Ticks: the basics every owner should know

Ticks (Pinyin: pí, Phonetic: ㄆㄧˊ, pronounced the same as "skin"), also known as ticks, ticks, ticks, centipedes, grass crawlers, eight-legged (Hakka), are a very small, ectoparasitic arachnid arthropod, belonging to the subclass Acarina. The superfamily Ticks (scientific name: Ixodoidea) of the order Ixodida and the order Ixodida are only about the size of a matchstick head. Their hosts include mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and most of them live by sucking blood. When the tick is not sucking blood, it is about the size of a grain of rice. When it is full of blood, it is about the size of a fingernail. Tick bites are usually painless when sucking blood. However, because the chelicerae and lower oral plate pierce the host's skin at the same time, it can cause local congestion, edema, acute inflammatory reaction, and can also cause secondary infection. Ticks are also the vectors of a variety of infectious diseases, such as Lyme disease, Q fever, Colorado tick fever, Tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, tick-borne encephalitis (forest encephalitis), Anaplasmosis, canine jaundice, SFTS Virus, etc. Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Ticks mainly inhabit grasslands and woods, so it is best to spray mosquito repellent on exposed skin when going out to play, and try to avoid sitting or lying for a long time in the wild. Pay attention to personal protection and wear tight-fitting, light-colored, smooth, long-sleeved clothes. Ticks often attach to the human scalp, waist, armpits, groin, and under the ankles.