In Yozgat, one of the provinces where CCHF disease is frequently seen, tick cases started with the spring season. Ticks, which are common in the Central Anatolia Region, especially around Yozgat, Sivas and Tokat, and cause Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) disease, pose a risk for those living in rural areas. Experts said that CCHF causes fatal consequences and warned citizens going on picnics in agricultural areas, green areas and places where animal husbandry is carried out, and asked them to be cautious. Dr. Lecturer Member Ayşin Kılınç Toker warned, “Protective measures can be taken such as wearing long-sleeved and long-legged clothes that cover the body, boots if possible, or putting the cuffs in socks if not.” On the other hand, the increase in tick cases in many provinces such as Gümüşhane, Yozgat and Sivas attracted attention.
MOST CASES WERE FOUND IN SARAYKENT DISTRICT
Experts recommended that citizens in rural areas prefer clothes that cover the body and tuck their trouser legs into socks, while people with complaints such as fever, weakness, headache, body pain and diarrhea should go to the nearest health institution. Experts also pointed out that the tick stuck to the body should be removed from its location without touching it with bare hands.
While ticks stuck to the bodies of 255 people in the last week throughout Yozgat province, the district with the highest number of tick cases was Yozgat’s Saraykent district. 255 people, 60 in Saraykent district, 30 in Sarıkaya district, 27 in Kadışehri district and other districts, applied to health institutions and had the tick stuck on their body removed. It was learned that the treatment of 3 people, 2 at Yozgat Bozok University Research and Application Hospital and 1 at Yozgat City Hospital, continues due to tick bite.
“BE CAREFUL AGAINST TICKS”
Yozgat City Hospital Infectious Diseases Doctor Dilek Yılmaz warned citizens against ticks and warned them about the precautions they should take. Yılmaz said, “Citizens should wear light-coloured and closed clothes when going to the mountains, forest, field or garden. Let them put their trouser legs inside their socks, and after returning from the countryside, take off their clothes completely and check their bodies. They should especially look at the groin areas, behind the knees, behind the ears, at the nape of the neck and at the roots of the hair and check for ticks.
If a patient has been touched by a tick in a rural area, they should safely remove the tick themselves before going to the health center. Of course, they should not do this with bare hands, but should grab the tick closest to the head with gloves, cloth or a bag and remove the tick. They should monitor themselves for 10 days after catching a tick. If one or more of the symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, widespread body pain, loss of appetite, weakness occur, then they should apply to the hospital. “Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever is a fatal disease and therefore we recommend that our citizens be very careful,” he said.
Infectious Diseases Clinical Microbiology Specialist Dr. Lecturer Member Ayşin Kılınç Toker; He made statements about the increasing tick cases and warned the citizens. Toker; “With the arrival of the spring months, ticks, especially those that transmit Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and other diseases, have become mobile. They have grown, multiplied, and the possibility of infecting humans and animals has increased. Crimean-Congo is a disease transmitted by a virus and is effective, but ticks carry this virus in their saliva and enter the body. During the process of clinging and sucking blood, they can transfer this virus back to the person’s blood with this saliva. In addition, it continues to circulate from animals to humans and from humans to other ways, such as dissecting the tick with bare hands. We started to see this virus in the Central Anatolia and North East regions of Turkey in 2002. .