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Bed bugs
Bed bugs are blood-sucking insects that cause a lot of trouble to people with characteristic painful bites. For food, bedbugs have a special piercing-sucking apparatus formed by two jaws, which looks like a pointed tube. The bug does not bite, but rather pierces the human skin and tries to get to the blood vessel with its proboscis. This parasite has the ability to feel the pulsation of blood, so it can easily find a suitable capillary.
The proboscis of the bug has a unique structure. There are two channels inside it: one for injecting saliva, which plays the role of an anesthetic, and the other for sucking blood. Therefore, the bite of the bug is not immediately felt by the victim.
Together with adults, the bugs suck blood and their larvae, for which feeding should be daily. When bitten, the larvae do not inject saliva into the wound, so the victim can feel the bite itself.
Bed bug bite symptoms
To figure out where the rash appeared on the body, and whether the cause is really bedbugs, you need to know the symptoms of the bites of these parasites. The signs of bedbug bites are very eloquent:
The presence of microdamages of the skin in certain areas in the form of a characteristic path
Edema and redness form along the path. Sometimes, this is the main symptom that indicates a bug bite. Considering a series of bites, it is not always possible to understand at what point the insect pierced the skin with a proboscis. However, sometimes the puncture site is highlighted with a red dot.
Severe itching from bed bug bites
At the same time, the bite sites itch without ceasing, pain is felt when touching these areas. In people with sensitive skin, swelling or swelling may develop at the site of the bite. First of all, open areas of the body suffer from parasites. A person is embarrassed to appear in such a form in a public place.
How to distinguish bedbug bites from the bites of another insect?
Bedbug bites must be distinguished from bites of other blood-sucking insects, such as mosquitoes, as well as from manifestations of allergic dermatitis.
You can distinguish a bite from an allergic reaction with a careful comparison. With bites, the redness is not continuous, but is located in paths or islets. The skin rash does not have such edema as with bites, but the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe rash turns completely red.
Sometimes the bug bites themselves cause an allergic reaction. Its symptoms are persistent severe itching and persistent redness and swelling. An allergy occurs to the saliva of the bug, which the parasite injects when biting a person. An allergic reaction to the substance that the bug uses as an anesthetic is possible. Such an allergy is very unpleasant and may not go away for several weeks. With severe edema, you need to purchase antihistamines to treat bedbug bites.
You can distinguish a bug bite from the bites of other insects if you pay attention to the behavior of the insect. The bug bites through the epidermis and tries to find a suitable capillary, so it leaves behind several bites in a row. Together with an adult bug, a person and his larvae bite: painful abscesses form at the site of the introduction of the latter.
Due to the bite of the bug, swelling appears on the body of the victim, while the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbredness is much larger than with flea bites. The difference between flea bites is also that redness is formed by small spots or dots, which are located at a small distance from each other. Thus, the main sign of flea bites is their point character.
The skin of people reacts to mosquito bites in different ways, most often, these are blisters slightly larger than from a flea bite.
Consequences of bedbug bites
A bug bite, in addition to general symptoms, can cause local inflammation if an infection was introduced during combing. The complication is manifested by an increase in temperature in the bitten place, a general deterioration in well-being. In this case, you need to consult a doctor and provide medical assistance.
In connection with blood-sucking insects, there is often a concern that they can become infectious by biting an HIV-infected person. However, bed bugs, mosquitoes and other insects cannot transmit HIV or viral hepatitis to humans. The reason is that viruses do not survive by mixing with bed bug saliva. Once inside the insect, the virus dies, because it cannot reproduce in such an organism.
Even if the virus had remained active, it would not have been able to be transmitted through the saliva of the bug. After all, through one channel of the parasite’s proboscis, anesthetic saliva enters, and through the other, blood is sucked out of the host’s body. There is no connection between the two channels. Thus, even if the bug had infected blood, the interpenetration of it and saliva is impossible. This means that the transmission of the virus will not occur.
Do bed bugs only bite at night?
Bed bugs usually don’t show up during daylight hours. During the day, parasites hide in warm places, but as soon as night falls, they come out to hunt. This usually happens between three and seven in the morning.
Parasites do not allow themselves to be seen by humans, because in this case they will not be able to reproduce and will die as a species. A person sleeping and motionless is a great way for bedbugs to get food. It is in order not to disturb the sleep of the victim that the bugs inject analgesic saliva when bitten. A person does not feel bites, which makes it possible for parasites to feed without being noticed.
Why don’t bed bugs bite everyone?
Bed bugs don’t bite all people. In the same room or even a bed, there may be a person who is not touched by insects at all. At the same time, another person will be attacked daily by these insects.
It’s not that bed bugs prefer a certain body odor or blood type. Bedbugs are very picky, they choose their prey with thin and smooth skin. Usually they are women and children. But men can also be attacked if they have vessels close to the surface of the skin.
It also matters that people react to the bites of blood-sucking insects in different ways. In some, a bug bite will cause a severe allergic reaction, while in others, the bite sites will be subtle and painless. Sometimes the bites of parasites in people disappear for weeks, while in some they disappear by the evening. It is more convenient and safer to bite such victims.
Bites in children appear in the same way as in adults, but children are preferable for bedbugs, since the parasite easily bites through their delicate and thin skin with its proboscis.
The bug will try to bite through the skin until it finds a place that it likes. The sensitive skin of the child at the same time begins to swell quickly. Children suffer bedbug bites very painfully, so you need to alleviate the consequences as soon as possible.
Treatment for bedbug bites in children is the same as in adults. It is necessary to ensure that children do not comb the wounds and do not bring the infection there.
Do bed bugs bite cats?
Bedbugs prefer to feed on human blood, but pets, including cats, are not immune from parasite attacks. The most convenient places for bites in animals are the axillary zones and inguinal folds. But a clean cat will not be a bed bug carrier for long, unless there are large numbers of them or they are starving. This can only happen in a heavily contaminated room where there has been no one for a long time, including a person.
Cats of some breeds are not afraid of bedbugs at all. For example, sphinxes have very thick skin and are unlikely to become parasite feeders. Most cats have thick hair, which is an obstacle for bedbugs, which can only pierce the smooth epidermis.
Thus, for domestic cats, bloodsuckers do not pose such a danger as for humans for two reasons:
If there is at least one person in the room, bugs in 99% of cases will feed on his blood. 1% is allocated to the inhabitants of terrariums and cages, which are most vulnerable to parasites. Moreover, more than one cat can live in the house: due to the fact that these animals are covered with thick hair and have an elastic epidermis, it is not so easy for bedbugs to get to their blood. This is why bloodsuckers prefer people over cats and dogs.
Cats, like their ancestors, prefer to hunt at night. Bedbugs are also nocturnal parasites, and predators evolutionarily act as their older brothers. At the same time, both of them strive to gain an advantage over other species. The cat has such a sensitive sense of smell that when attacked by a bug, it quickly reacts to the secret of its salivary glands and can fight back.
How to treat bedbug bites?
If you find bed bug bites, do the following:
It is worth taking a warm bath as soon as possible – this will help relieve the initial skin irritation.
You can buy antiseptics at the pharmacy, which relieve swelling and itching at the sites of parasite bites. You can lubricate sore spots with essential oils (preferably menthol).
Be sure to take an antihistamine to cope with a possible allergy. It is also worth buying sunburn products that will dry out the rash and protect the skin. Painkillers are useful to relieve itching.
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The main means for combating bedbugs are:
Aerosols. They have a weak destructive effect and minimal residual effect on surfaces. Designed for a single action and hit directly on the insect.
Gels. They do not have high efficiency in the fight against bedbugs, since the concentration of active substances in them is very low. The advantage is that they are well absorbed into the surface, so they have a long residual effect – sometimes up to three months.
A friend. They are an insecticidal powder. They are poured inside sofas, in the folds of upholstery, in the seams of mattresses, at baseboards, in crevices. The impact occurs due to the adhesion of the powder to the paws of insects and their chitinous cover, which ensures contact between the insecticide and the bug. However, the powder does not completely eliminate the parasites.
Bedbug devices:
Ultrasonic emitters;
Traps and baits;
steam generators;
Fumigators.
liquid preparations. According to many people, they are the most effective remedies for bedbugs:
All these devices are intended to scare away bedbugs rather than to destroy them, and are used if you want to protect yourself from the effects of chemicals. The effectiveness of such equipment is questionable.
Concentrated emulsions, which are a chemical substance dissolved in water or alcohol, with the addition of an emulsifier. Use diluted (per 1 liter of water) and prepare before use. The most famous are: karbofos, kukaracha, tsifox, clean house, averfos, ram.
Microencapsulated emulsions and suspensions, where the active substance is placed in a capsule covered with a protective film. The substance protrudes from the walls of the capsule due to diffusion, and acts on the surface for 10-14 days. Sometimes it takes a whole month to wait until the drug appears on the surface, which is a serious drawback of the technique. On the other hand, the gradual release mechanism guarantees a long-term residual action on the surfaces. The products are safe for people and pets. The most popular: minap-22, effective ultra.
Facts about bed bug bites
An accumulation of medium-sized bugs can inflict several hundred bites in one night. After one or two nights, all open places of the human body will be completely covered with bites.
According to the human blood contained inside the bug, it is possible to establish the DNA of its victim within 90 days. Such data is used in forensic examination.
It is difficult for bedbugs to move on leather, polished and metal surfaces; insects try to avoid such objects. Keep this in mind when choosing a bed. Blood-sucking parasites are attracted to raw wood, so a wooden bed must be varnished or painted.
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