Prevention of Lyme disease

Europe is a part of the world where ticks are endemic. This means that ticks can occur on its entire surface. However, there are several methods to reduce the likelihood of a tick bite and prevent many tick-borne diseases, including lyme disease or its co-infections.

What can we do?

First of all, we should avoid places where ticks are particularly present-tall grasses and shrubs. In an area with lush vegetation, we are more likely to be bitten by arachnids.

However, if we decide to go to such places, our clothes are important. The body should be shielded in such a way as to reduce the area of unprotected skin. Long-sleeved blouses, high boots, headgear and long trousers are suggested. In addition, you should wear smooth, bright clothes to easily detect the tick.

After a walk, do not forget to look at your body. Pay special attention to the groin, navel, hairy parts of the body, places behind the ears or bends of the limbs. These are the "favorite" places of ticks. Also remember that the tick larva is very small (up to 1 mm) and often the fact that we did not notice the tick does not mean that it is not there.

In the pharmacy you can also buy a device for removing the tick. This is the so-called lasso, which allows you to easily and safely remove the parasite from the body.

Many effective tick repellents are available. They are mainly based on chemical substances. Below is an alternative for chemical perparates. Remember, natural preparations require more frequent application.

Natural preparations:

There are also natural preparations that repel ticks, mosquitoes, fleas or mites. The most popular are essential oils: eucalyptus, thyme, sage, peppermint, clove, lemon grass, patchouli, citronella and others. It is enough to mix 5 drops of the essential oil with for example pumkin seed oil and spray the body. Remember that our sweat is a bait for ticks, so after physical activity, we should spray ourselves again with the natural preparation.

Single oils can be found here

Ready-made oil-based spray can be found here

Another natural way can be infusion of rosemary and thyme. Herbs should be boiled in a small amount of water, then cool and add lemon juice. The prepared preparation should be sprayed on the body.

Catnip is another tick repellent plant. The infusion of catnip can be used for spraying clothes and body, but also animals. In a similar way you can use an infusion of cistus.

The use of home infusions is effective, but gives a rather short-lived effect. In order to maintain the tick repelling effect you should your body and clothing often.

The last natural method that we introduce are devices that emit special ultrasonic pulses with a frequency of about 40 kHz. They are completely harmless to humans and pets, but they block the main sensory organ of ticks. They are also effective against fleas.

TICKLESS HUMAN, a tick repellent you can find here

Lyme disease is a very serious tick-borne disease and it can attack all types of tissues and all organs of the human body. Therefore, its symptoms can range from problems with joints, general weakness of the body but also neurological changes. Although the risk of bites exists throughout the year, it is spring that is the greatest time of tick activity. So let's remember that much depends on us and we can to some extent prevent infection with Lyme disease.

May- Lyme Disease Awareness Month