← Wild Animal Encounters: What to Do to Survive
Lesson
Lesson 3. Ticks and stinging insects: silent threats
Protect yourself from ticks, remove an attached tick correctly, avoid provoking a swarm of stinging insects, and recognize anaphylaxis.
Statistically scarier than a wolf
Ticks and stinging insects
By victim count, the tick is the most dangerous “beast” in the woods: it carries tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease (borreliosis). It doesn't jump from trees — it waits on grass and bushes up to a meter and a half high and grabs your legs. Protection: pants tucked into socks, light clothing (to spot ticks), insect repellent, checks every couple of hours and a full one at home — armpits, groin, behind the ears, scalp.
Attached? Use fine-tipped tweezers right at the skin and pull upward with steady, even pressure — don't twist or jerk. Oil, nail polish, fire: harmful myths — a suffocating tick injects infected saliva into the bite. Antiseptic on the bite, the tick in a small jar for testing. Watch for a month: fever, aches, or an expanding red ring around the bite — see a doctor at once; the ring is a typical sign of Lyme disease, treated with antibiotics. For endemic regions, there's an encephalitis vaccine.
Wasps and hornets: don't wave your arms or crush a wasp near the nest — the smell of a crushed wasp tells the swarm to “attack.” Walk calmly indoors or into deep shade. Don't jump into water: the swarm will wait.
If after a sting the face or throat swells, a rash spreads over the body, or the person wheezes or feels faint — that's anaphylaxis: call 911 (or your local emergency number) immediately. Allergic? In season, carry a prescribed epinephrine auto-injector.
Lesson notes
Ticks and stinging insects
By victim count, the tick is the most dangerous “beast” in the woods: it carries tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease (borreliosis). It doesn't jump from trees — it waits on grass and bushes up to a meter and a half high and grabs your legs. Protection: pants tucked into socks, light clothing (to spot ticks), insect repellent, checks every couple of hours and a full one at home — armpits, groin, behind the ears, scalp.
Attached? Use fine-tipped tweezers right at the skin and pull upward with steady, even pressure — don't twist or jerk. Oil, nail polish, fire: harmful myths — a suffocating tick injects infected saliva into the bite. Antiseptic on the bite, the tick in a small jar for testing. Watch for a month: fever, aches, or an expanding red ring around the bite — see a doctor at once; the ring is a typical sign of Lyme disease, treated with antibiotics. For endemic regions, there's an encephalitis vaccine.
Wasps and hornets: don't wave your arms or crush a wasp near the nest — the smell of a crushed wasp tells the swarm to “attack.” Walk calmly indoors or into deep shade. Don't jump into water: the swarm will wait.
If after a sting the face or throat swells, a rash spreads over the body, or the person wheezes or feels faint — that's anaphylaxis: call 911 (or your local emergency number) immediately. Allergic? In season, carry a prescribed epinephrine auto-injector.