Jordan | After the death of a young Jordanian woman after a coma for 19 days due to an insect bite. What is a tick?

2024-07-13 2024-07-13T10:48:34Z

Weather of Arabia - A young Jordanian woman died after being in a coma for 19 days following a tick bite. The funeral will be held in Madaba Governorate, according to what expert Yassin Al-Saqour reported from the girl’s family.

What is a tick?

A tick is a type of small arachnid that feeds on blood, and belongs to the Arachnida group. There are more than 800 species of ticks.

The life cycle of a tick is very complex, including egg, larval, nymphal, and adult stages into males and females. Ticks are transmitted by crawling because they are unable to fly or jump.

A tick can survive for up to a year without obtaining its primary food, which is blood. But when you get it, it sticks to the body and feeds for long hours. Some types of ticks are considered pathogenic, as they can transmit diseases between humans and animals.

Ticks and serious diseases

The tick, which spreads in green spaces during the spring and summer, causes serious diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease. Dr. Christina Huber explained that the small tick may transmit the tick-borne encephalitis virus to humans, causing tick-borne encephalitis. Tick-borne encephalitis, which affects the meninges, brain, and spinal cord.

The German infectious and tropical medicine specialist added that the symptoms of this infection include fever, headache, limb pain, nausea, sensitivity to light, convulsions, swallowing and speech disorders, and manifestations of paralysis in the arms and legs.

A doctor should be consulted immediately upon noticing these symptoms to undergo appropriate treatment, given that tick-borne encephalitis may lead to serious consequences such as permanent impairment of motor skills.