Scientists from Tyumen Medical University (TMU) have discovered three new types of ticks in southern Siberia and Mongolia that may carry plague and West Nile fever. search results published in the Persian Journal of Acarology.
Parasites were collected from bats caught in Buryatia and Tuva, another tick was obtained in 2020 from the collections of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University in alcohol, said RIA Novosti one of the authors of the study, candidate of biological sciences, associate professor of TMU Maria Orlova.
Ticks belong to the families Macronyssidae and Spinturnicidae. Representatives of the former are known carriers of bartonellosis, while the latter are carriers of tick-borne encephalitis, borreliosis, West Nile fever, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, tularemia and plague, Orlova said.
Morphologically, ticks do not resemble those previously described. Scientists think that these parasites can live in China.
In mid-April, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova reported that ticks “woke up almost everywhere in Russia”, and called for vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis.
By data Rospotrebnadzor, as of May 10, 41,300 people have turned to doctors in connection with tick bites, cases of infection with tick-borne viral encephalitis and borreliosis have been detected.
The most unfavorable regions in terms of the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis are the North-Western region, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, among those adjacent to the Moscow region – the Tver regions and Yaroslavl. In the Moscow region, the Dmitrovsky and Taldomsky neighborhoods are considered disadvantaged.
Citizens can be infected with tick-borne encephalitis in suburban forests, forest parks and dachas.
The disease begins acutely, accompanied by chills, severe headache, a sharp rise in temperature to 38-39 degrees, nausea and vomiting. There are also muscle pains in the neck, shoulders, thoracic and lumbar back, limbs.
Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis should be done two weeks before leaving for an unfavorable territory. To protect yourself from tick bites, you should wear long sleeves and pants, cover your head, and use repellents.
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