Doctors of the Chisinau Public Health Center warn that the warm weather favors the appearance of ticks. Lyme disease, caused by a bacterial infection, is probably one of the most famous medical conditions associated with ticks. However, ticks can also cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, anaplasmosis, tularemia, Ehrlichiosis, powassan, Babesiosis, and the tick-borne encephalitis virus, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué from the Public Health Center, ticks typically live in scrubby and woody areas, leaping to warm blooded mammals to feed on their blood. Most tick bites happen while people are camping, hiking, working in the woods, or working in the yard.

Like many other bloodsucking parasites, ticks can spread diseases between their victims, and some of these diseases can be very serious. For this reason, it’s important to try and avoid tick bites, which are more active in March-May and in September-October, and to carefully remove ticks.

Tick bites can be prevented by utilizing topical sprays which repel ticks, and by wearing thick, heavy garments which fully cover the body, making it hard for ticks to latch on. Clothing and hair should be thoroughly shaken and brushed out after trips into the woods to remove ticks, and animals should also be regularly checked for signs of tick bites.

Ticks prefer warm, damp, and thin parts of the skin, like the back of the knee or the inside of the thigh, on the groin, throat, neck, or in the armpits. Ticks are often found in children’s hair. Initially, a tick bite typically causes irritation and inflammation which can lead to itching. Some people experience tick allergies.

The World Health Day marked on April 7 this year focuses on the prevention of vector-borne diseases. Vectors – such as mosquitoes, sand flies, bugs, ticks and snails – are organisms that transmit pathogens and parasites from one infected person or animal to another.