She has neither eyes nor head, but a dart which penetrates the skin like a harpoon. And even if its bite is painless, if it clings to you, it will suck your blood until you are thirsty. At the time of deconfinement and while the French are flocking en masse in the parks, gardens and forests reopened to the public, ticks await them firmly. Knowing that a single larva can feed on its host for two to three days to the point of seeing its volume multiplied by fifty (!) And that it can transmit the terrible Lyme disease, it is better to take precautions before going frolic in the weeds.
Since spring is one of the favorite seasons for ticks, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) has decided to send a call to the public to indicate the presence of this little vampire to each of his misdeeds. Via the free “Tick reporting” application and using your smartphone or computer, you can report tick bites on yourself or on one of your animals. Because you have to know, ticks eat on “everything that moves”: birds, small rodents, wild boars, deer, pets, cattle, sheep, horses … a single deer can accommodate up to a hundred ticks.
A bite journal
“The objective of this application is to allow researchers to map the risk of tick bites in France and the more reports we have, the more precise this map will be,” explains microbiologist Pascale Frey-Klett, director of research at ‘Inrae. The first version of this application, developed in 2017 in partnership with the Ministry of Health, has already enabled the identification of more than 23,500 bites all over France and the dispatch of more than 20,000 ticks to the laboratory of the Center Inrae Grand East of Nancy where they are archived in the first and only French participatory ticket library.
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In this new version, users can create several profiles within the same account for future bite reports. For example, a family can save the profiles of parents, children and pets on a single account. The bite log allows you to follow the history of its reports. In addition, thanks to the application, users benefit from information on prevention and post-bite monitoring. For each tick reported, linked to an identification number, we will be able to know where it bit, when what context (in a garden or a forest), etc.
Dogs and cats, good “sentries”
The data already collected made it possible to confirm the periods most at risk: spring and autumn. Analysis of the infectious content of ticks has shown a wide geographic distribution of the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease in mainland France: around 15% of the ticks analyzed throughout the territory carry this bacterium. “Since we collected data in 2017, 30% of the reports we receive from individuals concern stings in their garden or in a public park where people feel more secure than when they are walking around. forest ”, notes Pascale Frey-Klett.
The researchers also noted that the increase in reports of bites in dogs and cats begins 3 to 4 weeks before the increase in reports in humans. These animals could therefore constitute good sentinels to assess the risk of a tick bite in their owners. While the meadows and undergrowth have had every opportunity to flourish thanks to confinement, Pascale Frey-Klett advises more than ever fans of picnics in the forest or mountain biking to take their precautions: “Better to wear covering clothes, if possible in a light color, and putting your socks up over your pants, suggests the scientist. And when you get home, take the time to observe yourself well. ”
A few days after a bite, if a characteristic red halo appears on the skin around the bite point and spreads, consult a doctor. At this stage, antibiotic treatment generally helps to curb the disease. But in the absence of treatment, Lyme disease can cause skin, muscle, neurological and joint damage. In 2018, no less than 68,000 cases were identified in France.
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