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25 Jan 18
17:05
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05 Apr 06
Useful info in the comments
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/jan/25/forget-ebola-sars-and-zika-ticks-are-the-next-global-health-threat#comment-111302016
Since the beginning of our species we have been at war. It’s a continuous, neverending fight against the smallest of adversaries: armies of pathogens and parasites. As we have developed new ways to survive and stop them, they have evolved ever more complex and ingenious methods to thwart our efforts.
Humans have faced numerous attempts to challenge our dominance on planet Earth , and from the Black Death to the Spanish flu, we have weathered them all. However, since the start of the 21st century, with its trend towards global interconnectedness, these onslaughts are ever-increasing. In the past 17 years we have battled Sars, the Ebola virus, Mers, and more recently the mysterious mosquito-borne Zika virus. These diseases seeming to appear from nowhere and rapidly ravage our populations. One commonality is that they almost always originate in animals before jumping across to people, and few parasites are as good at jumping between animals and people as the tick.
Ticks could be best described as the used syringes of the natural world due to their promiscuous feeding habits. Most ticks go through three stages in their lives and feed on a different host at each stage, whilst simultaneously collecting hitchhiking microbes in their blood meals. Ticks also have one of the widest distributions of any vector on Earth – they can be found on every continent, including frigid Antarctica. This combination of ubiquity and a bad habit for accumulating pathogenic microbes make ticks some of the most dangerous vectors on the planet.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/jan/25/forget-ebola-sars-and-zika-ticks-are-the-next-global-health-threat#comment-111302016
Since the beginning of our species we have been at war. It’s a continuous, neverending fight against the smallest of adversaries: armies of pathogens and parasites. As we have developed new ways to survive and stop them, they have evolved ever more complex and ingenious methods to thwart our efforts.
Humans have faced numerous attempts to challenge our dominance on planet Earth , and from the Black Death to the Spanish flu, we have weathered them all. However, since the start of the 21st century, with its trend towards global interconnectedness, these onslaughts are ever-increasing. In the past 17 years we have battled Sars, the Ebola virus, Mers, and more recently the mysterious mosquito-borne Zika virus. These diseases seeming to appear from nowhere and rapidly ravage our populations. One commonality is that they almost always originate in animals before jumping across to people, and few parasites are as good at jumping between animals and people as the tick.
Ticks could be best described as the used syringes of the natural world due to their promiscuous feeding habits. Most ticks go through three stages in their lives and feed on a different host at each stage, whilst simultaneously collecting hitchhiking microbes in their blood meals. Ticks also have one of the widest distributions of any vector on Earth – they can be found on every continent, including frigid Antarctica. This combination of ubiquity and a bad habit for accumulating pathogenic microbes make ticks some of the most dangerous vectors on the planet.
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Replies: 6
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Yep. Tuck your trousers in your socks when out in the fields !!
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I had to lever one off my dog once. I had it on my worktop to take a few snaps of it, and wherever i put my hand on the surface the Tick would do an immediate about-turn and head straight for my hand
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I've twice had insect bites that became infected and required antibiotics. One of the hazards of gardening in an area with lots of wildlife.
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Got a mosquito bite once in Malta that saw my calf double in size. I had to hop down to the car, get to the doctors and have IV antibiotics and what felt like half my blood taken for tests. Nothing comforting in seeing once doctor after another come in with a concerned look. Was in absolute agony for a couple of days but nothing major thankfully.
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Always use a tick removal tool (small plastic fork, twists the tick out without squeezing it, costs a quid from the vet's).
Never, ever remove one by hand, because you'll end up squeezing the contents of the tick into the dog's bloodstream. Plus, you'll break the insect off, leaving the base of the tick in the dog's body. Or even worse, your own body, if you're the one bitten. There was a memorable episode of Two And A Half Men where Alan made this basic error, with unnerving consequences for the site of the tick bite (his scrotum). |
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Well it's bollocks but it is the Guardian.
The big one IMHO is antibiotic resistant nasties, barreling down the road towards us and not nearly enough being done about it. Bigger threat than Global Warming in many ways, we're creating this mess, and in denial. I don't look forward to living in a world where getting a small cut on your hand or knee might kill you, and nothing can be done. Or minor operations are dicing with death..  |