‘Many creatures, including humans, bite when frightened or provoked,” notes The Merck Manual of Medical Information. “Bites may cause injuries ranging from superficial scratches to extensive wounds and often become infected with bacteria from the mouth of the biting creature.”
“Bites often result in redness and swelling in the injured area,” points out Dr. Charles Patrick Davis in an article published by www.emedicinehealth.com. “Sometimes a bite can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction or transmit pathogens [viruses, bacteria or parasites] to humans.”
Most insect bites are from arthropods, those living creatures that live primarily on land and have six legs. They dominate the present-day land fauna. They represent about three-fourths of known animal life. In fact, the actual number of living species is not known and is estimated to be over 10 million.
The orders that contain the greatest numbers of species are: Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) and Diptera (true flies). However, the majority of people lump insects, arthropods and anything small that bites a “bug” or an insect.
Bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and fire ants are members of the Hymenoptera family. “Bites or stings from these species may cause serious reactions in people who are allergic to them,” Davis writes. “Death from bee stings is three to four times more common than death from snake bites. Bees, wasps and fire ants differ in how they inflict injury.”
According to Davis, bites from mosquitoes are not defensive. Actually, “mosquitoes are looking to get blood for a meal,” he says. “Typically, most mosquitoes do not cause significant illnesses or allergic reactions unless they convey ‘vectors’, or pathogenic microorganisms that actually live within the mosquitoes.”
For instance, malaria is caused by an organism that spends part of its life cycle in a particular species of mosquitoes. Dengue fever virus is another disease spread by a mosquito.
The response to a bite from insects is variable and depends on a variety of factors, according to Davis. Most bites result in pain, swelling, redness and itching to the affected area; some may blister. The skin may be broken and become infected.
“The bite should be cleaned and an ointment containing a combination of antihistamine, an analgesic, and a corticosteroid may be applied to relieve itching, pain and inflammation,” the Merck manual suggests.
“People with multiple bites can take an antihistamine by mouth,” the Merck manual adds. “People allergic to bite should seek medical attention immediately or use an emergency kit containing a preloaded syringe of epinephrine.”
Although insect bites rarely require medical attention, they are bothersome. The second edition of The Doctors Book of Home Remedies provides these tried-and-true ways to squash the pain:
- Treat it like a tough steak. Rubbing on a meat tenderizer containing papain can take pain out of that bite, says Dr. Arthur Jacknowitz, professor and chairman of clinical pharmacy at West Virginia University School of Pharmacy. “The best way is to make a paste with water and the meat tenderizer and apply it directly on the bite area as soon as possible,” he says. For severe itching and swelling, however, he suggests calamine lotion.
- Get help from your kitchen. For a variety of household itch and pain reducers, Dr. Claude Frazier, an allergist in Asheville, North Carolina, recommends those that come from the kitchen cabinets. “You can make a paste by mixing table salt with water and applying it to the bite,” he says. Another way: Place ice packs wrapped in towels on the area for 10 minutes.
- Clean the bite thoroughly. Flies and mosquitoes can spread disease. So to prevent further infection, Frazier suggests washing the bite throughout with soap and water and applying an antiseptic.
- Start relying on thiamine. People who have diets high in thiamine (vitamin B1) report fewer insect bites than others. “That’s because the vitamin gives off an odor when you perspire that is unattractive to insects but undetectable to humans,” says Dr. John Yunginger, professor and pediatrics consultant at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Good source of thiamine includes whole grains, organ meats and brewer’s yeast.
- Don’t hold the onion. Consuming a lot of onions or garlic is a nutritious way to help keep bugs away. “Eat a couple of raw onions daily during the summer, or use a lot of garlic in your cooking, and mosquitoes and other insects will usually avoid you,” says Dr. Jerome Z. Litt, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s because, like thiamine, both these heart-healthy food give off an unpleasant odor to insects when you perspire.
- Apply lotion on your skin. Some skin lotions are effective insect repellant. “People report good luck at keeping insects away when they apply lotion on their skin before going outside,” says Dr. Philip Koechler, an entomologist at the US Department of Agriculture Laboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
- Dress down. Bees aren’t the only pests attracted to brightly-colored clothing and perfumes. Dressing in more subdued colors—khaki and white in particular—and not wearing fragrances can help keep insects away, Koechler says.
- Use Vicks VapoRub. Apply strong-smelling Vicks VapoRub to your skin is another way to keep pests away, suggest Dr. Herbert Luscombe, professor emeritus of dermatology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.