will be very similar to a cold. It is appropriate to reassure us right away - tick-borne encephalitis is not transmitted from person to person.
How to avoid infection
Harmful after bite physical exercise, hypothermia and various kinds of stress, reminds Dr. Karganova. After all, all this can provoke a more severe course of the disease. But if you avoid all of the above, you may not get infected at all. Otherwise, a more severe course of the disease may follow. Dress appropriately when going into the forest. Ticks love to sit on the grass (they never crawl to a height of more than half a meter) and wait for you to approach them. They always crawl exclusively upward. It is appropriate to recall the truism: in order to avoid a tick bite (sucking) as much as possible, it is important to completely cover yourself with clothing. Trousers tucked into rubber boots; shirt or sweater tucked into trousers; The collar is tied at the neck, and there are cuffs on the sleeves. The main thing is that the tick cannot crawl under clothing. It is best if your clothes are light, so that uninvited guests are visible to the naked eye. And even though you look like an alien in appearance, you are maximally protected from tick attacks. By the way, various kinds of “sprayers” (repellents) based on Det also help. When you return home, be sure to look through all your clothes. The tick has little energy and can crawl only a few meters. They will not be able to live long in the dryness of your house - a day maximum. Don't panic and remember that it will take several hours for the tick to attach itself. After all, the insect will be tediously looking for a place where it is better for it to attach itself. Inspecting yourself and your clothes is a very important thing, reminds Dr. Karganova from the Institute of Poliomyelitis and Viral Encephalitis. In a word, if you dress correctly and properly spray yourself with various kinds of special chemicals, then the danger of infection can be easily avoided. Don't forget about pets - they need to be examined after every walk.
Bitten and sucked
Within three days, be sure to go to special centers (in Moscow, for example, to the Sklifosovsky Hospital), where you will be given gamma globulin against tick-borne encephalitis. Most infectious disease specialists in the Moscow region prescribe antibiotics against borreliosis. It is advisable to check the tick itself so as not to take antibiotics, since some of them can trigger the activation of tick-borne encephalitis. If the tick has died, it can still be shown to doctors within a couple of days. Before this, the most ideal thing is to store the tick at a temperature of plus four degrees Celsius. A week after the bite, you can test your blood for antibodies. The vaccination is done twice at intervals of a month, and two weeks after the second vaccination you can safely go to the so-called “hotbed”. By the way, even in the case of imported vaccinations It’s better to wait a month between the first and second. Unfortunately, it happens that five percent still get sick after vaccination. According to the experience of Dr. Galina Karganova, the most common way to become a victim of a tick bite is to “go” to the toilet in nature. To protect yourself in this case, avoid grass if possible or cover yourself with old, well-read newspapers.
REFERENCE. The mite (Acarina) is a group of arthropods of the arachnid class (Arachnoidea) of the chelicerata subphylum, including representatives of the order Acariformes, Parasitiformes and Opilioacarina. Ixodid ticks - family K. of the suborder Ixodides of the order Parasitiformes; many species are carriers of pathogens of tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne typhus, hemorrhagic and Marseilles fevers, Q fever, tularemia and other human diseases. This group includes two families - argasid ticks (Argasidae) and ixodid ticks proper (Ixodidae).
Encephalitis is a whole group of several diseases that are inflammatory in nature. IN this moment This term refers not only to infection, but also to brain damage such as infectious-allergic, toxic and allergic.
History of virus research
Medicine has long been studying encephalitis, with doctors and scientists from different countries world, including Russian Federation. The author of the first clinical description The disease was discovered by the domestic scientist A. Panov, who provided the necessary information about the disease back in 1935.
Soon a group of scientists from Pavlovsky, Zilber, together with other specialists, studied in more detail clinical picture encephalitis, its epidemiology, developed some preventive methods and rules.
The virus was first isolated in 1937 by scientists from the brains of dead patients, as well as during an experiment with ticks and wild vertebrate animals from the Far East.
Every year, Rospotrebnadzor employees remind citizens of the country that before consuming milk, it must undergo fairly effective heat treatment; at a minimum, this product must be thoroughly boiled.
As statistics show, almost every year in Russia there is an infection with viral encephalitis through milk. The main route of infection is the consumption of a sheep or goat, less often the carrier becomes a cow milk product, in which harmful bacteria live for about 14 days, and in sour cream made from contaminated milk - 60 days.
Scientists report that if an animal is bitten by an infected tick, then they themselves become carriers of the disease in erased forms, and in the future they become chronic carriers when the virus lives in the blood and milk of the animal: goats, cows, etc.
At any market in any city in the country you can buy raw milk, unauthorized sour cream, cottage cheese, cream and other dairy products from local farmers. Many families like to send their children to the village, where ticks not only directly bite people, but also animals that seemingly give healthy foods. Any milk must be boiled before consumption.
Signs of encephalitis
The main symptoms of encephalitis are the following:
- General cerebral symptoms include frequent and severe headaches, often localized in the frontal region, nausea, vomiting, fear of light, and epileptic seizures. The person may simply be lethargic or even fall into a real coma.
- The central nervous system also begins to malfunction: limb paresis, severe irritation, seizures.
- Fever, high temperature, chills.
In some cases, the disease may be asymptomatic, which complicates the diagnostic process. A late treatment often is not effective and the disease is fatal.
Methods of protection
Anyone knows that treatment of encephalitis often ends in defeat, after which the patient dies. Therefore in in this case It is better to prevent the disease, to prevent infection, than to try to cure it.
Basic methods of protection against tick-borne encephalitis:
- Most effective method is a vaccine that can be used healthy people. Injections can only be given in those institutions that have a licensed right to do so. Such an injection contains a “killed” virus of the disease, this allows the human immune system to learn to fight the infection, as a result, the body produces antibodies that stop the development of the disease.
- As stated above, any milk obtained must be boiled well, and only then used for food or for preparing various dishes. This will help avoid a real tragedy.
- In order to reduce the number of tick attacks on pets, you need to create unfavorable living conditions for these infectious insects: constantly clean your territory, do not let the grass grow, get rid of last year's leaves, exterminate rodents. It is better to graze dairy animals on specially created pastures, and after walking, inspect the animal for the presence of attached ticks.
Attention! If you suspect encephalitis, you should consult a doctor immediately! Early treatment can help a person get rid of the disease completely, avoid unpleasant consequences and death.
Conclusion
After every walk in nature, you need to inspect your body for the presence of a tick; if you find an attached tick, then you need to pull it out, smear it with sunflower or other oil, then it will slowly begin to come out of the skin. It is better to put it in a bag and go with it to the hospital for tests. This way, doctors will be able to check whether the tick is infected and whether it is necessary to begin urgent treatment for the patient.
Today it is not uncommon to find tick-borne encephalitis and other infections in goat milk. Most high risk catch a tick in the spring, when warm weather is just setting in. The infection enters the goat's body along with the grass, without harming the animal. For humans, tick-borne encephalitis is very dangerous disease, causing disturbances in the functioning of the brain and nervous system.
How does infection occur?
As a rule, domestic animals are carriers of infection. This method of transmission of bacteria is called nutritional. Goats are most often affected. Getting into the bloodstream of animals, the infection long time remains in the body, the milk becomes contaminated and becomes dangerous for consumption. Food method transmission of infection is typical for groups and families. Every year the number of sick people increases, this is due to the increase in the number of goats. During its life, an animal can get encephalitis several times. Cow's milk practically does not tolerate the presented virus due to its short shelf life in the blood.
A person can become infected with tick-borne encephalitis after drinking raw, infected milk.
The infection comes into contact with the digestive tract and lingers in epithelial tissues. After a short period of time, the bacterium enters the bloodstream, then into internal organs and the immune system. The final destination is the central nervous system.
Symptoms of the disease
When infected with tick-borne encephalitis, the following signs appear:
- heat;
- nausea, vomiting;
- insomnia;
- loss of appetite;
- runny nose, cough;
- headache.
At the right approach and timely detection of the disease at the initial stage, the disease can be easily cured. In some cases, infection affects the nervous system, and diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis and meningoencephalitis develop. Such situations can lead to unexpected results, sometimes fatal.
The disease can be diagnosed based on the presence of symptoms and preexisting factors. If after drinking raw milk the symptoms mentioned above begin to appear, then the suspicion of tick-borne encephalitis is justified. However, only appropriate analyzes can provide complete confidence. To determine the presence of a lesion nervous system do lumbar puncture. The study allows you to diagnose meningitis and hemorrhages. To get a complete picture of the disease, to be sure whether a person has become infected or not, you should carry out a test. The presence of antibodies G and M in the blood indicates infection of the body. To determine whether a tick is present in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid, carry out PCR (polymerase chain reaction). In addition to the mandatory tests for tick-borne encephalitis, tests are carried out for the presence of other infections, such as tick-borne borreliosis and others.
Treatment of the disease is carried out with the help of antipyretics, droppers, massage and physiotherapy. The infection is not transmitted by airborne droplets, and an infected patient does not pose a threat to others.
Therapeutic measures
Tick-borne encephalitis is feared high temperatures, dies at 60°C within half an hour. At a temperature of 37° C, the bacterium lives for several days. You can get rid of the virus by boiling goat milk for 2 minutes. Experts recommend eating only boiled or sterilized products.
People who keep pets must adhere to simple rules, creating an unfavorable environment for the development of ticks. To prevent goats from becoming infected with tick-borne encephalitis, you should regularly mow the grass, actively fight rodents, remove leaves and maintain the area. Goats that produce milk must graze on specially prepared pastures.
Following these instructions will help limit the possibility of becoming infected with tick-borne encephalitis through goat's milk.
As prevention To combat the disease, it is necessary to graze animals in dry areas, prevent watering from puddles and small sewage ponds, use a penned grazing system, etc.
For treatment give phenothiosine at a dose of 1 g per goat mixed with feed salt (1 part phenothiosine to 9 parts salt) or with the daily norm of concentrated feed. Apply an aqueous solution of iodine (1 g of crystalline iodine, 1.5 g of potassium iodide per 1500 ml of distilled water) c. dose: for adult goats - 10-12 ml, for kids - 5-8 ml intratracheally. Dytrozine is also effective in the form of 25% aqueous solution(subcutaneous or intramuscular).
Treatment consists of trepanning the skull and removing the bladder or puncturing it and suctioning out the fluid in it. After death, the head or the entire corpse of the animal is buried in the ground.
For preventive purposes, herding dogs are periodically dewormed.
Treatment animals - immunization and use of medications.
Basic preventative measure in the fight against this disease is the systematic (every 5 days) bathing of all animals in baths with an arsenic solution to destroy ticks from the animals’ bodies.
Scabies of goats. Depending on the type of pathogen, scabies can be:
1) cutaneous (psorptosis), most often affects the back, neck, sacrum, shoulders;
2) itchy or headache (acorosis), affects the scalp;
3) skin beetle or foot (charyoptosis), affects the skin of the legs (usually the hind legs).
Symptoms of the disease: redness of the skin, formation of nodules, crusts, scabs, hair loss, itching.
Treatment: treating the affected areas with emulsions or bathing goats (preferably shorn) in baths (solution of creolin activated with hexachlorane, hexachlorane-creolin emulsion, etc.), injection of the drug avermectin, etc.
Animals are treated against ticks with powders (hexachlorane dust - 6-12%, picochlorane - 0.1% emulsion). To do this, the hair on the affected and adjacent areas is cut off. The cut areas are washed with warm water and soap. Remove crusts and scales by scraping them with a wooden knife; Powder is applied to the skin of the animal, taking precautions so that the drug does not get on the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract. For treatment, one treatment is sufficient, sometimes the treatment is repeated after 10 days. Soap is low toxic for animals.
Tick-borne encephalitis. In northern regions, animals can be affected by ticks, which are carriers of diseases such as tularemia, Q fever and tick-borne encephalitis in humans and animals.
Tick-borne encephalitis initially manifests itself in uncoordinated movements of the forelimbs, and within 1-2 days the disease progresses to general paralysis, after which respiratory arrest may occur.
If a tick is found on the body, it is removed using a burning match. As soon as the tick feels warmth, it crawls out of the animal’s skin on its own. You should not pull the tick, as its head can come off and remain in the animal’s body, causing a number of complications.
Estrosis (gadfly disease). Inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity, passing into the frontal and cranial sinuses. In goats affected by botfly larvae, rhinitis is observed, mucus is released from the nose, and in kids, it is often mixed with blood. Crusts of dried blood form around the nostrils. Animals often sneeze, shake their heads, rub their noses on the ground or on any objects, keep their heads on their sides, and spin around in place.
For treatment Avermectin can be used.
Signs of the presence of lice in an animal are scratches and scratches, loss of hair, detection of lice in the fur of animals, on the side, in the groin, on the shoulders. Blood-sucking lice are very large, have a dark blue color and can grow up to a length of 0.3 cm. The biting louse is smaller and its color is paler.
Treatment. Animals are treated with medications used to combat scabies.
Vibriosis and chlamydial abortions. Diseases that have approximately the same symptoms. During the last two months before goats goats abort. If abortions of vibriosis origin are detected, the goats are urgently transferred to an uninfected area, the aborted fetuses are destroyed, and the queens are treated with antibiotics (penicillin, streptomycin).
For prevention diseases of goats can be vaccinated before and after mating.
Ringworm (trichophytosis). Fungal disease skin, manifesting itself in the form of coin-like spots on the head, ears, and around the eyes. A damp and polluted environment predisposes to the disease.
Treatment. Individual animals are treated by removing flakes of affected skin from remote areas and treating them with 10% alcohol solution iodine or other fungicidal drugs daily from the onset of the disease until recovery. To prevent scratching of the affected areas, iodine is mixed with glycerin, which softens the skin.
Everyone knows that serious in its severity viral infection carried by ixodid ticks. Additional reservoirs for the pathogen are tick feeders: wild and domestic animals, birds, rodents. Infection of people can occur not only through tick bites. There is another route of spread, which involves infection through the digestive system.
Nutritional route of transmission of tick-borne encephalitis
The main source of infection during the disease can be domestic animals (goats, cows, sheep). This route of spread of encephalitis is called food or nutritional. During the period of viremia, which occurs in an infected animal, the pathogen enters the milk, and then penetrates into the milk with unboiled milk or cheese. human body.
How is tick-borne encephalitis transmitted through milk?
The virus enters the human body through the digestive and gastrointestinal tract after eating raw milk, it is fixed there in epithelial cells and fabrics. Then through the capillaries it enters the circulatory system, multiplies in the blood vessels and leukocytes. From there it migrates to the organs immune system, is introduced into internal organs, where its replication occurs. Subsequently, damage to the central nervous system develops. Thus, the connection between goat milk and tick-borne encephalitis is obvious. The role of infected cows is much less due to the short duration of viremia, but this possibility must also be remembered.
What to do to avoid contracting encephalitis through goat's milk
The causative agent of the pathology is destroyed in hot milk at a temperature of 60 ° C after 20 minutes. Stored at 37°C for 2 days. Boiling for 2 minutes is enough to inactivate it. Therefore, you should only consume boiled or pasteurized milk. So simple preventive measures enough to avoid contracting encephalitis from food.
To reduce the likelihood of ticks attacking domestic animals, it is necessary to create unfavorable conditions for their habitat: clear the territory, mow the grass, remove last year's leaves, carry out deratization measures (fight rodents). Dairy goats and it is advisable to graze cows on specially designated cultivated pastures. If they are absent, you need to inspect animals returning from grazing every day for the presence of attached ticks.
The nutritional route of infection is of secondary importance for preservation in environment tick-borne encephalitis virus, but characterizes the intensity of the epizootic process.
