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They usually bite during the day and, in general, the time of highest tick density is from May to October, although some species can bite in the winter months.
Branches and small bushes are their favorite places and the months from May to October are the season in which they generally make their August. But it is precisely this year in which "It has been proven" that its presence has increased "exponentially".
They are ticks, those small arthropods most associated with dog or wild carnivore bites, but which also "they can cling to the clothes of any citizen and from there sneak through a small hole and reach the skin", ensures Agustin Estrada, professor of Animal Parasitology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zaragoza.
"We carry out weekly sampling in the area of La Cartuja (Zaragoza) and the latest results reach 50 or 60 ticks per hundred square meters. An amount that can also be found in any other part of the Aragonese capital with some vegetation, since we have seen that they appear in a greater number of areas that are not as peripheral as the Water park, Montecanal y Arcosur"says the expert.
The reasons for this proliferation, according to the words of Agustín Estrada, are three "fundamental": "People have more contact with nature, but it does not take into account how necessary it is to be protected," recommends Estrada. "The other two issues are the neglect of the vegetation of certain places and, of course, the trend of the climate. The winters are less harsh and the springs are earlier, which means that we already see the first appearances of ticks at the end of February," comments the expert.
How to remove a tick
Despite that en Spain there are more than fifty different species, the presence of rhipicephalus sanguineus, known as 'brown dog tick', is the majority in the middle Ebro valley. "The most common thing is that, after getting caught on a garment, it remains stuck in the skin without us realizing it, since They inoculate an anesthetic through their saliva that makes them practically unnoticeable. Given, Furthermore, their size, minimal at that time, becomes almost imperceptible," says Professor Estrada.
"They can keep stinging us for a week and grow until reaching the size of a fingernail. The first consequence of this bite is that it manages to absorb up to between 8 and 10 cubic centimeters of blood and is capable of transmit certain pathogens, although nothing that, in principle, cannot be solved with an antibiotic"warns Agustín Estrada, who when in doubt about what to do "if we notice the presence of a tick, recommends going to a health center."
"Another option is to try to remove it from the skin by pouring a couple of drops of household oil on them to facilitate an extraction that must be carried out with tweezers, pulling the tick but without damaging it to make it come out whole," describes the expert. An action that is "recommended to do with gloves," says Estrada, and that if you don't "want to put it into practice, it is as simple as complying with a minimum of requirements if you go out into the field", What are they:
- Use long sleeve and long pants.
- Avoid sandals or open shoes, always trying to wear closed boots with socks that cover the bottom of the pants.
- Wear light-colored clothing since this way it will be easier to check if there are any ticks on it.
- Walk, if possible, in the central area of the roads and avoid contact with surrounding vegetation.
- Use authorized repellents, even on clothing.
- If the output is made with a pet animal it is advisable to apply some antiparasitic authorized external.
