Climate change and consequently higher temperatures coming earlier than normal, ticks earlier than expected. Especially in Catalonia, but also in Andalusia, Castilla y León and Aragón, governments are being forced to intensify efforts to combat this plague, which infects people and animals with serious diseases. According to experts, the tick begins to move in Spain a month earlier than usual.
Two months ago, in the middle of spring, a crowd had to evacuate in the town of Dos Hermanas (Seville). As she prepares to attend a concert due to the outbreak of a tick plague occupying public seats, according to City Council. Despite the complaints of some participants who were waiting in line to enter the concert hall, the City Council decided to postpone the concert for health reasons and to prevent possible infections.
An event that shows how things are. But he is not alone. Inside ZaragosaGiven the increasingly early proliferation of these arthropods, the City Council made the following decision: advancing the preventive spraying campaign in city parks and dog areas. This is because a cold winter and a hot spring are favorable factors for the mass appearance of ticks. In total, the City Council has already disinfected a total of 16 parks and gardens.
Moreover valladolid The City Council intervened to eliminate the excess of these arthropods.
But the most serious situation seems to have occurred right now. Catalonia. Numerous specimens have been found in municipalities such as Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Montmeló, Mollet del Vallés or La Llagosta, according to reports by El Periódico de Catalunya from the Prensa Ibérica group. In recent weeks, plots in Collserola or El Prat de Llobregat have also been affected.
Polinyà City Council, a town just a few kilometers from Barcelona, had to take full advantage of the tick avalanche and came to cut off access to a road to prevent the public from coming into contact with the plague. “Citizens are requested not to enter the area and to obey signs blocking the passage of police,” the Polinyà City Council said in a statement.
They’re already here a month earlier than usual.
replication problem Ticks in Spain are becoming something very serious as they appear a month earlier than usual until very recently. Both increasing temperatures due to global warming and other ecological and biological factors trigger these species. Experts are not shy about talking about an “exponential increase” in their population. Since these insects are carriers of diseases with serious implications for humans, livestock and pets, they have multiplied the risks to humans and animals for several decades.
José de la Fuente, professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (IREC-CSIC) Fisheries Resources Research Institute, points to the factors that explain this unprecedented boom in ticks. Rising temperatures are one of them. The warmer the weather, the more they multiply..
“Because the winter is shorter, ticks feel more comfortable and have a longer life cycle with fewer deaths,” he says.
But they are species escaping from extreme climates, so They also don’t like extreme heat, so they move further north.
“The panorama that existed 50 years ago is very different from what exists now. Tick activity begins earlier. “They usually wouldn’t show up until spring, but they’re showing up earlier now, forcing the public to take action earlier than usual.” its appearance may have advanced by about a month compared to a few decades ago.
Major diseases transmitted by ticks
According to researcher and international expert José Antonio, ticks are a planet-wide public health problem and are estimated to be responsible for 17% of the infectious disease burden due to certain periods of drought and subsequent heavy rains. oteo. These are the main pathologies they transmit:
Lyme disease
It is the best known of tick-borne diseases, also called borreliosis. It is usually found in ungulates and rodents, and ticks of the genus. ixodes It is the most characteristic vector of human transmission. It is produced by bacteria of the genus. borrelia.
Its symptoms are so diverse that recognizing this infection is often a challenge making it difficult to know the actual number of people affected.
The first symptoms of Lyme disease begin 3 to 30 days after the bite of an infected tick. Symptoms may include a red rash called erythema migrans: Most people with Lyme disease have this lesion. It grows in a few days and may feel warm to the touch. It is not usually painful or itchy.
Among other symptoms, fever, chills, headache, fatigue and muscle aches may occur.
viral encephalitis
Also known as TBE because of its English abbreviation (tick-borne encephalitis). Infection of viral origin can cause brain inflammation, memory loss and cognitive impairment. Cases are increasing every year in Central Europe and Russia.
Children younger than one year old and adults 55 and older are most vulnerable to life-threatening complications.
Symptoms include high fever, headache, vomiting, photosensitivity, confusion, stiff neck, stiff back, personality changes, seizures, amnesia, and paralysis.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
It is a viral disease that occurs in Eastern European countries and is one of the most common tick-borne diseases worldwide. The infection is caused by a virus of the genus. nairovirus and has been detected in Spain since 2010.
This virus causes severe epidemics of viral hemorrhagic fever with a mortality rate of 10-40% depending on the country.
Symptoms begin abruptly as fever, myalgia (muscle pain), dizziness, neck pain and stiffness, lumbago, headache, eye irritation, and photophobia (hypersensitivity to light).
There may be nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and sore throat at first, followed by mood swings and confusion. Within two to four days, agitation may give way to lethargy, depression, and weakness, and right upper quadrant abdominal pain may develop with detectable hepatomegaly.
turalemia
It is a bacterial disease (Francisella tularensis) which lagomorphs and rodents are reservoirs. It is rare in humans and can be transmitted through mosquito and tick bites.
The most common symptoms are sudden onset of high fever, general malaise and lesions at the inoculation site and involvement of regional lymph nodes.
Most people exposed to tularemia who develop the disease usually become sick within 3 to 5 days, but this can take up to 21 days.
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