Bug Bites | Dr. Delgado's Blog

This is a common type of office visit that leads to much stress and worry because first you?re wondering if those spots on your arm could have been a bite from some bug and if so is there a venom that might be brewing inside that will turn you into, say, ?the Stay Puft Marshmallow man (or woman)?! Then, you?re wondering if that bug is still alive and may be hiding in your sheets! Let?s review some bugs and then focus on the most common ones.

First let me clarify that I hate bugs; well, actually I?m just really afraid of them. They gross me out. If I hear or feel a flying insect near me, you will see me running around, throwing my hands in the air like Jim Carrey in a scene from the Pet Detective. In my house, I am the official exterminator, I?m not sure why. My wife or daughter will suddenly yell out for me with a very specific tone where I know right away they are staring into the face of an ugly bug of some sort and it becomes my job to appear as quickly as possible and squash the offensive insect! I don?t just squash bugs; I?ll grab one of 20 pair of crocs lying around the house and slam it so hard into the ground or wall or wherever that thing is that sometimes no trace of the bug can be found afterwards! I just obliterate the thing into a million tiny pieces! Then the next line is usually, ?Well you didn?t have to hit it that hard!? My family just doesn?t understand that even after a million successful kills, bugs just really freak me out!

Bugs or insects as a class belong to the phylum called arthropods, which are small invertebrate animals with jointed limbs. The other classes under that phylum are: Arachnids, Myriapods, and Crustaceans. Let?s review the insect and arachnid class a little more shall we?

INSECTS

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1. Fleas: More a problem for your pets but they can certainly bite humans too. They cause raised itchy spots with a puncture in the center.
2. House Flies: They don?t bite but they sure are big and ugly. These guys can carry a lot of bacteria on them and can spread bacteria around your house very effectively.
3. Mosquitoes: We?ve talked about these guys before. These guys can transmit West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Malaria, etc.
4. Deer Flies: These are really big flies that you find out in the forest and they do bite you and it stings! Ouch! They are not known to transmit any infectious agent with the exception of Tularemia but this would be rare.
5. Bees, Wasp, Hornet, Yellow Jacket: Very painful sting! Some can develop anaphylactic reactions to these bites and must carry an EpiPen.
6. Cockroaches: These very ugly bugs can sometimes carry Salmonella. Also, little tiny pieces that break off of them as well as their poop can become aerosolized and cause allergies and asthma. We would see these? a lot in South Florida and it would really make me uncomfortable. A few times I have seen cockroaches fly! That?s one of the few times you might catch me in a full sprint!
7. Bedbugs: This has become more and more common lately and we?ll talk about it more below.
8. Lice: Very itchy scalp or pubic area. Mostly in kids where there are outbreaks in school or camp. Occasionally in college dorms. We?ll talk more about this one next week.
9. Fire ants: the bites are painful, itchy, and look like little pus balls or zits.

ARACHNIDS

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1. Spiders (Black Widow, Brown Recluse): Bite may or may not be painful. Some spiders can be very poisonous and can lead to severe muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, seizures, etc. and require an immediate trip to the emergency room. The Black Widow will leave 1 or 2 red fang marks. The Brown Recluse causes a red bull?s eye lesion that blisters and is painful. Spider bites usually cause a single lesion and occur in areas where clothing binds tightly.
2. Scorpions: Some are poisonous and can be deadly.
3. Ticks: We?ve covered these before. The big one here is Lyme disease.
4. Mites: House dust mites can get airborne and are a common cause of allergies. Itch mites can bite humans and cause a little, you guessed it, itching. Chiggers can be found in humid forests and grassy fields or soil and bite you in exposed areas like around your ankles and lead to painful itchy bumps. Finally, Scabies mites are the most problematic ones and we?ll talk more about them next week as well.

BEDBUG INFESTATION

Bedbugs have become more of a problem over the past decade due to increasing pesticide resistance, more travel, lack of public awareness, and inadequate pest control.

Here?s what these bugs look like:

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They hide in the seams of mattresses and crevices of bed frames, walls, and furniture. They can migrate from one infested room to another often through ventilation ducts. They can hitch a ride by latching on to your luggage and can hide in bedding and furniture. Bedbugs do not travel directly on human hosts and they can?t fly.

Bedbugs are attracted to us because of warmth and CO2 in our breath. They will feed on you for about 5-10 minutes usually unnoticed just before dawn. Then, later in the day you will start scratching and notice some bumps on your skin with a central hemorrhagic crust or blister. The bumps appear in a cluster or a line in unclothed areas, typically around the face, neck, or extremities. They tend to avoid the back of your knee or arm pit. The lesions resolve within 1-2 weeks without treatment.

When you travel, inspect your room for these critters and make sure you place your luggage on metal racks away from walls and furniture. Wear long sleeve pajamas and if you travel frequently consider a portable heating unit for your luggage and clothing like ?Pack Tite?. Also, beware of items purchased at yard sales or secondhand stores that may contain these bedbugs.

Ok, enough bug talk for now. Stay tuned next week and we?ll cover the 2 most irritating bugs for humans: Pediculosis (Lice) and Scabies.

Links:

Tick Bites

West Nile Virus

Insect Repellants

WebMD slide show of bugs

Mites

Ref:

Studdiford JS., et al. Bedbug Infestation. Am Fam Phys. 2012;86(7):653-658.

Source: http://delgadomd.com/bug-bites/

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