Bed bugs - appearance and their bites, what parasites are afraid of

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Bedbug bites are not poisonous, but they bring a lot of trouble to humans. If suspicious wounds appear at home, you need to carefully pickle the areas where insects are spreading. Otherwise, the parasites will use the blood as food, and in a couple of days they will multiply from several individuals to a large colony.

To recognize a bedbug bite, it is enough to know what it looks like. It is also useful to know how to properly treat itchy wounds and what to do before the medical team arrives.

What do bedbug bites look like?

The wounds from bedbug bites are red, the skin in the affected area is swollen. There are usually no bloody stains left.

A strong sensation of scabies and a large number of bites on one area of ​​the body cause many to confuse traces of a bedbug attack with an allergy. If you are prone to allergic reactions, take a closer look at the location of the redness. Single paths are bugs. A dense accumulation in a small area or throughout the body is an allergy.

If you are still not sure about the origin of the rash, look at photos of bedbug bites on a person. They usually do not increase in size or change in condition, unlike an allergic reaction, which can quickly grow, peel, or even leak.

Buy bedbug repellents

Ticks

Ticks are a real threat to rural and urban residents, from warm spring days to autumn. Every year, an increasing number of infected ticks are registered, the bite of which can cause dangerous diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease and others.

Ticks attack both humans and animals in order to obtain food - blood. They react to the temperature and odors of warm-blooded animals, sensing them from a distance of 5-10 meters. While waiting for prey, they sit on plants, clinging to a person’s clothing or the fur of an animal with their front paws at the moment when the animal touches the plant. They don’t bite right away, so the victim has the opportunity to notice it and shake it off.

There are about 48 thousand species of ticks in the world.

• The most real threat comes from tick bites from the order Ixodidae, which cause borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis (symptoms),
• Arthropods that cause various tick-borne fevers.

Ticks live not only in forests and parks; they can be found in the green area of ​​the local area, low bushes and even grass. As a rule, vegetation does not rise above 1 m. Their sizes are small, only 2-4 mm, it is very difficult to notice a tick, and it is almost impossible to feel it on yourself at the time of the attack.

How to recognize bedbug bites and how they differ from traces of other pests

At first glance, home bug bites can be mistaken for the consequences of a night mosquito attack. However, the swollen red “buttons” on the body have a number of differences from mosquitoes:

• The lesion has a more defined shape, whereas a mosquito bite is usually blurry, with unclear boundaries.
• The wounds are located close to each other. At night, the bug bites a person several times, and does not make long journeys through the body between attacks.
• A cluster of wounds is easily connected by one line.
• Bites will not wake you up at night, as the bug injects an anesthetic into the bloodstream to continue hunting. But in the morning they will start to itch more than mosquitoes.

Traces of attacks by other insects (fleas, midges, etc.) will also be located chaotically. The pain will be stronger because only the bug numbs the site of the attack. Midge attacks leave small wounds that can be easily identified by droplets of dried blood in the center.

Large aggressive insects - wasps, hornets, bees - sting harder than bedbugs, and do not hide their presence. Their bites are larger in diameter and swell rapidly. In this case, problems with identifying the insect usually do not arise: the bite is so painful that it will wake you up from even the deepest sleep.

Symptoms of bed bug bites

Attention! Parasites are attracted to open areas: limbs, neck, head and shoulders. Those parts of the body that were not protected by clothing during sleep will itch and itch unbearably in the morning. Examination will reveal swollen, bright pink or red lesions with no visible open wound.

If you are attacked by adult bed bugs, there will be no symptoms of the bite immediately after the attack. The parasite goes unnoticed due to the anesthetic saliva, which is released into the wound so that the blood comes out better. Saliva temporarily numbs the skin, but interferes with natural healing processes, causing bedbug bites to take longer to heal.

With the rapid growth of the colony at night, not only adults, but also young individuals attack. You can wake up from their bites, because young insects do not yet know how to secrete anesthetic saliva. In appearance, such wounds will be smaller, but the other signs are the same: clearly defined redness, severe swelling and itching.

How many times does an insect usually bite?

During one feeding procedure, a bug can penetrate the skin 1–10 times. However, a single bite is very rare . Typically, parasites move in a straight line, leaving behind a string of identical defects. Damage in such a “path” is located at a short distance from each other. An adult requires large volumes of blood to be completely saturated, which is why one bite cannot do it all.

But nymph larvae are quite capable of biting through the skin only once. They don't need a lot of food yet, so they eat from one damage. Older larvae are more voracious and can make 2-3 bites in one feeding.

Only one larva can live on one bed, and its parents are always present nearby. So if you have a single damage, then it is most likely the mark of a mosquito or other insect, but not a bedbug.

When and who do bedbugs bite first?

During the day, bedbugs almost never attack: they try to hide from people, and crawl out of their hiding places when people are resting. Night and early morning are periods of increased parasite activity. During a night foray, one individual makes up to 7-10 bites.

Parasites are not picky, but if there is a choice, they look for a victim with thin, delicate skin. For this reason, bedbug bites in children may occur in greater numbers than in their parents. Also, these insects often attack women, and in men they look for the softest areas on the body: the back of the arms, neck and shoulders.

If one of the household members does not have obvious marks, this does not mean that he is not being bitten by bedbugs. The reaction to anesthetic saliva is different for everyone, and depends on many factors: the density of the skin, individual sensitivity, heredity. It also happens that traces of pest attacks are visible only on children. Be vigilant and do not confuse chains of bites on a child’s body with an allergy! If you allow a child to sleep in a bed with bedbugs for a long time, he may develop a real allergic reaction, including anaphylactic shock.

Fleas

Fleas are small insects measuring 1-4 mm in size. The body has a flattened shape, making the insect difficult to catch. They are distinguished by great jumping ability due to the presence of long hind legs and high “maneuverability” - the flea easily runs from place to place in the animal’s thick fur

The natural hosts of fleas are warm-blooded animals with fur. A person, as an organism for constant life activity, is of no interest to a flea. Fleas that can live on a person for some time and bite him are called Pulex irritans, cat fleas, Ctenocephalus telis, can also feed on human blood. They can get into a person’s home with animals, as well as on the person himself, attached to his clothing.

Harm to humans

In addition to pain at the time of the bite and constant itching after the bite, flea bites can result in serious diseases carried by these insects: plague, dermatophiliasis, pulicosis, rat typhus, rickettsiosis, tularemia, listeriosis, dipylidiosis.

Secondary infections that occur as a result of scratching wounds result in furunculosis, abscesses, ulcers and ulcers. An allergic reaction to a flea bite leads to extensive skin irritation, which can ultimately result in neurosis and insomnia.

Flea bites on a person

Most often, fleas bite on the lower extremities. When living in blankets and upholstered furniture, fleas can bite other parts of the body. When biting, the flea firmly attaches itself to the human skin and may look like a black dot.

The symptoms of a flea bite are vivid and difficult to confuse with other types of bites. By biting, the insect injects a special enzyme into the wound that thins the blood. The bite itself is accompanied by sharp pain, which turns into itching and burning. At the site of the bite, a hyperemic spot with a diameter of about 5 mm remains, in the center of which there is a bloody dot.

The spot swells, the hemorrhagic point remains visible for 3-5 days and causes significant itching. When an allergic reaction develops, urticaria occurs.

Children may also experience general symptoms, especially with multiple bites: low-grade fever, anxiety, diarrhea.

What to do if you are bitten by fleas

• Treat the bite site with an antiseptic - hydrogen peroxide, alcohol solution, potassium permanganate.
• Apply a cold compress to the bite site.
• Apply antipruritic or antiallergic ointment to the bite area.
• During the entire period of resolution of the bite on the skin, it is important not to scratch the wound, as this will lengthen the recovery period of the skin and threaten secondary infection. Soda lotions (1 teaspoon of soda per glass of water) will help relieve itching.
• If the wound does fester, you should apply a sterile cotton swab with an antibiotic-containing ointment (levomekol, gentamicin, etc.) to the abscess.

How to get rid of fleas

• Remove fleas from pets using special insecticides.
• Disinfect animal habitats - bedding, soft houses. To do this, they need to be soaked in a solution of household disinfectant, then washed in water at a temperature of about 50 C and rinsed thoroughly.
• Treat the apartment and car interior with a special insecticide, carefully following the instructions and safety rules - Tetrix, Effective Ulra, Solfak, Chlorpirimark. If necessary, treatment is repeated after 2-3 weeks.
• If you are intolerant to chemicals, you can use the herb wormwood, which should be spread around the apartment, especially on the floor and at the entrance.
• Throw away the dust bag for the vacuum cleaner, where fleas happily live and breed.

How do bedbugs bite?

Among other domestic parasites, the bug is distinguished by its specific mouthparts. His proboscis has not one, but two channels: one for sucking blood, the other for introducing anesthetic saliva into the blood. The effect of saliva is immediate, which is why the aggressor manages to remain unnoticed. Having sucked 1-2 ml of blood, the bug crawls forward 2-3 centimeters and launches its trunk in a new place.

The young bug will suck blood for 1-3 minutes, not responding to attempts to shake it off. The adult can remain on the body for up to 15 minutes after the hole is pierced. The difference is due to different body volumes: young individuals are smaller and require little blood to be fully satisfied.

In one foray, the parasite completely fills its body with blood. It becomes 1.5-2 times longer and loses the ability to seep into narrow cracks. To return to the shelter, the insect has to regurgitate excess blood. The places where insects crawl out at night can be detected by the accumulation of small brown spots that remain after regurgitation.

One successful meal is enough to feed the insect for a week or longer. A well-fed female lays up to 5 eggs per day, which is why the size of the colony grows rapidly.

Borreliosis

This disease occurs with damage to the nervous system, joints, heart, skin, and very often becomes chronic. 10-14 days after the bite, the early stage of the disease begins:

Stage of spread of infection (2-3 weeks - 2-3 months after the bite)

Why is a bedbug bite dangerous?

Science does not yet know whether bedbugs can transmit diseases like other parasitic insects. Since no cases of infection from bedbug bites have yet been reported, it is not necessary to test for viral or bacterial diseases due to markings on the body.

The main danger is the reaction of the immune system. Along with saliva, parasites secrete active enzymes. Sensitivity to insect enzymes can be congenital or develop over the course of life. An allergic reaction will add dangerous symptoms to redness and itching:

• Swelling in the affected area . The bite loses its clear outline and rapidly increases in size.
• Erosion is the erosion of the top layer of skin. It looks like a severe inflammation or burn. In some places the skin peels off and scars form.
• Dizziness, nausea . They persist even if you take a lying position and drink water.
• Intermittent breathing . It is difficult for a person to take a full breath due to muscle spasms in the chest area.

One or two symptoms are enough to suspect an acute allergic reaction. In the absence of medical care, anaphylactic shock develops extremely rarely, but this danger cannot be ignored. Symptoms are more severe if bites cover 40% of the body or more.

If there is no obvious allergic reaction, the bite will heal without seeking medical attention. The main thing is not to scratch the itchy area, as there is a danger of infection in the wound. Scratched bites fester for a long time and require professional treatment.

How to protect yourself from bedbugs

The only reliable way to protect yourself from night attacks is to completely remove the parasites. Do not try to poison bedbugs with household poisons available in regular stores! They will not affect the larvae, and the next generations of pests will develop resistance to pest control agents.

To remove bedbugs for sure, you need to call the sanitary and epidemiological station. Specialists will spray powerful chemicals through steam generators. Treatment with insecticidal steam will not leave a chance not only for adults and larvae, but also for eggs. New generations of parasites will be poisoned and die within a few hours after hatching.

While waiting for the pest control team, you can try to reduce the number of night bites:

• Move the bed away from other furniture and walls. These are potential insect refuges.
• Wash bed linen at high temperatures, if possible, boil. Cover the bed with clean linen (iron thoroughly with steam first) so that it does not come into contact with the walls or floor.
• Steam treatment of pillows and mattresses. It is recommended to replace down pillows.
• If the design allows, place each bed foot in a small container and fill it with water. This will become a natural barrier for pests.

Attention! Although bedbugs do not like strong odors, there is no point in scaring them away with scents. A hungry insect will ignore irritating factors in search of food. Neither special flavorings nor tobacco smoke give a satisfactory result.

Do they show interest in pets?

The main source of food for bed parasites is humans . If a person is absent from the house for a long time, but pets remain in it, then bedbugs may well feast on their blood. But this will only happen if people have been absent for a long period of time, and insects are tormented by severe hunger. In this case, cats or dogs may be attacked.

Under normal conditions, these parasites do not associate with domestic animals, since their bodies are covered with thick and dense hair, through which it is very difficult for the insect to reach the skin.

How to treat bedbug bites

It is not necessary to treat bedbug bites - they stop itching within 1-2 days. Signs of irritation usually disappear within a week. To relieve symptoms during an acute reaction, you can use any soothing ointment against bed bugs, for example Menovazil, Psilo-balm or Tsindol (suspension).

To dry the itchy wound and reduce pain, treat the surface with alcohol or pink lotion. Aloe juice and ointments based on it, a compress of raw potatoes or regular ice will help relieve swelling.