How to Identify a Bug Bite and What to Do With It
Ah yes, summer’s at its peak, and you’regoing out to have some fun. At a barbecue, by the sea, in a park or ona lake shore. But wait!Who’s gonna bug you, and spoil all the pleasure?Someone very small, but very annoying. Yes, it’s those two-year-old twins runningamuck, spilling the lemonade and pulling thedoggie’s tail. Aren’t they a handful?Where are their parents?Anybody got a leach?Okay actually, this isn’t about them. It’s about some other pests. Yep, Insects. There are zillions of them, and most are innocentand scared out of their wits of the huge humans. But a few others can bite or sting you andcause real trouble. Let’s see which ones you’d rather keepoff your party list. 1. SpiderAlmost all 40,000 different kinds of spidersare venomous. Don’t panic!Not for people. Human skin is too thick for most of them,and they can’t inject the poison. A spider’s bite usually looks like 2 dotsin a circle. But there are 3 kinds of spiders whom you’dbetter avoid: the Black Widow, the Tarantulaand the Brown Recluse. Their bites can cause intense pain for 1-1. 5hours. Symptoms also include dizziness and shivering,and it can be hard to breathe. Brown Recluse spiders live in the Midwestand South of the central US regions. They choose houses, barns, and lofts, andcan hide behind furniture or floorboards. They have a violin mark on the forebody, butit’s difficult to see it. The Black Widow lives in the whole territoryof the country, usually outdoors in protectedplaces, like heaps of stones or firewood. It has a red or orange hour-glass mark onthe belly. Uh uh, YOU turn it over to look!Tarantula’s bites are very rare and – thanksgoodness !– New World tarantulas are notvenomous. But if you try to disturb him on purpose,he can throw out needle hairs, which can causean allergic reaction. You get it. Don’t mess with tarantulas!If a spider did bite you, don’t do this:– put a tourniquet on the damaged arm or leg- cut the wound by yourself trying to getrid of the poison- eatWash the bite area with soap, put ice on it,and take a painkiller if necessary. Drink a lot of water. If the bite is on the arm or leg, go to bedand put it down to stop the spreading of thepoison. To prevent an allergic reaction, you mightneed to take an antihistamine. Anyway, if the bite starts swelling or youfeel pain, call the doctor immediately. 2. MosquitoMosquito bites usually look like swollen redspots about the size of a small berry. They can often be mistaken for a skin allergy. The difference is that they’re usually onlyfound on open areas of the body, where theskin is the thinnest, and blood vessels arecloser to the skin. Mosquitos very rarely get under clothes, sinceit’s dangerous for them. A brightly colored swollen circle is usuallya mosquito bite. It takes its final shape very quickly anddoesn’t change for a long time. A lot of red spots after a walk, or in themorning when you wake up, are signs of theinsects’ attack. When biting a human, mosquitos inject theirsaliva, which contains a blood-thinner, intothe wound. This is what causes the swelling, rednessand itching. An allergy, however, has different symptoms. A rash spreads all over the body, even underclothes. Rash areas merge with each other and don’thave a particular shape; they can change theirlook very quickly. Antihistamines help to relieve the symptomsof an allergy. Some people have an allergy to mosquito bites,because the body reacts to blood-thinnersin their saliva and tries to destroy them. It’s quite a common thing. An allergy to mosquito bites has the followingsymptoms: a single bite can cause an extensiverash on a big area of the body. Often the affected person has intense itching,and swelling around the bite. A runny nose, and itchy and watery eyes aresigns of an allergy to mosquito bites too. Mosquitos can also carry infectious diseases. If you get a fever, pain in your joints, andyour lymphnodes start swelling after a mosquitobite, call the doctor immediately – it couldbe an infection. 3. TickA body reacts to a tick’s attack with ared spot in the place of a bite. The insect can stay attached to the skin fora long time, sucking blood and increasingin size. You can get a tick from any area of forestor timber, a walk in the park, or even theback yard, if you’ve got uncut grass there. They can also attach to animals, especiallydogs, and catch a ride inside your home onthem. The worst thing about ticks is that they caninfect people with encephalitis, borreliosis and other diseases. Not all ticks are disease carriers; about80-90% of them are clean of any viruses orbacteria. But there can be an allergic reaction to thetick’s bite if a person is prone to allergies,has weak health, has been operated on recently,or gets a lot of bites at once. A tick’s mouthparts allow it to stick tothe skin, deep and firm, without causing painto a human. Ticks are pretty merciful, aren’t they?No. That’s why you might not find it on yourbody until the next day, or even several daysafter the bite. Sometimes you don’t notice the tick or thebite altogether. You’ll face the biggest danger of gettinginfected if you live in a region endemic inticks’ infections, or visit it during theirhighest activity, from the middle of May tillthe end of September. But one can be attacked during any warm season. Ticks usually stay on high grass and catchon the legs of people or animals. They choose the grass along paths, since theycan smell the people passing by. Sometimes they climb to the bushes and lowerbranches of trees. Having reached a human body, the tick startssearching for an area with thin skin, whichis easier to bite through. That’s why it often sticks to the bellyor the small of the back, chest, armpits,neck, ears, and the hairy part of the head. If you’ve found a tick on your body, removeit with tweezers and go to the doctor, evenif you feel ok. Some diseases have a pretty long incubationperiod, and have no signs at first. You’ll need to take a blood test to makesure that there’s no infection. You can also take the tick itself to a laboratory,where it’ll be tested for infections. 4. Bug Bug bites look different. Some people don’t notice them at all; othershave a strong allergic reaction with itchingand pain. A bug bites through the skin, trying to feelfor a suitable capillary. That’s why it often leaves a line of 5-7bites in a row. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell a bug’sbite from an allergic dermatitis. Bites look like a gathering of micro skininjuries in the same area, usually makingup a line. On sensitive skin, the line can turn intoa single red swollen spot, and it can be difficultto see the exact places where the skin waspricked. Sometimes there’ll be darker red spots there. Itching is one of the nastiest effects ofa bug’s bite. The bites can keep itching constantly, andbe painful to the touch. Bugs usually attack open areas of body: face,neck, shoulders and arms. Hygene is the bugs’ main enemy. So first of all, you’ll need to wash the bittenspots with soap. At worst, you’ll need an anti-inflammatorymedicine or an antihistamine. 5. BeeA bee can leave a stinger in the spot whereit got you. You’ll have to extract it carefully. Bee stings aren’t dangerous if you don’thave an allergy to them. The trauma can look different, depending onthe part of body where the sting is. If it’s on a leg, arm or back, the damagewill be minor. The skin gets red and swollen, or a smallthick blotch will appear. You’ll feel a stinging pain and burning. Then the spot around the sting gets white,and there’ll be a pins-and -needles sensationaround the bite. This happens because of the bees’ poison,apitoxin. 15-20 minutes after the sting, you’ll feelan intense itching. The spot where the stinger itself puncturedlooks like a small reddish wound. The swelling lasts from 1 to 20 hours, andreduces with time. It’s quite different if a bee stings you onsoft and sensitive parts – face , neck, head, armpits,etc. In that case, there’ll be more intense swelling. Your eye could even swell completely shut. And it can last from 36 hours to 8 days. The intensity of pain depends on the person’spain barrier. For people with a high barrier, it won’tbe too much discomfort. After you’ve been stung, tend to the woundwith hydrogen peroxide and put ice on it. The cold will relieve the pain and reducethe swelling. Things are much worse if you have an allergyto apitoxin. The bite can lead to Quincke’s disease,and anaphylaxis, which is life threatening. Most people with a severe allergy to beeswill carry an emergency treatment with themany time they’re outdoors. Otherwise, call the doctor immediately andtake an antihistamine to reduce the symptoms. Finally if the bee is musical, it’s bestto leave it bee. Ha. Otherwise, if you squash a bee natural, hebee flat. So how about you?Did you like my joke?Do you know how to recognize other insectbites?Let me know down in the comments!Hey, if you learned something new today, thengive this video a like and share it with afriend. But don’t go get stung just yet!We have over 2,000 cool videos for you tocheck out. They’re much more fun. Just click on this left or right video andenjoy!Stay on the Bright Side of life!