More than 1000 citizens of Ust-Kamenogorsk attacked by ticks

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Two months had passed since "tick season" has started but the number of people attacked by blood-sucking ticks in East-Kazakhstan region reached almost two thousand.

This year ticks have become active much earlier than usually due to early spring. Thus, the epidemiological season has begun on 21 March.
People have been warned about an increase in blood-sucking ticks after a 7-year-old boy needed hospital treatment when one of the parasites latched itself on to his scalp. Fortunately, the tick was not contagious. After this incident, another 1038 residents of the regional center were attacked by blood-sucking ticks.
As of 10 May 1849 people applied to hospitals of East-Kazakhstan region. 30 percent of the victims are children under 14. Note that since the beginning of the epidemiological season no cases of tick-borne encephalitis have been reported.
Epidemiologists advise people, recreating on a landscape, to wear protective clothing and use repellent agents.