Why were people in the Soviet Union unafraid of TICKS?

As scientists say, a tick bite itself is not dangerous – what's dangerous are the diseases they carry. For example, tick-borne encephalitis, first described back in 1937, was long considered a regional problem of Siberia. For residents of central Russia, it was something exotic. Lyme disease (borreliosis), meanwhile, wasn’t even diagnosed until 1985.

The USSR tackled ticks radically. Before the start of tick season, forests and fields were treated from the air by spraying ‘DDT’ (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) – commonly known as ‘dust’. As long as this chemical protection was in place, ticks simply did not survive in the treated areas.

However, over the years, it became clear that the toxin accumulated in plants and entered the food chain, reaching animals and humans. In the 1970s, DDT was first restricted and, later, banned in many countries, including Russia. Over time, the tick population recovered and began colonizing new areas.

The ‘dust’ has since been replaced by milder agents, but their effects don’t last long. Today, only city parks and recreational areas are treated, while ticks thrive in woods and forests. It’s known that about 20% of ticks are infected with multiple diseases at once, so if you are planning a trip into the wilderness, it's best to get vaccinated. And if you find a tick on yourself – send it to a lab for testing.