Ouch, now what has stung me! This is not infrequently heard exclaiming on summer walks in the forest or elsewhere. And while the person concerned with suspicious looks his environment musters, whether him not again such a small insect surrounds, he usually also already reaches for the place that burns and itches to scratch.
Why do insects sting?
Schematic illustration of the pharynx when insects enter the respiratory tract. Click to enlarge. For him it is certain that something stung him, but this is not always true, because insects can also bite. Bites are mainly caused by insects with chewing mouthparts, which only occasionally bite humans. Often this happens out of self-defense, of which one can easily convince oneself if one touches a ground beetle, which then immediately fights back. However, there are also small species of beetles in which it has already developed into a pure habit to pinch and nip humans. Such habits are the first preliminary stage to real parasitism. The louse insects living in the fur of mammals and in the plumage of birds do not have a stinging proboscis, yet they bite their hosts, and do so with their jaws, sucking blood in this way.
Ants and formic acid
In ants, the bites are particularly painful. Most first bite the skin with their jaws, creating a skin lesion. Then they curve the tip of their abdomen forward and inject their venom into the wound. It contains formic acid, but also other toxic components. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that this does not happen in the same way in all ant species. For example, our forest ants spray the formic acid on the enemy from a distance of several centimeters, whether it is the hand of a human damaging their anthill or a burning candle considered hostile that is placed on the anthill. It is even extinguished by spraying it with formic acid, which is the origin of the well-known anecdote that ants have their own fire department. Other ants, in turn, like their close relatives, the bees and wasps, have a stinger.
Bee sting, wasp sting and hornet sting.
A bee sting can hurt for a short time and cause swelling. Pictured: sting of a bee in the buttocks. The most unpleasant form of insect bites are the so-called sting bites, of which wasp stings and bee stings are the best known. These hymenoptera have a real poisonous sting, which is only a weapon against enemies. Here it must be added that the immediate stinging effect is increased by the venom injected with the sting. A hostile insect can even be killed by it. But even for humans, these venomous stings are by no means always harmless. Unlike the stings of other hymenoptera, the bee’s stinger remains stuck in the human skin. The bee literally tears apart its internal organs when stung, so that it dies from it. The sting of other insects can also function in other ways. However, in all cases it originates from the laying sting, which is why only the females have it. In most cases, insect bites are stinging trunk bites. While the sting of an insect is located on the hind body, the stinging proboscis is located on the head and is also used for feeding. Here, the remodeled mouth part fulfills the function of stinging and at the same time that of food intake.
Symptoms of insect bites
All insects that sting humans with their proboscis are parasites. They feed on human blood. This is true for bugs, fleas, lice as well as mosquitoes, biting flies, horseflies and other blood-sucking insects. The insect bites cause an instant sensation of pain and a loss of blood, but only a small amount. The symptoms and side effects or consequences of the sting include, for example, the well-known skin wheal (red swelling of the skin), which in many cases occurs shortly after the sting and is very itchy, so that one wants to scratch oneself continuously. Sometimes there is also more severe swelling and redness. It can even swell the whole arm or leg. The reason for this is that foreign proteins get under the skin with the sting and cause allergic reactions of the body.
Insect bite poison
Among the symptoms and side effects or sting consequences is, for example, the well-known skin wheal (red swelling of the skin). Stinging insect bites are distinctly venomous, which is why, after all, a wasp sting leads to a more or less severe reaction. In the case of stinging trunk stings, vasodilating and sometimes also anticoagulant substances are injected into the human organism so that the insects can comfortably suck up blood. However, these substances are also foreign substances that lead to allergic reactions – often only after a few minutes, when the insect has long since flown away again. Individual insect bites can be harmless and quickly go away – especially if you do not scratch yourself. However, if a child’s entire legs are bitten by mosquitoes, this must already be considered a serious health disorder, because after all, it robs the child of sleep and makes him restless and unhappy in other ways as well.
Do not scratch after insect bite
If one scratches , there is a risk of secondary wound infection, which can cause difficult to heal suppuration or even blood poisoning. The stinging proboscis of the insect may also be contaminated with bacteria, so that even the mere sting is the beginning of a more or less severe inflammation. Not everyone reacts to insect bites in the same way, and it is not possible to determine with certainty the insect that caused the bite based on the sting effects alone. Individuals even react unusually sensitively – and then also usually particularly quickly – to very specific insect bites. Also, repeated stings of the same insect species with very toxic proteins, for example the wasp, at shorter intervals of a few days or weeks, can lead to an increase in sensitivity. As already mentioned, secondary infections with suppuration can occur due to scratching or soiled stinging proboscis of, for example, a gadfly. In such cases, the home remedies for soothing an insect sting, cooling compresses, ammonia, sugar placed on the sting site or soothing ointments are no longer sufficient. In this case, the doctor must be notified immediately.
Allergic reactions after wasp sting
Particularly great haste is required for wasp stings on dangerous parts of the body, such as the head or neck, because the venom can enter the bloodstream more quickly from here than from other parts of the body. The same applies to wasp or bee stings in the mouth, which cause more severe swelling and can thus lead to suffocation. Threatening signs are already a few minutes after the sting appearing dizziness and nausea or even bluish tinge of the body and face. In such a case, immediate help is necessary, possibly even hospitalization. Our largest wasp species, the hornet, is particularly dangerous. It has also happened that a single bee or wasp sting has caused the death of a person. However, it must be emphasized that a fatal outcome can only occur in unusually sensitive people with allergies, and until now it is still one of the exceptional cases. The counterpart of hypersensitive people are those who are practically insensitive or immune to insect bites. But even with them, quite different behavior can often be observed, because immunity by no means always extends to all parts of the body. In addition, it may be evident from a delayed sting reaction that may not appear for days. In addition, there is the possibility that immunity, the same is true for sensitivity, often refers only to a particular species of mosquito.
Protection against mosquito bites
Undoubtedly, ointments and sprays can protect you from nagging insects if you have to be in a mosquito-filled area. However, they are ultimately only a stopgap measure. But even for the so-called normal sensitive person, even quite ordinary mosquito bites can become such a nuisance that they call into question the recreation during a cure or through vacation or vacations. According to experience, there is a very typical case where young people camped for 14 days at the Baltic Sea and chose such an overgrown place that they had to spend the whole time in the tent because it was unbearable outside because of mosquitoes. Mosquito control is not always easy, however, and combating forest mosquitoes in particular requires extensive measures, for which it is usually already too late in the summer.An individual protection against mosquito bites is offered by liniments and mosquito sprays, whose effect, however, often lasts only a few hours. In the case of the so-called mosquito ointments and mosquito sprays, a distinction must be made between mosquito repellents and bite soothers. While the former contain deterrents and are intended to prevent mosquitoes from approaching or biting in the first place, the latter weaken the swelling and itching effect of a bite that has already occurred. There are also combined ointments and sprays that contain both types of active ingredients. So, undoubtedly, such ointments and sprays can protect you from tormenting insects when you have to stay in a mosquito rich area. However, they are ultimately only a stopgap measure. They may protect the individual, but they change nothing – absolutely nothing – about the mosquito plague in an area.
