The Tick Attack : The Physicians Are Testing New Ways of Treatment

The ticks are a nightmare of all the hikers, because one bite of a tick is enough to get a serious illness. Thanks to the warm climate, the ticks are recently thriving and the number of infected people is skyrocketing. The most topical medical research fortunately brings good news for us, for according to the recent clinical studies, in case of the Lyme-borelliose, a ten-day (or even four-day) antibiotics treatment is now enough, compared to the standard three weeks.

Another way of helping the tourists is the project of mapping the tick occurence in the area of Czech Republic that should result in a precise description of the risky regions where the ticks are very abundant, as well as the epicenters of tick-borne encephalitis and boreliose.

The occurence of tick-borne diseases – the tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme-borelliose reached its record values in Czech Republic even in the last year. According to the National Institute of Public Health in Prague, there were 1,029 cases of tick-borne encephalitis last year (that means an interannual increase by 55%), with three cases being fatal. As for the Lyme-borelliose, there were 4,370 cases recorded, i.e. an increase of 600 compared to the previous year. The situation is said to be even worse this year. Thanks to the relatively warm winter, more ticks have survived the winter at their hosts, mainly mice and birds. The people can thus encounter the ticks not only in so-called wild nature, but also in the city parks, in the mountains and similar „non-traditional“ places – since an early springtime. Compared to last year, the medics register further increase in cases of both diseases. However, the greatest amount of cases usually comes during the summer holiday time.

Several research institutions joined their forces and prepared a joint project, whose major aim is mapping the occurrence of the ticks and identifying the epicenters of tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme-borelliose and eventually some other tick-borne diseases. When this article is being written, the mapping is in full progress in the Southern Bohemia. “The mapping project should be later extended to the whole area of the Czech Republic. The tourists can be then provided with information which locations are best to be avoided and which places are, on the contrary, low-risk.” said Ladislav Burýšek, a tick-borne disease issue expert and a co-author of the project.

There aren’t any efficient virostatics for treatment of the tick-borne encephalitis (also known as the viral brain inflammation) so far, but the people can protect themselves by a timely vaccination. However, there are new trends in the treatment of Lyme-borelliose. The situation in Europe is very complicated, for the infection here is caused at least four distinct and different bacterial strains of Borellia, whereas in the USA there’s a single one. This is the major reason for the fact that it is not possible to apply the results of many American clinical studies implicitly in the Czech Republic. Moreover, there are new strains of Borellia appearing more frequently recently, resistant to penicillin-type antibiotics. Nevertheless, with the arsenal of antimicrobial drugs still growing in numbers, the possibilities of finding an effective pharmaceuticals or their combinations are growing.

The new trends in the treatment of borelliose are not limited only on the possibility of choice of new antimicrobial compounds, but also at the necessary length of application. The first symptoms of borellioses in the Czech Republic are usually treated with antibiotics given to the patient for a period of 14 to 21 days. The results of many both European and American clinical studies are indicating that the same curative effect can be achieved by a short-time, ten-day at most, therapy. This approach is not only better for the patient’s health, but it also means a reduction of the expenses of the health insurance companies. According to a study performed in Israel, a four-day doxycycline dose applied immediately after the infected tick bite is effective enough as a preventive treatment. Not a single subject developed symptoms of the disease later.

According to the data at the www.kliste.cz server, the infectiousness of the ticks for both Lyme-borelliose and tick-borne encephalitis have increased by 15 per cent in average since the last year. The greatest amount of tick-borne encephalitis infected ticks was found in Southern Moravia and Central Bohemia regions – in the epicenters, almost 45% of ticks were infected. On the contrary, more than a third of the borellia-infected ticks were from the Ústí nad Labem region. „The people should protect themselves when going into the risky environment – by sufficient clothing, full boots and repellents. In case of being bitten by a tick anyway, they should remove it – the best way is using tweezers and rocking the tick out of the wound. It is important not to squelch the tick and not to touch it by an unprotected hand. In any case, the wound must be disinfected.” points out Burýšek.

The most important thing in a treatment of any illness is a timely diagnosis. Despite that the fact is widely known, many people quickly get rid of the pulled-out tick, stripping themselves of the possibility to determine the risk of an infection by modern techniques in a specialized lab. If the tick is intact (not squelched), one should put it into a PE sack, close it hermetically and send it to the Gen Trend company labs in České Budějovice. The information about presence or absence of the disease agents is sent to the applicant in five days after the delivery of the sample, in the latest. More information concerning this topic can be found at www.kliste.cz webpage.

Team Gate2Biotech