American woman almost died after being bitten by a tick
'29.05.2018'
Source: CNN
Last summer, Sloan, a librarian from Waverly, Ohio, spent two weeks in a hospital while doctors struggled to find the cause of her temperature under 40 degrees.
The woman developed meningitis, which is why her liver began to suffer. She needed three blood transfusions.
Later it turned out that Sloan had ehrlichiosis - a bacterial infection from a tick bite.
“I was stunned,” her husband Nick said. "I thought it was the end."
The woman said that it was still hard for her to believe that the tick bite led to such consequences.
What you need to know about ticks
This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the number of diseases from ticks and mosquitoes is growing.
According to the CDC report, from 2004 to 2016 a year, the number of cases transmitted by the tick increased from 22 527 to 48 610 people.
During this time, the number of cases of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes increased from 4 858 to 47 461 people.
Nine of the 16 diseases included in the study are relatively new, which have been identified only since 2004. One of the new diseases is ehrlichiosis.
Who is at risk
Experts note that the risk group includes primarily newborns, young people up to 20 years old, middle-aged people, the elderly, and persons with weakened immunity.
“Anyone bitten by an infected tick can become infected with this rare disease,” says Jennifer Lyons, head of the Neurological Infections and Inflammatory Diseases at Boston Hospital.
According to the doctor, the spread of infection is most likely in late spring, early summer and mid-autumn, when ticks are most active. Doctors said that approximately 15% of patients do not cope with the infection and die. About 50% of people infected with the virus receive various complications for a lifetime. It is very important to consult a doctor in time. The most common symptoms of Povassana disease are fever and headache.
Treatment
Today, there are no vaccines to prevent this rare infection.
“There are some experimental treatments that we try when someone comes to us with this disease. We are starting therapy, but we do not fully understand how effective it is, ”says Dr. Lyons.
Standard treatment includes the use of antiviral drugs.
Recall that in 2017, staff at the New York State Ecosystem Research Institute predict an unprecedented outbreak another infectious diseasewhose carrier are ticks. It's about Lyme disease.
Going to the forest, observe the measures of individual protection against tick attacks:
- wear special protective suits;
- Give preference to light-colored clothing in order to quickly detect crawling mites;
- process clothes with repellents (anti-mite sprays - Reftamid, Moskitol);
- conduct self-examination and examination of animals in order to detect ticks;
- when removing a tick, place it in a vial without destroying it, and take it to a laboratory for research;
- do not try to remove the tick from the clothes or from the body with your hands - use tweezers;
- consult an infectious disease physician on the same day.
