THE NETHERLANDS – For the first time, research has been carried out into ticks where they bite viadraw radar. In children ticks bite more often on the head and neck, and in adults mainly on the legs. Ticks are less likely to bite into the skin around the pubic area. But if they bite there, they will be detected and removed later than average. This increases the risk of Lyme disease. The tick season has started again: check yourself and report tick bites Tekenradar.nl.
Week of the tick 2021
This week is the week of the tick. “This year, during a warmer period, we saw the number of tick bite reports rise slightly in mid-February. The tick season has therefore already started”, says Kees van den Wijngaard, researcher at the RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. “At the moment the number of reports is on the low side for the time of the year. If the weather improves, we expect an increase. If you have been in the green, then check your entire body for tick bites.”
A tick? Grab it!
During the tick season, thousands of people are bitten by ticks every week. Do you have a tick? Remove it as soon as possible, this halves the risk of Lyme disease. Monitor the site of the bite for three months. If you see a ring or stain, or if you experience other health problems, see your doctor. Go to rivm.nl/tekenbeten or Kunststofradar.nl to find out how best to remove a tick.
Report tick bites ondrawingradar.nl
Every year people in the Netherlands get one and a half million tick bites. Most people don’t get sick from this, but 27,000 people still get Lyme disease every year. RIVM, Wageningen University and various other organizations conduct research into Lyme and other tick bite diseases. You help with this research by reporting tick bites ondrawingradar.nl.
Where on the body are tick bites most common?
The site of the ticks most often bite on our body has been found viadrawingradar.nl. At first it seemed that ticks were mainly found on warm and moist places on the body, such as around the pubic area. The most up-to-date data shows that ticks are much more likely to be found in other places on the body. Two thousand tick bite reports from 2019 and 2020 were studied for this study, evenly distributed between adults and children.
Tick bites in children appear to be much more common on the head and neck. This concerns 32% of all bites, compared to 3% in adults. Bites on the legs are much more common in adults: 55% of all bites and 25% in children. Bites around the pubic area are less common in children and adults: 7% in children and 9% in adults.
Reports of tick bites show that ticks that have bitten around the pubic area in adults sit there undetected for 8 hours longer than average before being detected and removed. It is known that if a tick is attached for longer, the risk of Lyme disease increases. Ticks on the arms were the fastest detected and removed. It does not matter whether the tick was on the front or the back of the body for the time to remove.
This is a message from RIVM and Wageningen University
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