Insect bites: Description
Insect bites occur mainly in the summer half of the year, when people spend a lot of time outside and it is warm enough for the insects. However, you can also get itchy mosquito bites in the winter half of the year when the weather is very mild, so mosquitoes hatch from their eggs. Mosquitoes, by the way, usually prefer dusk or night, while many other insects, such as wasps and bees, are primarily active during the day.
Insect bites: Significance for medicine
Disease transmission through insect bites is primarily due to mosquitoes worldwide. There are different types of mosquitoes in which various pathogens persist. In the tropics, for example, these include the pathogens of malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever. In addition, bites of the tsetse fly or sand fly in the tropics can trigger sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis.
Insect bites: symptoms
Wasp stings, bee stings and hornet stings often cause pain, while mosquito bites itch. Generally, three stages of insect sting reaction can be distinguished:
- Local reaction with redness, swelling and itching that subsides significantly within 24 hours. The affected area of skin is no larger than ten centimeters.
- Large local reaction involving a larger area of skin than the simple local reaction. In addition, swelling of the surrounding joints, dizziness and nausea are possible.
Insect bites: swelling
Read all the important information about swelling in insect bites @ Insect Bites: Swelling.
Insect bites: Inflammation
Read everything important about inflamed insect bites under Insect Bites: Inflammation.
Insect bites in the mouth and throat area
Insect bites in the mouth and throat can be life-threatening. The mucous membrane can swell and thus narrow or completely close the airways. There is a danger of suffocation! This is how you can recognize insect bites in the mouth and throat area:
- sudden pain in the mouth after eating or drinking
- rapid swelling of the lips and/or tongue
- possibly whistling or snoring breathing sound
- shortness of breath
Insect bites: Causes and risk factors
In bees, the stinger remains stuck in the wound with a venom blister. After the sting, the bee dies. Wasps, on the other hand, can sting several times. They can also use alarm scents to attract other conspecifics. Wasps can also carry bacteria that can lead to inflammation of the sting site.
If you have already been stung by a certain insect in the past (e.g. bee, wasp), it is possible that an insect venom allergy has developed as a result. In this case, your immune system will react more strongly to the incoming venom when you are stung a second time. The reaction may then spread to the entire body.
Insect bites: Examinations and diagnosis
The physician first asks the patient (or, if necessary, accompanying persons, for example, in the case of children with insect bites) in detail about the patient’s medical history (anamnesis). In doing so, he asks the following questions, among others:
- When were you stung?
- What animal stung you?
- Do you have a fever?
- Have you had an allergic reaction to insect bites in the past?
He then examines the insect bite. He looks at it closely and, among other things, pays attention to whether pus is visible at the site of the bite. He also examines the lymph nodes and joints located near the sting. He pays attention to possible swelling.
If the doctor is concerned that pathogens were transmitted in the insect bite, he will take blood samples and have them tested in the laboratory for the relevant pathogens.
Insect bites: Treatment
To learn what you can do about insect bites, read the article Treating Insect Bites.
Insect bites: Home Remedies
However, home remedies have their limits. If the symptoms persist for a long time, do not get better or even get worse, you should always consult a doctor.
To find out which home remedies help against insect bites, see Home remedies for insect bites.
Insect bites: Course of the disease and prognosis
In Central Europe, most insect bites are harmless. If you are not allergic to the insect venom, bee stings, wasp stings, hornet bites, bumblebee bites, mosquito bites and the like heal without consequences after a few days. Rarely, more pronounced reactions occur, which need a little more time for recovery. A horsefly sting also often heals somewhat more slowly. This is because the horsefly leaves a larger lesion in the skin than the other insects.
In other regions of the world, insect bites transmit diseases, some of which can be protracted and fatal (e.g. malaria).
Insect bites: How to protect yourself
You can reduce the risk of mosquito bites and other insect bites by wearing light-colored clothing – insects are usually attracted to dark clothing. You should also wear long sleeves and long pants. Be careful not to walk barefoot across meadows and forest floors. In doing so, you could accidentally step into an insect and get stung.
- Diethyltoluamide (DEET)
- Icaridine
- Dimethyl phthalate
- Permethrin
When using repellents, be sure to follow the instructions for use! They can cause poisoning, especially in infants and children.
When traveling in malaria areas, use mosquito nets stretched over your bed. Make sure there are no tears in them and that the nets are tight with your mattress.
If you plan to stay outdoors for a long time, do not use perfumes or other cosmetics such as deodorant sprays or body lotions that have a strong scent beforehand – the smell is, in a way, an invitation for insect bites (especially mosquito bites).
You can prevent insect bites when camping by not pitching your tent in the immediate vicinity of a body of standing water. Mosquitoes like to stay there.
If you discover a wasp nest where you live (for example, on a sloping roof), you should have it removed by the fire department if you have an insecticide allergy or if you have a baby or small children in the household. The fire department can also remove the wasp nest for people who have limited mobility and are therefore unable to protect themselves well. In all other cases, however, the nest must not be removed – wasps are protected species and nature. Only in winter, when the wasps have relocated (the nests are colonized only once a year) or have frozen to death, you can remove the wasp nest.
Until you protect yourself, stay away from the nest and avoid hasty movements in its vicinity (such as flapping your arms to drive the insects away) – this will only make the animals aggressive. Besides wasps, bees also behave extremely aggressively at their nest.
