There are two main ways: an immunologist explains how to recognize a tick with a borreliosis pathogen

Every year, with the arrival of spring, ticks become more active in Ukraine. They are dangerous for humans because they can transmit such dangerous diseases as encephalitis and borreliosis, also known as Lyme disease.

And while cases of encephalitis are almost non-existent in Ukraine, several thousand cases of borreliosis are detected every year. Immunologist Andrii Volianskyi told OBOZ.UA how to understand that the tick you found on your body could carry the borreliosis pathogen.

He said that ticks in Ukraine are mostly dangerous because they can carry Lyme disease. And it is impossible to visually detect whether a tick was a carrier of the pathogen of this disease.

"There are almost no cases of encephalitis in Ukraine, and there are a lot of cases of borreliosis, several thousand a year in Ukraine. When you find a tick, you don't understand, because you can't tell by any signs that it is a tick with a borreliosis pathogen. Therefore, there are two main ways. One is to start taking an antibiotic immediately, and the other is to wait, if there is a so-called erythema annulare, that is, a red circle on the skin at the bite site, it means almost 100% that the person is infected with borrelia and needs to be treated with an antibiotic," Volianskyi said.

He also added that the widespread belief that it is possible to establish whether a tick is a borreliosis pathogen or not in a laboratory by taking the found insect there is to some extent erroneous. This option, although possible, is not very reliable.

Usually, the danger of a tick bite is for people who come to the forest. However, this is not the only option.

"There are a lot of ticks now, more and more every year, so it can be ponds, it can even be in the garden," Volianskyi said.

For reference: Andrii Volianskyi is a national expert practitioner in the field of immunology and a specialist in the prevention of infectious diseases by vaccination. He is an immunologist with 26 years of experience, a doctor of the highest category, Doctor of Medical Sciences. He is the author and co-author of a significant number of scientific papers.

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