The tick in Poland are very dangerous is it true?

excuse me , please i should go to live to katowice i'm an italian woman, but i have red a very bad aspect of living in poland , there is a serious danger of being bite by a tick in poland everywhere and the illness that cause a tick can be mortal sometimes, on internet it s written that this is a big issue in poland and that you must keep some precautions kindly there is someone can tell me about , i'm very worried about thank you very much

@susa82
There are not too many ticks in Katowice. Lyme disease is treatable, Tick borne encephalitis is unlikely. Entering a forest in Italy is probably much more dangerous.

@Alien, I remember watching a documentary on this and Poland and surrounding areas were the region with the biggest number of ticks in Europe (I'm guessing that it's due to having a lot of forests).

The biggest number of ticks infected with Lyme disease is in Central and Eastern Poland (60-70% of ticks infected).


Not really. Not entirely.

In the forests, not a much in towns.

You just need to be careful. I've not been bitten by a tick in three decades.

Whether the Lyme disease can be completely cured, it completely depends on the stage the disease has progressed to and the organs that have been affected in the disease.

If the disease is diagnosed in its early stage, then complete cure is possible with prompt and adequate treatment.
However, in later stages, the treatment becomes difficult due to involvement of other organs.
I just got bit by a tick and you should see what it did to me.
It take almost a week for the swelling to show up after you have removed the tick.
One of the favorite spots for a tick to bite you is behind your knee were you can't see.
Unfortunately I didn't find this tick until the next day showering.
The trick in removing a tick is not to just pull it off you because if you break off its head under the skin it will cause major inflammation and swelling for a very long time.

It may even require surgery to remove it at that point in the game.
The best way is to use a piece of dental floss, make a loop to go around the tick and pull it straight up.
Or take tweezers and grab it and pull straight up off your skin so nothing breaks off.
They do make a device just for removing ticks which is quite cheap.
I will be getting one this week because the ticks here this year are horrible.
They jump off your pets and unto you.
Stay out of tall grassy areas where they live.

i will be only in katowice and i will not go to the forest , i don't have pet, but the issue is , is it safe to visit a park without walking on the grass?

@susa82, ticks can be found in parks too, but as long as you don't walk on the grass you should be OK. You could also wear light-coloured leggins and socks (so your legs would be covered - make sure there's no naked skin between the socks and leggins) if you want to walk on the grass during summer and late spring/early autumn. (light-coloured clothes - so you could see the ticks on your legs)

Btw, formic acid is apparently a good natural repellent against ticks. It's because ants are the natural enemy of ticks and this acid produced by their bodies scares ticks away. You can buy it in pharmacies in this form:

doz.pl/apteka/p8021-Spirytus_mrowczany_plyn_50_g_Amara

@susa82, I was bitten by a tick about three weeks ago and I'm still alive :)) If you get bitten the important thing is to remove it as soon as possible. I just used antiseptic gel on the place where I was bitten in case of infection and that was all. It was a bit red and itchy for a week or so afterwards. I was in the countryside when this happened but I've lived in Warsaw for eight years, regularly going to parks and the Botanic Gardens and have only been bitten by mosquitos up till now.

A good natural tick repellent is citronella oil. Use about 9 drops in 100ml of a base oil such as rapeseed or sunflower. It's also great against mosquitos. The only time I've been bitten is when I didn't use it. There are many natural oils that ticks don't like the smell of.

farmersalmanac.com/7-natural-tick-remedies-work-27452

I would never underestimate a tick bite. I recommend always showing the bite site to your GP. In the case of erythema migrans (extremely characteristic), he/she should prescribe an antibiotic. In this way, early Lyme disease can be cured without complications.

thank very much PAULINA ;)

Atch , yes thank you , you are very kind , hope don't meet them in the street lol ehehehehehe

If you do pull a tick off you, keep it in a vile so incase the bite mark gets worse, you feel fatigued, have a fever, have joint stiffness, a headache, muscle aches and pains, swollen lymph nodes, you could be in trouble.

Symptoms can take up to three weeks to show up after you have been bitten.
Take the tick in and have it tested by your doctor to see if it has Lyme disease.
Mortality rate is very low from ticks bites. (25 people per year in the U.S.)
When I go out to mow my lawn I wear shoes and socks, long pants with rubber bands around the cuffs and my property is loaded with ticks.

Spray yourself with a good bug repellent (mosquito) and check your naked body when you come back inside for the day and you will be fine.

I will post a picture of my tick bite when I learn how to up load it if I am still alive. :-/
It is amazing what a little tick can do to you.
I was bitten a couple of years ago down by my ankle and doctored it myself with antiseptic and I still have a scar from it.

Normal people go to a doctor with the tick in a vile to be safe rather than sorry.

@johnny reb, did you go to a doctor?


You're welcome :)

No I did not, however, I am keeping a very close on it, keeping antiseptic cream on it, and watching for symptoms.
Most people that get tick bites in the summer here never go to a doctor.
The only time I go to a doctor is if it is broken and the bone is sticking out or I can't stop the bleeding.

My barber that cuts my hair (once a year) told me that she had a lady come in that had a tick latched on behind her ear that was as big as a pea so it had been there for a while.

She never even knew it was there.
She went to the doctor to have it removed.
The OP is worrying over nothing and is more likely to get run over by a car in Poland than die from a tick bite.

Lyme Disease is named after Lyme, Connecticut in the US. The American east coast is really the epicenter for encephalitic ticks.

After every camping trip I find a few ticks on me. Usually it is without further incident. However, one time I got bit by a tick that gave me a whole "bouquet" of diseases. I think I got 5 total, of which my tropical medicine doctor rated Lyme Disease as only the third most dangerous. The others that were rated as "worse" were Ehrlychia and toxoplasmosis.

Probably one of the worst ways I've ever felt. Jungle fever, audio/visual hallucinations, cold sweat, and non stop nausea.

Similarly bad was probably the cocktail of industrial strength antibiotics which I had to take for 8 weeks. They wipe out all your gut bacteria, so diarrhea is all you really have to look forward to for two months.

@Bobko
It's a miracle you survived.

Not really, but it was a fun two months.

Now every night, in the tent, I check my hairline, pant line, around my collar and around my ankles with a flashlight. Check my dog also, because I always find a ton on her as well.

If you find them in the first 24 hrs, your chance of getting a disease is minimal.

And now you have the same effect on us :)


Are you related to the Beverley Hillbillies? I was bitten, dear child, bitten.


You're most welcome. Don't worry darling, you'll be fine. but if you will be in Katowice during the winter, take note that the air pollution there is quite high from November to February. Polish cities have a higher level of air pollution than average for Europe.

Atch o my god how much is polluted the air ?? i have red a critical situation that is dangerous

You can breathe......but there are no earthquakes or mafia.

What a self-criticism, completely unnecessary. Italians and Poles have a lot in common, for example they are Catholics. There are Fiat factories not far from Katowice, that is why there are some Italians living in the south of Poland. There are Italian ice cream and pizza and pasta and Italian wine. You can have a little Italy in Katowice.

Yes lol and have "Gnocchi" as "Perogies" also lol.

@Alien Si respira...... Ma non ci sono terremoti o mafie.

I polacchi stranieri sono molto educati come vedo, ho incontrato molte persone dalla Polonia a Londra, qui anche in Italia ci sono molti polacchi, sì la mafia qui nella mia città è molto forte è come uno stato più forte del governo hanno tutta l'economia nelle loro mani, la mafia ha tutto il mercato del lavoro nel sud Italia e nel mezzo hanno il mercato della droga le infrastrutture, La polizia non è severa con la mafia, hanno un sacco di soldi, sono bastardi, li odio. Molti italiani sono come serpenti hanno una doppia faccia, non mi piace non so perché sono italiano non ho la loro mentalità e mi comporto in modo completamente diverso, in modo opposto. Ci sono anche alcuni bravi italiani ma siamo pochissimi purtroppo

please stick to the English language

@Alien
no italians and polish are very different, nothing in common , Catholicism in italy is only appearance is a facade, nobody here is a real believer, if you're sick you need help you can even die there's total indifference, i don't know poland, i'm talking about my country and i certainly know it better than you, nobody cares about the faith which is something else, they go to church because the church is linked to politics, the Vatican state, in Italy all the most mafia politicians are Catholic believers, you don't know Italy, Italy is not the italian restaurant in poland, you have to come to italy to know how it is only here you understand the country not remotely and with tv or internet,

@susa82
Lady, if I only knew what you just wrote?
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that your post as well as mine will soon end up in random because these are the rules here. 🥸

@ susa82
Where you aware that mosquito's kill more people than ticks do ?

Not really. There's only one dangerous snake (vipera berus - common adder) and it's not that dangerous (a bite would be a miserable experience but generally not life threatening for a healthy adult). They are very unevenly distributed also. Supposedly there are a bit more than usual this year but still bites are pretty rare....