How to protect your children from dangerous tick bites

Tick bites can transmit dangerous pathogens that trigger various diseases, so pediatricians advise parents to comprehensively protect their children against Lyme disease and against TBE, an early summer meningoencephalitis, for example, through a vaccine .

Especially children of playable age frequently encounter some of the blood-sucking animals, which feed on blood. Whether during hikes, among tall pastures or in a forest.

In Europe, there are several regions in which Lyme disease and TBE are registered, and the number of cases is increasing.

The Professional Association for Pediatrics and Adolescents of Germany (BVKJ) therefore especially recommends that parents living in areas at risk protect their children from the consequences of tick bites.

There are different options for doing this:

- Vaccination: TBE transmitted by a tick bite can cause inflammation of the brain, meninx or spinal cord.

It manifests itself as flu-like symptoms, which may appear between one and two weeks after the tick bite, as described by BVKJ. A visit to the doctor is urgently recommended.

The best protection against TBE, in the absence of adequate therapy, is vaccination. According to the German infectious disease control body RKI, it is allowed for children from 12 months and older and is recommended for all people living in risk areas.

Three doses of vaccine are administered at intervals of several months. The recommendation of doctors is that, in order to achieve good protection in spring, parents should start immunization in winter. It is then necessary to give a booster dose after three years, and then another every five years.

If possible, it is important to completely avoid bites.

- Closed clothing: this way the ticks will not be able to bite directly, but must first pass through the clothes. Then there will still be time to discover them and remove them.

- Repellents: these sprays are applied to the skin, in order to ward off ticks. However, clarifies the BVKJ, its effect is not very long-lasting.

- Control: After a day in nature, parents should check if the children have any traces of ticks. Among the preferred places for bites are the hairline, ears, neck, armpits, elbow, navel, genital area or the back of the knees.

- Removal: In case a tick has managed to reach its goal, parents should remove the mite with great caution. The easiest thing is to do this with a tweezer or an instrument to remove ticks.

To do this, place the clamp close to the surface of the skin and grab the animal by the head or mouth, and not by the body. Then pull in a straight line. Important: It should not be twisted when removing the tick.

- Control: After extraction, parents should disinfect the area of the bite, mark it and continue to observe it well during the following days.

If a red ring of infection appears around it - the so-called wandering redness - it may be a first indication of Lyme disease. In addition to wandering redness, massive swelling of the joints also represents an alarm signal. In this case, parents should consult a doctor who will prescribe antibiotics.

dpa