Of all the ways you can catch a disease in the world, insect bites are among the most insidious. Such creatures are seeking to feast on mammal blood to help them breed, but the viruses they can bring and infections they can carry may have severe consequences.
Travellers may be familiar with the notion of taking antimalarials and being vaccinated against yellow fever, but one of the most important issues for which you may need insect bite infection treatment is a tick bite.
Ticks exist in many countries and while you might not catch things like malaria or dengue fever in Britain, the UK is one of the countries where you can catch Lyme disease. If not treated very promptly when symptoms show (a red swelling, often looking like an archery target), you can end up suffering years of debilitating health problems.
Lyme disease is something you can also catch overseas, alongside many other nasty viruses carried by ticks. Prevention is always better than cure, with long trousers being a good way of keeping them at bay if you are walking through the countryside.
If you are bitten, it helps to have some antiseptic straight away to deal with any bacterial infection, as well as seeking medical attention.
Not Just Lyme Disease
For example, if you visit the United States, you may be at risk of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Despite its name, it is not confined to the Rocky Mountains, but is present throughout the eastern half of the country.
An infection can be deadly and even if not, it can lead to long-term problems, including limb problems requiring amputations, as well as hearing loss and mental problems. However, severe symptoms can be prevented if the infection is treated swiftly with doxycycline.
Other common tick-borne infections found in the US include Anaplasmosis, which causes fever-like symptoms but can lead to far more serious disease in anyone who is over 50 or has a compromised immune system. Ehrlichiosis is less dangerous but still unpleasant, with doxycycline again being the medication for it.
Powassan Virus, which is related to West Nile Virus, is a rare but growing issue in the US, with a recent outbreak in Wisconsin hospitalising three people, with one fatality. There is no treatment for this, so prevention is paramount in this case.
Many of the diseases that can be caught in the US are also a risk in Europe. As well as Lyme Disease, Anaplasmosis is also present, as well as Babesiosis.
The latter comes with flu-like symptoms (common to most tick-borne infections), but can be more severe or even deadly for those with a compromised immune system or no spleen. The appropriate treatment includes antibiotics and antiparasitics.
A Growing Threat
It may be tempting to think of ticks as simply the temperate climate version of tropical mosquitoes, but climate change is encouraging increased numbers of them and with it growing disease risks, with some of the less-common tick infections becoming more frequent.
This means you should always do more to keep ticks off in the first place with long trousers and insect repellent, but also, if you are bitten, remove the tick (ideally with specialised tweezers,) treat the wound as soon as possible and seek medical treatment promptly if either the bite area becomes red and swollen, or you start to suffer viral symptoms.