Ticks

[Anna Machial]

I have read 2 blogs on the Camino Primitivo that mention lots of ticks. Is this normally the case or did these people just happen to wander through the wrong bushes. When is the tick season is that area? I am used to doing tick checks but I would like to know how necessary checks are, or if the ticks are found more often on certain vegetation that I can avoid. Thanks.

 

[AJ]

I did not encounter any ticks on the Primitivo, nor did I meet anyone who had. I walked in July. Maybe I was lucky.

 

[Metropolly]

In the UK this week we've been warned of a huge rise in the number of ticks due to the mild, wet winter. I don't know if it's the same in Spain, but I think all of this side of Europe had the same kind of winter

 

[ebrandt]

I haven't seen anything about ticks on the Primitivo. We are planning to walk sometime next summer (2015) so I'll be interested in hearing your experience.

 

[CanPete]

Hi. Just got back from the Primitivo and I can confirm that there are ticks. They are tiny little buggers though, hard to spot. I never got bitten, but walking buddies did a couple of times. Best thing is to check when you shower at the end of your walking day (shower) (check the skin creases like groin, arm pit etc.) or double check if something itches . . . They come off easily . . . My impression is that they dwell in the grass and in bushes. Longer sleeved clothing and long pants likely helpful . . .

Hope this helps ? You'll love walking the Primitivo !!

Buen Camino

 

[dougfitz]

@Anna Machial, if you are used to doing tick checks, you will probably already know that they are good at finding places that one cannot see, and it is important to have a 'buddy check' to complement your own visual inspection. I have seen the results where someone has been too shy or embarrassed to ask a friend to check - leaving a tick feeding for several days does make them easier to find, but it does leave the donor at risk of disease and infection transmission for longer than is necessary.

Regards,

 

[peregrina2000]

I never heard anything about ticks during my two caminos on the primitivo, but it sounds like they are a real issue. I'm wondering if ticks in Spain also carry Lyme's disease (well, it may be called something else in Europe, since it's named after the town in Connecticut, US, where it was first found). My sister-in-law had a terrible bout with it with a lot of lingering ill effects.

I used to feel sorry for myself because my dermatologist insists I walk in long shirt and long pants, but maybe this is one of the advantages! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The little black ticks are pretty bad this year, but the big ugly grey ones are not bad at all. They sit in the high grass and wait for anything warm-blooded to pass, and leap on. They seem to head for higher altitudes -- we find them on the dogs´ eyebrows and in their ears. They don´t latch on for long, as the dogs are treated with (incredibly costly) tick-and-flea drops. But they do come home on the dogs´fur, and I am finding them now on the dogs´beds!
Our vet says these ticks don´t care for human blood, they prefer animals... but they will hitch rides on us, too, and bite if they can´t find anything more tasty. I am also told there is not a problem with Lyme Disease in Spain. This is from a veterinarian in Sahagún.. but I guess he would know if anybody does. He deals with thousands of sheep each week, and there´s no vermin host animal in the world more awful than a sheep!

 

[fortview]

In the UK this week we've been warned of a huge rise in the number of ticks due to the mild, wet winter. I don't know if it's the same in Spain, but I think all of this side of Europe had the same kind of winter

After a walk on our local common land , here in the Cotswolds , I found a tick on my bottom!

 

[simply B]

Anna -

Ticks are most lively in Spring and Fall months. There is a Summer season for the smaller larvae but, during this time, their target is more likely birds and small mammals. So, Summer should be reasonably safe.

That said, treating exterior wear – outer socks, long pants and long-sleeved shirts - with permethrin just before getting on the Way greatly ups your protection.

As recommended by other posters, a “tick check” never goes amiss.


B

 

[TerryB]

Looking at the WHO paper on Lyme Disease in Europe, the figures for Spain are for La Rioja only. However the incidence there is way above that in the U.K. where we tend to be paranoid about it!
In La Rioja the incidence per 100,000 of population is 9.8 - in the U.K. it is 0.3.
If you are into WHO officialese the paper is here:-
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/96819/E89522.pdf
The problem really arises when brushing against low vegetation, especially when wearing short trousers. (or going into the bushes )
As Doug says a full body check may be necessary, especially with young children.

 

[Kanga]

Ticks were a major problem for us here in Sydney this year; one of my toddler twin granddaughters one day had eleven that came off in a salty bath! So I did my usual thing and researched them to death. It appears that the child-friendly permethrin-type personal insect repellant is more effective than Deet, which is a good thing because it is less toxic.
According to my reading ticks have four stages from nymph to adult and need a blood meal to transition from one to the next. The tiny grass ticks we were experiencing are the nymph stage of the large big nasties.
The good thing about ticks is that they usually indicate an abundance of mammalian wildlife - we are having them because there has been a resurgence of bandicoots.
One trick we learnt that might be useful - the local hospitals here are using Aerostart (starts engines, ask mechanically minded for the local version) to spray on the ticks. Spray once, wait a few seconds, spray a second time just to be sure! It freezes and kills them and they drop off in a day or two by themselves. If you try to remove them with tweezers without first using something like Aerostart then they tend to inject their saliva more. If you don't want to carry a heavy aerosol can, the cream you can buy in the farmacia for treating scabies will also kill tiny ticks, and the bodies will eventually fall out by themselves.
Buen Camino !

 

[Daxzentzu]

The tried and tested way that I know is to put a blob of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) on the blighter. It denies it oxygen
It will let go without a mark after a few hours
Never brush them off you may leave the "mouth parts" in your skin - pretty strong likelihood of secondary infection


Dax
In Pune, (a work in progress)

 

[dougfitz]

The tried and tested way that I know is to put a blob of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) on the blighter. It denies it oxygen
It will let go without a mark after a few hours
Never brush them off you may leave the "mouth parts" in your skin - pretty strong likelihood of secondary infection

@Daxzentzu, use of vaseline is NOT recommended by what I would consider several reliable sources, including the US Center for Disease Control. All suggest careful physical removal with tweezers. You are right to raise the concern about secondary infection. Sources such as MedicineNet and WebMD state that this risk is INCREASED by using vaseline, not decreased.

Regards

 

[angulero]

Como en todo clima húmedo, hay garrapatas, sobre todo en zonas de arbustos y maleza. Pero no conozco mucha gente, por no decir nadie, que las haya cogido. Yendo por los caminos, sin meterte en el monte, no debes tener problema. Incluso metiéndote en el monte, es difícil cogerlas.

As in any humid, ticks, especially in areas of shrubs and weeds. But I know many people, not to say anyone that has taken it. Going on the road, without getting into the mount, you have no problem. Even getting into the mountain, it is difficult to catch them.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Spain gives thanks that, despite all its current troubles, it is not plagued by a resurgence of bandicoots.

 

[Anna Machial]

Thank you very much. I regularly hike in tick country. I wear long pants and tuck pant legs into socks. I also stick to paths and don't sit down in grasses. Areas with high populations of deer and wild horses have more ticks. This gives me an idea of what to pack - long socks and pants as opposed to shorts etc. Will definitely do tick checks regularly.

 

[Kanga]

Spain gives thanks that, despite all its current troubles, it is not plagued by a resurgence of bandicoots.

This still makes me laugh!

 

[sriyantra]

Me too!

 

[Kanga]

Me too!

Thought I'd better post a photo of a bandicoot, just for Rebekah

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200708/r171617_645696.jpg

 

[Tia Valeria]

Ahh, it's lovely. What does it live on?

 

[Kanga]

They are omnivorous - insects, ants, spiders, roots, berries, mosses. They live in burrows - we find their holes in the lawn.

 

[Oztrekker]

We have pepper ticks, small ticks the size of coarsely ground pepper. They go for the genitals. During spring you have to carry a mirror and tweezers while hiking, they are on the grass trees and under the picnic tables. Luckily they do not cause infections like the spanish bed bugs, they are just awkward to get off thats all. Luckily they do not go for the anus, just the area where the leg joins into the crotch. Yes and they do embarisingly attach onto the scrotum. i had 18 or so of these ticks after a bivouac, i just removed them in an epsom salt bath with a pair of tweezers. Kangaroos tend to spread them. The kangaroos shelter under picnic tables during the high heat. The ticks drop off and set up shop under the table. Humans have a picnic and the tics go up the trouser leg while the human is sitting at the picnic table, this is a common way to catch them.

 

[angulero]

http://www.rtpa.es/sociedad:Con-la-...las-picaduras-de-garrapatas_111403363700.html

Aunque yo no conozco a nadie que las cogiera. Sí las tengo vistas en gatos y perros.

Although I do not know anyone that take it. Yes the views I have cats and dogs.

 

[Oztrekker]

". . . .Luckily they do not cause infections like the spanish bed bug . . . "

Bed Bugs are not known to transmit any pathogens as disease vectors. They can cause allergic reaction which in some cases can be severe. However Lyme Disease as spread by ticks can cause long term disability if left untreated.

Blessings
Tio Tel

Yes the bed bug bites I recieved, the wounds became infected. Cortico steroid, polaramine, neomyasol etc made no difference. Only tea tree oil and antibiotic removed the redness and supressed the infection. It has been a 24 day battle which is still continuing.

It is convenient for the public liability insurance companies and albergues to say that filthy bed bugs piercing your skin with unsterilized apendages into your blood stream are free from pathogens.

In my instance i got my skin wounded, blood consumed and infected by a filthy insects/arachnids? They injected some filthy poisonous saliva into me and they may have had previously consumed blood from other pilgrims. So I am not going with the medico legal spin on this one. Bed bugs cause nasty skin diseases and infections.

Hayfever is hayfever, an infected wound is an infected wound. Pollen does not puncture the skin and drink your blood.

The ticks in australia carry no lyme or other disease. There is a doctor in sydney who is trying to say that this is the case but he is just a mischievious doctor profiteering of peoples hypochondria and genuine symptoms unrelated to tick bites. Australian ticks will cause a skin infection from the bite but it is mild compared to filthy bed bugs.

I have been bitten by both, I removed eighteen pepper ticks from my groin and I prefer that to bed bugs.

 

[TerryB]

" Luckily they do not cause infections like the spanish bed bugs

I think you will find that the "infection" is either a severe reaction to the bite, or a secondary infection from scratching. Different people do unfortunately react in different ways. The information given in the link in angulero's post is correct for ticks in Spain. Unfortunately it only needs one person to travel to Australia with Lyme Disease (if they have not already done so!) for it to become endemic there as it is in the USA and Europe.


A translation from Angulero's Post above:-
Not all bites of this arachnid transmit diseases. The danger is that we often don't notice its bite, which increases the risk of diseases after 24 hours and provided the tick is carrying the infection.
This is why medical services advise that we should examine our skin aided by another person at the end of a mountain excursion. The recommended ways of removing them should be followed. If the tick is broken it will continue inoculating its toxin. If after a few days, there appears fever, joint pain or skin spots you should consult your health reference center.

Blessings
Tio Tel

 

[Oztrekker]

The bites on the middle of my back cannot be scratched. They are still red and infected. The ones elsewhere that I have treated with tea tree oil have faded to grey blotches after 22 days.

 

[Daxzentzu]

I think that sometimes ignorance is bliss.


Dax
In Pune, (a work in progress)

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, Susanna just carefully pulled one out of my leg using tweezers. She is quite the expert, I hadn't even noticed it. Buen camino , Laurie

 

[Mountainman]

Well, this thread put a downer on my anticipation! This September, I am (still) planning to go sock-less in sandals! And sleep outdoors some nights... Any buddies needing/doing a buddy check will be welcomed on my path!

 

[Oztrekker]

Well, this thread put a downer on my anticipation! This September, I am (still) planning to go sock-less in sandals! And sleep outdoors some nights... Any buddies needing/doing a buddy check will be welcomed on my path!

Just get a little mirror you find them in toiletry bags, tweezers.

Put some sweat bands with feline flea collar wrapped around your ankles, sleep in an enclosed tent with flywire.

They will be in the groin or in the armpits. Why they go for these areas ask david attenborough.

 

[Metropolly]

After a walk on our local common land , here in the Cotswolds , I found a tick on my bottom!

Next time, don't forget to wear trousers!

 

[Tia Valeria]

If you fell something tickling on your leg (or elswhere) then stop and see what it is. It is much easier to move a walking tick than a biting one and it is more likely to walk up your actual leg than your trouser - there isn't much nourishment in the trouser.
Be careful where you sit down - a plastic bag is useful here.

 

[domigee]

Hello, could you please tell me if any of you have used this? I was thinking of getting one but don't know if they work...
http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/tickcard-tick-card-b3210035
Thanks

 

[Angelo]

Thanks Kanga for the wonderful photo. Bandicoots are cute IMO.
I'm quite happy not to have the privilege of removing Oztrekker's pepper ticks from my patients. Otherwise, it would be quite interesting, LOL!
I myself had a tick stick onto my arm whilst hiking around the golf course near my home. Needless to say, the pest got what it deserved. I got a bad reaction to the bite though!!

 

[CarriePhoto]

I think most of the time you can't actually feel the ticks. I found a tick in the middle of my head a few weeks ago. (It had nothing to do with the Camino or Spain.) I was visiting friends in Georgia and while we walked through a few trees on the edge of a golf course, it's not like I had been rolling around in the grass. I noticed it the next day. It was a small little tick and wasn't engorged. I had a friend remove the whole thing with some tweezers.

Don't assume you will feel them crawling on you and don't assume because you are wearing long pants you won't get them. Just give yourself a check in the shower each day.