Some species of ticks can transmit viruses, bacteria or parasites to animals and humans. In France, the main human disease linked to ticks is Lyme diseasecaused by a bacterium of the group Borrelia burgdorferi. In case of infection, a halo rouge characteristic appears on the skin a few days following the bite, most often around the latter, and extends in a circular fashion. In the absence of treatment, the disease can cause cutaneous, muscular, neurological and joint damage, which is sometimes very debilitating.
To avoid this risk, some precautions can be taken:
- use repellents, favoring those with marketing authorization and respecting their conditions of use: all of this information appears on the label, packaging and/or product instructions;
- wear closed-toed shoes and light-colored covering clothing, to better spot ticks on the surface of the fabric;
- avoid walking in the middle of tall grass, bushes and low branches and favor marked paths;
- inspect yourself on your return from your walks;
- in the event of a bite, immediately detach the attached ticks using a tick puller, fine tweezers or, failing that, your fingernails. Never use ether or any other product and disinfect the wound;
- monitor the sting area for several days and see your doctor if you experience symptoms.
If the risk of tick bites is often associated with walks in the forest, this risk also exists in gardens: the rate of declarations of bites rose from 28% between 2017 and 2019, to 47% during the first confinement, from March to May 2020. These tick bites were reported via the Signalement Tique application developed by INRAE and the CPIE of Nancy-Champenoux, as part of the participatory research program CiTICin which ANSES is a partner.
