Children mainly bite on the head and neck and adults mainly on the legs. RIVM and Wageningen University report this Monday on the basis of research via Tekenradar.nl. It is the first time that research has been conducted into the areas on the body where ticks most often bite.
In children, ticks predominate in 32 percent of the cases on the head and neck, in adults that share is 3 percent. In adults, the bugs choose the legs in more than half of the cases. In children, this is only a quarter of the cases.
The researchers initially thought that the arthropod parasites would go to warm and moist areas of the body, such as around the pubic area. But it is precisely those places that were reported the least, according to the RIVM.
The tick bites in the skin around the pubic area are more dangerous, because on average they are discovered and removed later. This increases the risk of Lyme disease. Ticks on arms and legs are most quickly noticed.
The tick season has started again, says RIVM researcher Kees van den Wijngaard. “This year we saw the number of tick bite reports increase slightly in mid-February – during a warmer period. Have you been in the green? Then check your entire body for tick bites.”
More than two thousand reports were analyzed for the investigation. Almost nine thousand reports about tick bites are received annually at Kunststofradar.nl. Last year, most bites were reported in Gelderland and Flevoland. People contract a third of all tick bites in the garden at home.
Every year, 1.5 million Dutch people are bitten by a tick. More than 27,000 people contract Lyme disease as a result.
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