Evaluation of children cases admitted for tick bite and tick species in İstanbul

INTRODUCTION: The Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne infection that has a high mortality. In Turkey, the total number of cases reported between 2002 -2014 is 9069 and 440 of them died. The aim of this study is to evaluate the demographic characteristics of the children with the complaint of tick bite and to determine the species of the ticks seen in Istanbul.
METHODS: One hundred sixty two of tick bite cases were analyzed in the aspect of demographic, clinical and laboratory findings between January and December 2014. The blood samples for whole blood count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and creatinine were obtained from all cases and they were followed for 10 days. The ticks removed from patients were classified by the Department of Parasitology in The Veterinary Faculty of Istanbul University.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 6.1 ± 3.7 years and 76% of them were male. Eighty four (52%) of the cases had additional complaints other than tick bite. The most frequently complaints were nausea /vomiting (26%), fever (19%) and cough (14%). We found that 34 (20%) of them had an abnormal laboratory results as elevated liver enzymes, leukocytosis, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and prolonged PT. August was the month which most patients applied (56 cases, 34%). The regions of body that the most bitten by the ticks were extremities (35.8%). The total number of larvae, nymps and adult ticks were found as 4, 88 and 14, respectively.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study showed that tick species in Istanbul province were largely different from species causing CCHF. Although the incidence of CCHF in Istanbul is lower than the other regions of Turkey, children and their families who live in or travel to rural areas in Istanbul should be informed about disease.