Entomologist Voldemārs Spuņģis told Latvian Television: "Ticks are everywhere, but there are regions where there are fewer. For example, where there are pine forests, there are fewer large animals and fewer ticks. But where there are deciduous trees, there are immediately a lot more. In Zemgale, for example, there are fewer ticks because there are large agricultural areas. There are also safe habitats where people can go and not be afraid of ticks, such as dry meadows, dunes, cereal fields, the city."
Particular care should be taken on hot days when it is around +25 C and ticks are more active.
The entomologist said, "Its hunting tactic is waiting - it sits on a blade of grass, legs stretched out, and waits for an object to pass by. It can't run after you itself. The probability is quite small, and it is left starving. If small ticks starve, they die; larger ticks can starve for longer periods."
Around 300 people in Latvia are hospitalized each year from tick-borne diseases, but some do not even know they are infected. The latest data from the Latvian Centre for Infectology show that of 91 ticks tested for Lyme disease, 30 or 33% were infected, while 87 ticks were tested for tick-borne encephalitis and none were infected. Overall, the researchers concluded that about one in 20 ticks in Latvia have encephalitis, while about 50% of ticks have Lyme disease.
Signe Jākobsone, an infectologist at Vidzeme Hospital, said: "Improper removal can also increase the risk, so you should not put any oily liquids on top, which can make the tick vomit, or crush the tick right next to its stomach and then push all the contents of its gastrointestinal tract into the person. Then the risk of Lyme disease is very high. "
When going outdoors or in the woods, it is advisable to wear light-colored clothing, with the ends of trousers well covered, and various insect repellents can be used.
If you want to take a tick to a laboratory, you should take it alive and well, and the sooner the better. An infected tick does not automatically mean that a person will get one of the diseases it carries.
