Recently, Mr. Song's family in Jiangsu was bitten and killed by ticks. What's the matter? What are ticks? How can you get bitten? How harmful is tick bite? Let's get to know each other.
Killed by a tick
Three people in one family were bitten by ticks and two died.
Recently, Mr. Song (surname Hua), who lives near Tieshan temple in Xuyi, Jiangsu Province, was bitten and killed by ticks. First, at the end of May and the beginning of June, my brother-in-law and mother-in-law were first bitten by ticks and died. After being bitten by ticks, they were not diagnosed in the local hospital for a long time. Multiple organ failure caused serious illness, which made the whole family immersed in great sadness. However, in the process of handling the funeral for his mother-in-law, Mr. Song accidentally took a bite from a tick on his bare right forearm, which made him walk in the gate of hell. In Nanjing Gulou Hospital, Mr. Song was out of danger.
Why do ticks get sick after biting?
What is a tick? How can a bite be fatal? It turns out that there is a terrible virus in ticks, called fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (also known as the new Bunia virus). This virus can be transmitted to people through tick bites, causing fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. It is worth mentioning that this disease was first discovered in China.
At present, the prevalence of fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hebei, Liaoning and other provinces. Of course, it is mainly concentrated in the mountainous areas, hills and rural areas of forest areas in the above provinces. The people who suffer from fever are mainly those who often work outdoors or are keen on field sports. In addition to China, neighboring countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea and North Korea, there are also many cases reported. At present, about 160 cases of fever with thrombocytopenia received from Nanjing Gulou Hospital are mostly from rural areas at the junction of Jiangsu and Anhui, such as Xuyi, Chuzhou and Mingguang.
Scar left by tick bite on Mr. Song
Fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome is characterized by seasonal onset. Most of the seasons are from May to November, the main peak is from May to July, and the secondary peak is from September, which may be slightly different in different regions. The reason is that ticks will grow, breed and move in the wild in this season, which is also related to people's extensive production and outdoor activities in this season. Since April this year, 17 patients with fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome have been admitted to the infection department of Nanjing Gulou Hospital. Two of them died because they arrived too late and were too ill.
After being bitten by ticks, it is possible to get sick 2 days to 1 month later
Wu Weihua, chief physician of the infection department of Gulou Hospital in Nanjing, said that after being bitten by ticks, people will get sick as soon as 2-3 days, and sometimes around 1 month, usually about 1-2 weeks. The most typical course of fever with thrombocytopenia can be divided into three main stages: fever stage, multiple organ failure stage and recovery stage. Most people will show acute fever, the body temperature is generally above 38.0 ℃, accompanied by chills, loss of appetite, fatigue, muscle pain, early nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms, some patients have bleeding tendency, manifested as skin ecchymosis and ecchymosis, gum bleeding, bulbar conjunctival bleeding, a few patients are in critical condition, can appear consciousness disorders, pulmonary bleeding Cerebral hemorrhage, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and so on, may die from shock, respiratory failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation and other multiple organ failure. The prognosis of severe patients is poor.
The case fatality rate of the disease is 12.7% - 32.6%. At present, there is no effective treatment, only symptomatic support treatment. Elderly patients, patients with basic diseases and patients with poor treatment tend to be seriously ill and have poor prognosis. However, most patients have a good prognosis after early, timely and active treatment. A few patients may have neurological sequelae. Wu Weihua reminded that if you have fever after being bitten by ticks, please see a doctor in time.
How to prevent tick bites in high incidence season?
First of all, we should try to avoid sitting and lying for a long time in the main habitat of ticks such as grassland and forest. If you need to enter such areas, you should pay attention to personal protection, advocate to wear long sleeve clothes; do not wear sandals; tie up your trouser legs or put them into socks or shoes; wear light colored clothes to find out whether there are ticks climbing on; the surface of knitted clothes should be as smooth as possible, so that ticks are not easy to adhere; At the end of every day's tour, tourists should check their bodies and clothes carefully to see if there are ticks entering or climbing, and remove them immediately after finding them. When it is necessary to work in the field or camp, the camping equipment such as clothes and tents can be soaked with insecticides, such as permethrin, repellent containing DEET, etc.
It is worth noting that fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus is detected in urine, feces and saliva of patients with fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Close contact with blood, excreta and secretions of patients can lead to infection. Family members, especially the family members of the accompanying care, should pay attention to self-protection, take protective facilities when contacting the patients, and avoid contacting with the patient's blood body fluids or vomitus, etc. because, in addition to tick bites, normal people can also be infected by contacting with the patient's blood, body fluids, secretions or vomitus, etc. in recent years, our hospital has found and diagnosed in succession Multiple cases of infection caused by family care for patients. Therefore, unlike other diseases transmitted by insect vectors, fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus can be transmitted from person to person. It is very important to understand this, especially for the family members of the patients who have already been sick, we need to be more vigilant to prevent the infection caused by taking care of the patients.
How to deal with tick bite?
Ticks are often attached to the scalp, waist, armpit, groin, ankle and other parts of the human body. Once it is found that a tick has bitten and penetrated into the skin, alcohol can be used to smear on the tick to relax or die the head of the tick. Then use pointed tweezers to take out the tick, or use cigarette butts and incense tips to gently burn the part of the tick exposed in the body, so that its head can slowly exit by itself. When scalding ticks, pay attention to safety. Do not drag them to avoid hurting the skin or leaving the head of ticks in the skin. After taking out, use iodine or alcohol for local disinfection treatment, and observe the physical condition at any time, such as fever, inflammation and erythema at the bite site and other symptoms. See a doctor in time to diagnose tick borne diseases and avoid missing the best time for treatment. Even if no tick bite is found, the person who comes back from the epidemic area should observe the physical condition at any time, such as fever and other symptoms, and should be alert to tick borne diseases in the epidemic area.
When ticks are found, no matter on the surface of human body or animals, or on the wall or on the ground, do not touch them directly or even crush them, but use tweezers or other tools to pick them up and burn them; if the skin contacts ticks carelessly, especially the outflow of ticks after crushing, disinfect them.
Wu Weihua specially reminded that if there is a history of tick bites or field activities, once there are suspected symptoms or signs such as fever, you should go to a doctor as soon as possible, and inform the doctor of the relevant exposure history.