The warm and wet spring has marked the return of Finland’s summer scourge, the tick, a bit earlier than usual. There have been several ticks found already as far north as the city of Oulu.
“It’s still too early to say what kind of tick-summer is in store,” says insect specialist Reima Leinonen of the Kainuu ELY Centre.
The next few weeks will reveal how the situation will develop, says Leinonen. If conditions are dry, most of the ticks will burrow underground to find safety. A hot and dry summer usually means fewer ticks.
What to do
It can be difficult to find ticks on your body, and Leinonen recommends an evening shower to help assess if any of the arachnids have attached themselves to your body.
“If you move around in an area that could be infested with ticks, it is a good idea to take a shower afterwards. When they get wet, you will feel them like a pinch on your skin. They are afraid of drowning and will grab on closer to the surface of your skin. All you need to do when you find one is take it off.”
Areas with woods, bushes, high grass, or leaf litter are likely to have more ticks.
People can limit their exposure to tick bites by wearing light-coloured clothing (including pants and long sleeves), using insect repellent, tucking their pant legs into their socks, checking for ticks frequently, and washing and drying their clothing in a hot dryer. Finland also offers a tick vaccination that is given in three parts and must be renewed every year.
One in one thousand
Tick-borne illnesses are caused by infection with a variety of pathogens and other types of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Because ticks can harbour more than one disease-causing agent, patients can be infected with more than one pathogen at once, compounding the difficulty in diagnosis and treatment. Most incidents can be addressed with antibiotic treatment.
The estimated incidence of Lyme Borreliosis cases in Finland is between five and six thousand from a population of 5.5 million, or about 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Some areas of the Southwest Archipelago have a higher annual incidence, at 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
