Insect Bites and their Consequences

Insect bites and their consequences. Yes, summer is at its peak and you’re going out to have some fun at a barbecue, by the sea, in a park, or on a lakeshore, but wait, who’s gonna bug you and spoil all the pleasure?

Yes, it is the Insects! There are billions of them and most are innocent and scared out of their wits of the huge humans, but a few others can bite or sting you and cause real trouble.

In today’s article, we would be mentioning the insect crawlers you’d rather keep off your party list, and providing our readers with information to identify their bites.

 

The Spider

Almost all 40,000 different kinds of spider species are venomous (do not Panic though, as they are not all venomous to people; the human skin is too thick for most of them to inject).

A spider’s bite usually looks like two dots in a circle. There are three kinds of spiders you’d better avoid:

• The Black widow
• The Tarantula
• The Brown recluse

Their bites can cause intense pain for 1 to 1.5 hours, and symptoms include:

• Dizziness
• Shivering
• Difficulty in breathing

The Brown recluse spiders live in the Midwest and South of the central US regions. They choose houses, barns, lofts, etc., and can hide behind furniture or floorboards. They have a violin mark on their bodies (which is difficult to see).

The Black Widow lives in the whole territory of the country. Usually outdoors in protected places like heaps of stone or firewood. It has a red or orange hourglass mark on its belly.

Tarantula bites are very rare and thank goodness new world tarantulas are not venomous. But if you try to disturb them on purpose, they can throw out needle hairs which can cause allergic reactions.

 

Read also: 5 Facts You Must Know About Bed Bug Bites

 

How Do I Treat a Spider Bite?

Now if a spider did bite you, you should do the following:

• Put a tourniquet on the damaged arm or leg.
• Cut the wound by yourself, trying to get rid of the poison.
• Wash the bite area with soap and put ice on it.
• Take a painkiller, and if necessary drink a lot of water.
• If the bite is on the arm or leg, go to bed and put it down to stop the spreading of the poison to prevent an allergic reaction.
• You might need to take an antihistamine.
• If the bite starts swelling or you feel pain, call the doctor immediately.

 

The Mosquito

Mosquito bites usually look like swollen red spots about the size of a small berry.

They can often be mistaken for a skin allergy but the difference is that they are usually only found in open areas of the body where the skin is the thinnest and blood vessels are closer to the skin.

A brightly colored swollen circle is usually a mosquito bite and it takes its final shape very quickly and doesn’t change for a long time.

A lot of red spots after a walk or in the morning when you wake up are signs of the insect’s attack. When biting a human, mosquitoes inject their saliva which contains a blood thinner into the wound (this is what causes the swelling redness, and itching).

Rashes don’t have a particular shape and they can change their looks very quickly. Antihistamines help to relieve the symptoms of an allergy though.

Some people have an allergy to mosquito bites because the body reacts to blood thinners and their saliva and tries to destroy them. It’s quite a common thing.

An allergy to mosquito bites has the following symptoms:

• A single bite can cause an extensive rash on a big area of the body of the affected person.
• Intense itching and swelling around the bite.
• A runny nose and itchy and watery eyes are signs of an allergy to mosquito bites.

Mosquitoes can also carry infectious diseases. If you get a fever pain in your joints and your lymph nodes start swelling after a mosquito bite, call the doctor immediately as it could be an infection.

 

The Tick

 

Read also: Do Mosquitoes Die After They Bite You? | Truth Exposed

 

A body reacts to a tick’s attack with a red spot in the place of the bite. The insect can stay attached to the skin for a long time, sucking blood and increasing in size.

You can get a tick from any area of forest or timber, a walk in the park, or even in the backyard. If you have uncut grass they (ticks) can also attach to animals; especially dogs and catch a ride inside your home on them.

The thing about ticks is that they can infect people with Encephalitis, Lyme disease, and other diseases.

Not all ticks are disease carriers though as about 80% to 90% of them are clean of any viruses or bacteria, there can be an allergic reaction to the tick’s bite if a person is prone to allergies.

A tick’s mouthpart allows it to stick to the skin deep and firm without causing pain to its human host.

Ticks are pretty merciful, aren’t they? No, that’s why you might not find them on your body until the next day or even several days after the bite. Sometimes you don’t notice the tick or the bite altogether.

You’ll face the biggest danger of getting infected if you live in a region endemic to tick infections or visit it during their highest activity from the middle of May till the end of September.

Ticks usually stay in a high grasp and catch on to the legs of people and animals. They choose the grasses where people mostly pass, sometimes they climb to the bushes and lower branches of trees.

Having reached a human body the tick starts searching for an area with a thin skin that is easier to bite through (that is why it often sticks to the belly, back, chest, armpits, ears, and the hairy part of the head).

If you ever find a tick on your body, remove it with tweezers and go to the doctor, even if you feel okay.

Some diseases have a pretty long incubation period and have no signs at first, so you will need to take a blood test to make sure that there is no infection.

You can also take the tick itself to a laboratory where it will be tested for infections.

 

Read also: 10 Beneficial Insects You Want in a Garden

 

All Bugs

Insect bites look different, and some people do not notice them at all while most people have a strong allergic reaction to itching and pain.

A bug bites through the skin trying to feel for a suitable capillary (that is why it often leaves a line of 5 to 7 bites in a row). Sometimes, it is difficult to tell a bug’s bite from allergic dermatitis.

Insect bites look like a gathering of micro skin injuries in the same area usually making up a line on sensitive skin. The line can turn into a single red swollen spot making it difficult to see the exact places where the skin was pricked. Sometimes there will be darker red spots.

Pinching is one of the nastiest effects of a bug’s bite. The bite can keep itching constantly and be painful to touch. Bugs usually attack open areas of the body (face, neck, shoulders, arms, etc).

Hygiene is the bug’s main enemy, so you will need to wash the bitten spots with soap and take an anti-inflammatory medicine or an antihistamine.

 

Conclusion

So, how about you, do you know how to recognize other insect bites? Let us know down in the comments.

If you learned something new today, then do well to share it with a friend.

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