Warning against ticks: 'Do not sleep outside'
Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at ERU Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Dr. Orhan Yıldız, made statements regarding the tick cases that started to be seen with the warming of the weather and caused the death of 4 people in Kayseri.
Prof. Dr. Yıldız, who drew attention to the fact that citizens should not spend the night outside in the summer months, said, "There are points to be careful about. First, it is necessary to be much more careful when doing activities such as hunting, wild trips, trekking. The classical saying; putting pants inside socks is an effective method. Because ticks are not flying animals like mosquitoes. They move by climbing at most and can enter your body under your pants. That area needs to be covered. You should never sleep outside in this season. You should not spend the night outside. While it is not very possible for a tick to reach you if you are standing and moving; if you lie down, sit down, have a picnic, or sleep, the probability of it reaching you is high."
"IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO REMOVE IT WHEN WE SEE IT STICKING"Prof. Dr. Yıldız, who also said that the patients who lost their lives after a tick bite mostly experienced losses due to people starting treatment late, said, "There are many tick repellents or drugs that prevent ticks from reaching your area. These can be used. They can be sprayed on a certain area in your area. Tomarza district is now a region where many ticks and Crimean-Congo are seen. It is not possible to spray the whole nature, but at least the parks, gardens, streets, houses and barns where people live can be sprayed with these drugs. It is important not to remove the tick when we see it attached. Another biggest mistake is the delay of the people we see in the cases we lost. Citizens remove the tick. Okay, you made this mistake. There are some complaints after that. If they apply to us as soon as these complaints occur, the chance of survival will be higher. In other words, there is a 95 percent chance of survival and a 5 percent risk of death. We should not increase this rate higher than these."
Prof. Dr. Yıldız, who also touched on the fact that citizens do not go to the hospital after feeling well after being stuck by a tick, said, "When you apply to us, there are some laboratory tests that Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) has distorted. There is an examination. Of course, the patient also has other evaluations, but we do these tests immediately. Even if the tick has stuck that day, we need to know the status of your normal tests in order to see the basic condition. That is left aside. We call you again in 10 days. If your tests are not distorted when you come back after 10-14 days, it means there is no problem. If there is a problem with these or if you have complaints once in a while, then you need to apply to us immediately. Therefore, the approach of 'I have no complaints, I was bitten by a tick but I am fine, there is nothing wrong, why should I go to the hospital?' is a very wrong approach. In order to at least see the basic values, it is necessary to apply to a health institution."
"AFTER THE 2ND WEEK, PATIENTS WHOSE RESULTS GET WORSE BLEEDING STARTS"Prof. Dr. Yıldız, who also drew attention to the symptoms that occur after CCHF, said, "If you do not go to the hospital, what complaints will occur? If there is a situation where you are late, fever is inevitable. There will be a high fever. There will be serious headache, muscle and joint pain, abdominal pain. Nausea, vomiting and sometimes diarrhea may occur. This is the name of the condition we call flu-like (flu-like) seen in the first week. It is difficult to distinguish from here, but if you have been bitten by a tick in this season and there is such a thing, there is no need to examine it too much. We immediately think of Crimea-Congo anyway. Things get a little complicated after the 2nd week. In hospitalized patients, those whose results are getting worse, bleeding starts despite all kinds of treatment. We have a treatment. We apply treatments that completely clean the blood. We have a drug that we know is effective. We apply them, but despite this, we cannot prevent those severe bleedings, decreases in blood values and ultimately death, as in the patients who died. In other words, it may often be too late in these patients."
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