In Drenthe, people are relatively at the greatest risk of being bitten by a tick. The insects mainly strike in June and July. In adults they bite mainly on the legs, in children mainly on the head and neck. This is reported by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Tick Radar.
Ticks bite animals and people so they can suck their blood. That’s their food. If a biting tick carries Borrelia bacteria, people can contract Lyme disease. This happens to about 27,000 people every year. In most cases, Lyme disappears after treatment with antibiotics, they recover completely, but some suffer from the complaints for a long time. Lyme disease can be recognized by a red ring or a red spot around the site of the bite. It can develop up to three months after the bite.
To keep an eye on tick bites and Lyme, RIVM and the University of Wageningen launched the Tick Radar in 2012. About 80,000 bites have now been registered there. Most reports came from Gelderland, Noord-Brabant and Noord-Holland, but those provinces also have many inhabitants. Compared to the number of inhabitants, most reports come from Drenthe and Gelderland, and the least from South Holland.
About half of all reports are made in June and July, and the other half in the other ten months. The RIVM is now going to conduct more accurate research via the Tick Radar to determine the chance of tick bites per week. The institute can warn people in those weeks to check themselves extra carefully.
According to the RIVM, about one in five people has several bites at the same time. “If you find a tick on your body, check the rest of your body extra carefully,” the institute advises. The chance that people will contract Lyme disease after a bite is about 2 percent. That risk is halved if people remove the tick quickly.