The matter in summary The tick is spreading to new areas. There are people in exposed areas who should ask for an assessment of the need for a vaccine against TBE. Know the symptoms of Lyme disease and TBE. It is not a tick vaccine that prevents ticks from attaching to you. The number of people taking the TBE vaccine has doubled. The tick season lasts from April to November. The risk of getting sick is low. It is important to see a doctor if you develop symptoms. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Now it is summer and peak season for ticks. Perhaps you have experienced sitting sprawled on a lawn, and discovering that your hand is crawling with small insects. Nobody wants to be bitten by a tick – it can be dangerous. But even if the “tick border” goes right up to Sandnessjøen in Nordland, there are many places in the country south of this that are not associated with a particularly high risk of tick-borne disease. The two common tick-borne diseases are Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). – Many people are worried about ticks. In some areas there are a lot of ticks, and it is very common to get bitten, says biologist and adviser Yvonne Kerlefsen at the Tick Centre. Read more about the symptoms it is important to watch for further down in the case. According to FHI, it is in these areas and adjoining areas that there is the highest risk of the disease TBE: Southern Norway and the west coast of the Oslofjord from and including Flekkefjord to and including Drammen. The east coast of the Oslofjord from and including Vestby to the Swedish border. These coastal areas are considered to have the highest risk of contracting the tick-borne disease TBE. There is still a low incidence in ticks. Nor is it only here that you can get ticks. There are people in these areas, who experience that they often get bitten by ticks, who should ask for an assessment of the need for a vaccine against TBE. At the same time, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) has seen instances of TBE in areas where they have not seen the virus before. – We changed the vaccine recommendations last year because there were new cases in areas where we had not previously had registrations. It is difficult to know whether these are so-called new coastal areas for the virus or whether the virus has also been present there in the past, says senior researcher Solveig Jore at FHI. New areas Climate change means that the tick gets a foothold in places where it could not survive before. – We have measurements from 40 years ago to now which show that the tick has spread further north and up in altitude. And then we have statistics on disease cases, which show that there has been a slight increase in the last three years, says Randi Eikeland, head of the Tick Centre. When Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide presented the government’s plan to deal with the consequences of climate change, he singled out ticks in particular. – We will get even more dangerous ticks. If anyone was a little fed up with the tabloid newspapers’ annual report that the monster tick is coming, just wait. Now the monster tick is actually coming, also to Norway, he said. Here are the Tick Center’s best tips for a tick-free summer: How to prevent tick-borne disease If you live in areas with a particular risk of ticks with the TBE virus, and experience that you are often bitten, it is important to prevent them. This is Randi Eikeland, head of the Tick Center , his best tips. The two most important steps There are two particularly effective steps you can take to prevent. These are particularly important for people in the risk group. The first and easiest thing is to check yourself for ticks once a day. Be particularly careful with cavities on the body, such as under the arms and in the corners of the knees. The second is to vaccinate against the TBE virus, if you often get tick bites and stay in the risk zones. Think about the clothes Correct clothing and treatment of the clothes is important. Ticks live in vegetation low along the ground. That’s why it’s a good idea to wear your trousers under your socks if you’re out for a walk. If you only have ankles and legs, you can use normal mosquito spray. Wear light-colored clothes. Then it is easier to see the tick. When you get home, hang the clothes to dry. Ticks thrive in moist environments. Wash clothes you think may have ticks in them at 60 degrees. 40 degrees is often not enough. Get rid of the tick If a tick has first bitten you, it is important to remove it immediately. You don’t need any special equipment or a clever technique. Simply snap your nails and pull the tick off. The best method to kill a tick is to crush it with your fingernail. You can also flush it down the toilet. Know the symptoms It is important to distinguish between Lyme disease and TBE, and know the symptoms for these. – Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in Norway. The most common and often the only symptom is that you get a reddish rash on the skin that grows and becomes larger than 5 centimetres, says Kerlefsen. While Lyme disease is a bacteria that can be treated with antibiotics, TBE is a virus that cannot be treated with antibiotics. Symptoms of Lyme disease and TBE Lyme disease: Red rash on the skin that grows Paralysis of the face Radiant pain in the neck and back that radiates to the legs and arms Often you only get a rash. Forest tick encephalitis (TBE): Causes anything from none to mild flu-like symptoms. Some people get encephalitis, which can cause the following symptoms: High fever Severe headache Nausea Vomiting Diarrhea Confusion Balance problems Paralysis Source: FHI and the Tick Center Forest tick encephalitis can cause anything from no symptoms, to fever, severe headache and back pain. Jore from FHI says that in the last five years, 4–500 have become ill with Lyme disease each year, while 30–80 have become ill with the TBE virus. – Every year, someone falls ill, and some can also become seriously ill. It is important that you know the symptoms and see a doctor, says Kerlefsen. Yvonne Kerlefsen at the Tick Center says that the risk of falling ill from a tick bite is initially low. It is still important to be aware of symptoms and check yourself for ticks regularly. Photo: Tick center No tick vaccine – This is where prevention comes in with taking the vaccine, if you live in the exposed areas mentioned in the vaccine recommendations, says Jore at FHI. The vaccine in question is sometimes called the “tick vaccine” in the vernacular. According to the experts, this is not a completely correct designation. – The vaccine is sometimes called a tick vaccine, but that is a bit of a mistake. It only protects against the TBE virus, not against tick bites or Lyme disease, says Kerlefsen at the Tick Centre. – However, it is not a tick vaccine that prevents the tick from sticking to you, explains Jore. Solveig Jore at FHI says many people misunderstand the effect of the TBE vaccine. For example, it does not prevent ticks from biting you. Photo: Norwegian Institute of Public Health The number of people taking the TBE vaccine has doubled, from 34,000 in 2021 to 74,000 last year, NTB wrote in March. Kerlefsen says that many people contact them and are worried about the children, and wonder if they should take the vaccine. – It can be taken by anyone over the age of one, and basically everyone can get TBE. But when you look at the statistics, there is a clear preponderance of elderly people who get serious TBE disease. Long season The tick season lasts from April to November. – But if it’s a bit warm in December, for example, the tick can be active then too, says Kerlefsen. Many people are bitten by ticks in spring, summer and autumn. Nevertheless, it is in July, August and September that you see the most admissions to hospital as a result of tick-borne illness. – Basically, the risk of getting sick is very low, down to 2 percent, so if you get bitten by a tick, there is a very low risk of getting sick.
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Many people misunderstand the “tick vaccine” – they should consider the injection – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
