Preventions And Remedies For Insect Bites And Stings
Insect bites can happen anytime and at any place which can cause either minor or major illnesses. Usual bites that we encounter came from ants, mosquitoes, cockroaches, ticks, bees and spiders. Although most of them don’t possess serious health threats, you must still be cautious about this little bugs and know different home remedies for immediate self treatment.
Most of these insects are active at night because they are some what allergic to sunlight. Warm weather is another factor that causes this bugs to be more active and much likely to have physical contact with humans. They are usually found in messy areas of the house like kitchen, garage and the garden.
Mosquito bites for example seems so harmless. But there are kinds of mosquitoes who are carriers of deadly viruses like the dengue virus and the West Nile virus. Meanwhile, a bee sting and a cockroach bite can only cause skin allergic reactions but severe cases of allergic reactions are highly possible and could be deadly.
Below are some of the known bite symptoms of outdoor insects and bugs.
- Itchiness
- Swelling of the skin
- Redness of the bite area
- Fever
- Chilling
- Allergic reactions
- Lyme disease
- Rashes
- Abdominal pain
- Muscle cramps
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Bacterial infections
To keep your household bug free and prevent frequent insect contact, you can restructure your house to ensure that it can effectively repel bugs. Use refined screens and netting in your windows and doors as defensive barriers for any types of bugs. Avoid walking in grass and stagnant areas of the house, spiders and other bug crawlers live in these areas.
Clean your backyard, garden, garage and your kitchen to avoid being colonized by different insects. All areas must stay dry at all times and keep the bad and stinky odors thoroughly. Bad odors can attract flies and other common house bugs.
To repel mosquitoes, use light colored shirts because mosquitoes hate objects that can make them visible. Wear long sleeves, hat and pants when outside the house, this can help avoid mosquito bites and bee sting. Don’t use too much perfumes and scented soaps, it can help attract bees.
Another simple prevention is to use insect repellent lotion. Apply lotion to your exposed skin when going out. Insect repellent lotions are very effective in repelling bugs but take extra care when applying to children. Don’t ever spread it to palms and places near the face because it might be inhaled which is bad for the health. Sprays are also ideal and best to apply it on clothes and not on the skin.
After returning home, it is highly recommended to wash your skin with soap and water to remove the harmful chemicals of insect repellent products.
Now there are different types of treatment for insect bites. Below are some tips on how to deal with insect bites.
- For bee sting, scrape the stinger away in a side to side motion with any straight edged object such as a knife. Be careful upon pulling the stinger, it might push the venom more into the sin. This are also effective for a tick bite.
- For other bug bites, a warm or hot bath can help ease the affected area. An insect bite is a spam like symptoms so hot water bath are more beneficial.
- Wash the affected area with antibacterial liquid soap and rinse thoroughly. The apply antiseptic ointments to reduce the risk of complications.
- Rub an aspirin tablet to the affected area to reduce the itching. Aspirin has anti-inflammatory properties which helps reduce inflammation and itchiness. Never apply this treatment to those who has allergic reactions to aspirin.
- Oral antihistamines such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can also provide itching and pain relief.
- Regular household products like salt and baking soda are effective in reducing the swelling of an insect bite. Dissolve both with water and make a paste like lotion to spread into the affected area.
- For spider and cockroach bites, wash the bite with soap and water and immediately apply antiseptic treatment. Ice pack can help slow the absorption of the venom. Most spider bites are not deadly except for black widow, brown recluse and tarantula spiders.
Take note that all this tips are general remedies for normal insect bites. Severe complications may occur with insect bites from black widow spider, brown recluse spider, scorpion and other poisonous insects. Immediate medical attention must be done once bitten. Time is important when dealing with bug stings and insect bites, so be cautious and take extra careful inside and out of your house. Serious diseases or even death can be prevented if you know the steps on how to prevent and treat this simple injuries.
Tags:
8 Responses Leave a comment