The March heat woke up the ticks and provoked hay fever, which usually begins much later. The air already literally smells of spring — allergy sufferers are experiencing health problems. How not to confuse hay fever with the banal acute respiratory viral infection, whether it is possible to remove the tick yourself and how early warming affects mental health — in the Izvestia article.
How to protect yourself from pollinosis
This year, people started contacting doctors earlier about pollinosis (or hay fever), an allergic disease that occurs as a reaction to plant pollen. Complaints have been received since the beginning of February, and hay fever usually manifests itself in spring, summer, or early autumn, when trees, grasses, and weeds are in bloom, said Alla Rafaelyan, an allergist at the Be Healthy Allergy Center and a doctor of the first category.
— Pollinosis is associated with an increased sensitivity of the immune system to pollen, which is perceived as a harmful substance. Skin tests or blood tests for specific antibodies are used for diagnosis," explains Alla Rafaelyan.
The complaints of patients in this abnormal year do not differ from those of previous years. But, since the malaise began to annoy people ahead of time, it is not difficult to confuse hay fever with ordinary acute respiratory viral infections. Therefore, you need to know its main features.
— With seasonal allergies, sneezing, constant nasal congestion or a "clear" runny nose is observed; the patient's eyes itch and turn red, and swelling appears on the eyelids, — explains Alla Rafaelian. — People complain about puffiness of the face. Sometimes the temperature rises to subfebrile figures (37.1–38 degrees. — Izvestia), and it lasts no more than a day. In severe cases, patients experience obstruction (impaired lung patency) and severe cough with exacerbation of bronchial asthma.
According to the doctor, complications can be prevented by following simple rules.:
— drink plenty of clean water;
— after going outside, wash your face and rinse your nose with boiled water at room temperature or saline solutions, and during active flowering, take a shower and change clothes.;
— use special air purifiers for the house, while closing all windows;
— consider the diet, taking into account cross-allergy;
— avoid walking during periods of high pollen concentration;
— have the necessary antihistamines with you (to relieve symptoms), as well as nasal sprays.;
— wear respirator masks and goggles;
— carry out allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) before the start of the season, which is a long—term treatment aimed at reducing sensitivity to allergens. This method allows you to gradually rebuild the immune system so that it is "friendly" with allergenic proteins.
According to the allergist, ASIT on birch pollen can be carried out this spring until the end of May, but it is too late to start the course right now because of the early spring.
How to remove a tick
Maria Medyantseva, a pediatrician at the Be Healthy clinic, PhD, emphasizes that this year the ticks became active earlier, as soon as spring came to the European part of Russia. Usually, the peak of their activity, according to Rospotrebnadzor, falls in May-June.
— These small arachnids are carriers of pathogens of a number of diseases. The most common and most dangerous infections are tick—borne encephalitis and borreliosis. Ticks can also carry babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, coxiellosis and other diseases that are much less common, explains Medyantseva.
As a specific preventive measure, the doctor recommends getting vaccinated before the start of the season. Children can be vaccinated starting from the age of one year.
— Vaccination is carried out twice with an interval of 1-7 months. If necessary, it is done urgently. In this case, the vaccine is administered twice with an interval of two weeks. Revaccination is in a year. Further revaccinations are carried out every three years," the expert explains.
The so-called non-specific preventive measures are limited to avoiding the suction of ticks, and if this happens, then remove them as early as possible. First of all, it is important to avoid places where they can live.
Encephalitic ticks, like burdock, cling to warm—blooded animals and people passing by. They choose the grass blades and twigs in the thick grass stained with sweat from warm-blooded animals as an ambush site. When hiking, you should stay away from trails trodden by animals and livestock. Try to walk in the middle of paths and paths so as not to touch the vegetation hanging on the road, warns Maria Medyantseva.
The doctor recommends using special anti-tick products, wearing clothes with a hood, long sleeves and pants without fashionable holes and holes.
— Always tuck your pants into long socks, and your shirt into your trousers. Hair should be hidden under a headdress. To make it easier to spot ticks, it is preferable to wear light—colored clothes," the expert comments.
In nature, it is recommended to regularly inspect clothes and exposed skin areas such as the neck and wrists (this usually includes ticks that have not been removed from clothing).
— It is important to remember that the tick does not immediately dig into the skin. It may take 20 minutes or more from the moment of contact with a person to attachment. Therefore, it is extremely important to periodically inspect your clothes and your child's clothes during and after a walk. The most "favorite" places of sucking in children are the scalp (the area behind the ears, the back of the head), neck, axillary and groin areas, and back, the expert warns.
It is recommended to wash clothes in hot water, since the mite larvae are very small, they may not be noticed. By the way, they look like adults, but they have only three pairs of limbs, not four, like newly formed ticks.
The sooner you remove the tick, the less likely it is to become infected. But it is necessary to act carefully so that the head does not remain in the wound. It is impossible to treat the tick with oil, kerosene and other improvised means.
The pediatrician lists the ways to remove ticks:
— using a special device — it can be purchased in mass markets or veterinary stores;
— using a thread: make a loop and place it as close to the skin as possible, stretch the ends in different directions and gently pull them up until the tick is completely extracted.
— Using tweezers: grab as close to the skin as possible and gently pull up.
After removal, the bite site is treated with any antiseptic. If, after removing the tick, the head still remains in the skin, it is removed with tweezers or a needle - like an ordinary splinter. Then the tick should be placed in a glass jar, after putting wet cotton wool on the bottom, and taken to the laboratory. If it is not possible to remove the tick on your own, then you need to seek medical help.
If the result is positive for tick infection, you should consult a doctor, even if the patient has no clinical manifestations of dangerous diseases.
— It is important to understand that removing an insect does not guarantee that a person has not contracted one of the infections transmitted by the tick. It is impossible to start taking medications on your own — the question of the need for treatment is decided by the doctor," the pediatrician emphasizes.
Spring exacerbation
Neurologist, Candidate of Medical Sciences Vladimir Belash notes that with the arrival of spring, weather-dependent people are more likely to complain about their health due to large daily temperature fluctuations and sudden changes in atmospheric pressure.
— Also, when the weather changes abruptly, when it's warm or cold, people don't always dress according to the season, they try to take off their warm outerwear as soon as possible. Due to the cold, muscle spasms with pain syndrome and myositis occur — inflammation of the muscles. Pain in large joints may worsen if there have been problems with this before, the expert warns.
But early spring has no effect on the seasonal exacerbation of psychiatric diagnoses. Therefore, patients with such problems do not leave the usual schedule. In spring, as in autumn, there is a change in solar activity, which affects the activity of the brain, namely, the work of the neurotransmitter system in people who suffer from mental disorders, explains psychiatrist Alexei Vilkov. Usually, the spring exacerbation occurs in late February and early March, when the length of the day increases. Patients' anxiety levels increase, depressive experiences or anxiety disorders may worsen, and endogenous mental illnesses, in particular schizophrenia, worsen, the expert emphasizes.
— If we talk about some kind of shift due to early spring, it will not have a significant impact on the mental state of such patients. In general, everything is going as usual, as in previous years, because the neurotransmitter system is used to a certain cycle. This cycle is constant and is not subject to sudden fluctuations. Give or take one or two weeks of "left-right" usually does not affect the time of onset of mental disorders and their duration, - says Alexey Vilkov.
In addition, according to the psychiatrist, abnormal shifts, like this year, occur irregularly, and people with mental disorders simply do not have time to adapt to such a bias.
Thus, the spring exacerbation began as usual and will end as standard — by May, before the onset of the summer period. If a person receives the necessary treatment, then by the summer he can achieve remission, that is, improve his condition.
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