While local mosquitoes usually only itch badly after a bite, ticks in this country can already transmit dangerous viruses and bacteria. But how big is this risk?
Ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of humans and animals. That doesn’t sound very sympathetic, especially since the sting can also transmit pathogens. However, this is less common in Germany than some might think. What’s right and what’s wrong?
Claim: Tick bites are very dangerous
Rating: Rather not
Facts: Ticks are sometimes reported dramatically. The health hazards that can emanate from the arachnids are limited for humans, according to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care. The probability of suffering serious and long-term damage after a tick bite is very low. However, such consequences cannot be completely ruled out. Therefore, people should protect themselves from ticks in the wild from spring to autumn.
Claim: You can hardly protect yourself from ticks
Facts: False
In most cases, very simple measures such as long-sleeved shirts, long trousers, sturdy shoes and socks are sufficient to protect yourself from ticks in the great outdoors. It’s good to pull your socks over your trouser legs in the “wilderness”. Then the parasites can find much more difficult skin areas, sting and suck blood. There are also – similar to mosquito repellents – chemical repellents that work for a limited time.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, after a walk in the great outdoors, especially away from wide paths, it is always advisable to check yourself and especially children for ticks. The parasites particularly like to settle in the softer skin of the crook of the arm and knee, under the armpits, at the hairline or in the genital area.
Claim: Ticks drop from trees
Rating: Wrong
Facts: The most common tick species in Germany is the common wood tick (Ixodes ricinus). In addition to humans, it also affects birds, lizards, hedgehogs, rabbits, roe deer, fallow deer and red deer, foxes, dogs and cats. However, most woodbucks are not perched in trees, nor are they actively searching for hosts for their blood meal. Rather, they usually wait at a height of 30 to 60 centimeters in shrubs, bushes and grass for approaching prey. People and animals usually strip them off in passing.
Claim: Ticks always transmit dangerous pathogens
Rating: Wrong
Pathogens can occur in the blood of humans and animals, which can be transferred to the sucking tick and passed on later. But how often does that happen?
Bacteria: These include, for example, Borrelia. According to the Federal Center for Health Education, around 30 percent of the wooden goats are Borrelia carriers. Borrelia are found in the midgut of woodbucks. That is why it takes several hours before they can get into the human organism after a sting. If a tick is discovered on the skin and removed quite quickly, there is less of a danger.
If humans become infected (Lyme disease), this is often reflected in an itchy reddening around the puncture site. But not everyone who comes into contact with Borrelia through a tick bite actually becomes ill. Often the body can keep the bacteria in check. According to RKI calculations, 0.3 to 1.4 percent of people who are bitten by a tick become really ill.
However, if an infection remains undetected for a long time, it can lead to complicated courses in individual cases, which necessitate complex treatments. In the early stages, an antibiotic usually helps. The exact frequency of the disease in Germany is not known. According to data evaluated by the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance Physician Care (Zi), around 325,000 statutory insured patients were diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2021.
Viruses: The second disease frequently transmitted by ticks is a form of brain or spinal cord inflammation, tick-borne encephalitis, or TBE for short, which is often acutely manifested by a high fever. There is a vaccination against the virus, which resides in the salivary glands of the parasites and is therefore transmitted quickly. It is particularly recommended for risk areas. In Germany, these primarily include Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, but also parts of Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony as well as individual districts in other federal states.
TBE infections in humans are notifiable in Germany. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, they rarely occur, only 300 to 600 times a year. This is also due to the fact that even in risk areas only a very small proportion of ticks – up to five percent – are infected with the TBE virus. Many infections also run their course here without visible or with mild symptoms. However, in very rare cases, TBE can be fatal in humans or cause long-term damage such as signs of paralysis.
Claim: Due to climate change, there are more and more dangerous tick species in Germany
Rating: still unclear
Warmer winters make it easier for non-native ticks to survive in Germany. According to the Robert Koch Institute, newly occurring species such as alluvial forest ticks (Dermacentor reticulatus), relict ticks (Haemaphysalis concinna), brown dog ticks (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) and ticks of the genus Hyalomma have been observed in recent years. Bites of the remnant tick are considered a risk of severe fever with risk of bleeding (SFTS) in its main distribution area Asia. Hyalomma ticks can transmit Crimean-Congo fever, which can cause internal bleeding in humans. According to the RKI, these pathogens have not yet been detected in ticks in Germany. So far, there have also been no cases in which infection has been proven to have taken place in Germany.
Scientists assume that every year millions of Hyalomma larvae or juvenile animals (nymphs) arrive in Germany with migratory birds. Despite this, comparatively few adult Hyalomma ticks would be found. Even if isolated nymphs have already been found that must have hatched in Germany, it is still unclear whether a Hyalomma population can develop in Germany in the long term. However, further rising temperatures and increasingly lower humidity could contribute to this.
Changes that could disturb the ecological balance cannot be ruled out as a result of the spread of the new tick species in Germany either. According to studies by the Robert Koch Institute, alluvial forest or relict ticks only account for around one to two percent of tick bites in this country. Unlike woodbuck, however, riparian, relict, and hyalomma ticks actively crawl toward humans and other potential prey.
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