Beware biting flies and chiggers

Posted 7/10/19

Many of us enjoy outdoor activities.

But do you know which insects are harmful? 

Horse flies, deer flies and black flies all can bite. 

Horse flies are large, and the …

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Beware biting flies and chiggers

Posted

Many of us enjoy outdoor activities.
But do you know which insects are harmful? 
Horse flies, deer flies and black flies all can bite. 
Horse flies are large, and the females bite animals and humans. They are active during the day. 
Deer fly bites are painful and can carry the infections disease Tularemia. Also called rabbit fever or deer fly fever, Tularemia is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis.
It can be treated with antibiotics such as Streptomycin or Gentamicin, which are injected directly into a muscle or vein. 
Depending on the type of Tularemia, doctors may prescribe oral antibiotics such as Doxycycline instead. 
Another biting insect is chiggers. They are a type of mite and so small in size – about 0.3 mm – you can only see them with a magnifying glass.
Only the babies bite. They are active when the ground is between 77 to 86 degrees. That’s most of the year for us in Lexington County and South Carolina. 
Once a chigger bites, they can stay attached to your skin for days.
They attach to clothing and crawl around until they find a patch of skin to feed on. In a few hours, you will begin to itch. 
You will develop reddish skin that has bumps almost like hives or blisters. 
If you see tiny red dots on your skin, take a bath and scrub with soap and water. 
Use hot water to wash clothing and anything that they could be still attached to. 
You may use calamine lotion or a hydrocortisone cream. You may even need an antibiotic if the bites are severe enough. Chigger bites heal in 1-2 weeks.
Natural oils which repel chiggers are citronella, tea tree, jojoba, geranium or lemon grass.
Next week: Discovering healthy trails

health wanted, biting flies, chiggers

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