Ticks | Hazardous Holiday Creatures | HolidayTravelWatch
Ticks are eight-legged, blood-feeding ectoparasites that are closely related to spiders, scorpions, mites, and live on mammals and birds.
A tick has a oane-piece body. The harpoon-like barbs of its mouth attach to a host for feeding. Crab-like legs and a sticky secretion help hold the tick to the host. When attempting to remove a tick, to prevent the mouth part from coming off and remaining embedded in the skin, grasp the mouth close to the skin with tweezers and pull gently.
Ticks are not insects like fleas, but arachnids like mites, spiders and scorpions.
They have a four-stage life cycle, eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults.
Adult females of some species lay about 100 eggs at a time. Others lay 3,000 to 6,000 eggs per batch.
Six-legged larvae hatch from the eggs. After at least one blood meal, the larvae moult into eight-legged nymphs–in some species, more than once.
Final nymphs moult into adult males or females, also with eight legs.
Depending on its species, a tick may take less than a year or up to several years to go through its four-stage life cycle.
While ticks need a blood meal at each stage after hatching, some species can survive years without feeding.
The NHS provides an excellent guide on how to deal with tick bites!
If you have been affected by any Ticks holiday complaint, then please contact us at HolidayTravelWatch.
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HTW has noted that amongst the submissions to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) it has been suggested that the symptoms highlighted by crew and passengers were akin to the condition of hyperventilation.
HTW has for many years received reports from concerned holiday makers or independent travellers as to the safety of their aircraft, ship or boat, train or road transport.
