No matter how small fleas are, they bite very painfully. Even relatively large compared with them insatiable bugs, and they do not cause such sensations, which are able to deliver small jumping bloodsuckers.
Scientists have long figured out why flea bites are so painful and visible on the human body: it turns out that these parasites do not inject an analgesic into the wound when they are bitten. It is because of this natural analgesic that the bites of ticks and bedbugs are felt only after some time, during which the parasite has already managed to get enough blood and escape. But the fleas are not at all disguised: they do not seem to worry about going unnoticed.
As it turned out, the reason for this - in the high invulnerability of fleas for their victims. Indeed, neither the dog, nor the cat, nor any other animal can catch the tiny parasite in the fur (although they try).
And a person, even having caught a flea, can crush it only thanks to the nails - the fleas have a very strong chitinous cover that protects the insect from mechanical pressure. So these bloodsuckers do not worry about going unnoticed, and therefore their bites are painful - nature has not laid the mechanism for masking the bite process as superfluous.
Flea bites on a person have characteristic symptoms, thanks to which one can determine their cause without even finding the parasites themselves.
Appearance and symptoms of flea bites
Flea bite externally looks the same as most insect bites: slight redness with compacted swelling. The very place of puncture of the skin on it is usually not visible due to the very small size of the hole and the elasticity of the skin.
But here a slight hemorrhage is noticeable. It is for this reason that insect bites on nature excursions or hiking trips are often confused with irritations from various piercing plants.
The following photo shows the characteristic fresh marks from flea bites, and even lower - a photo of bites in a few hours:
What the flea bites look like, it is possible to consider in detail in a few more photos:
Of the flea species that often bite humans, the least pronounced traces of bites are left by cat fleas. The bites of cat fleas in humans usually stop itching within an hour, and redness in their place disappears in one to two days.
The most pronounced symptoms of flea bites on a person are the following signs:
- sharp stabbing pain at the bite itself - it creates the feeling that it is an ordinary medical syringe at the site of the bite;
- a strong itch after a bite, more pronounced than an itch after a mosquito bite;
- dislocation of bites: insects bite mainly on the legs to the knee, and only attacking a sleeping person, they reach the armpits;
- characteristic series of bites - often one insect bites in a row in several places located at a distance of 1-2 cm one from another.
The photo below shows a characteristic series of flea bites:
By the last sign, flea and bedbug bites are similar to each other, and for this reason many tourists confuse the bites of these insects with each other. However, a fleet of bites is characteristic of fleas, and even then they can be noticed only after a night attack by parasites: few of the travelers in the mind will suffer two bites in a row.For bed bugs, however, longer paths of numerous bites on the body are more characteristic.
Feedback
“I would never have known that I was bitten by fleas if I hadn’t looked at the photos of guys from another hiking group. I thought it tingled my nettles, and only then drew attention to a few bites in line. Indeed, so bite or fleas, or bugs. But we lived only in tents on a campaign, and there was no place for bugs in them to take. I never thought before, what flea bites are painful. They really itch more than nettle burns. ”
Ilya, Sevastopol
It is interesting
Depending on the type of insect, flea bites look different. Feline and rat parasites are very small and their bites resemble a small rash, often confused with an allergy to plants. But the bite of fleas, parasitic on ungulates, cause painful swelling, comparable to those of bee stings.
Most often a person bites human flea. It leaves a red swelling about the size of a cigarette burn at the bite site.
On a note
Species such as home flea or bed fleascience does not know. Under such a collective name in the people usually understand any members of the family who may be in the dwelling of a person - an apartment, house or temporary house.And the symptoms of the bites of these parasites will be those that are characteristic of a particular species.
The numerous bites of human fleas often lead to a generalized reaction of the body, considered by physicians as a separate skin disease.
Pathogenesis of the body's reaction to bites
The main effects of flea bites on humans are associated with the toxic effect of enzymes injected by the parasite into the wound with saliva. The main task of these enzymes is to prevent blood coagulation. As a result, after injecting saliva into the wound, the blood in a thin stream, almost by gravity, fills the insect's stomach.
Due to the elasticity of the human skin after the flea detaches from the bite, the walls of the hole made by it are pressed against each other, and the blood from the bite does not flow. However, a pinpoint hemorrhage may occur under the skin, and a small hemorrhage forms at the site of the bite.
On a note
If flea bites on a small area of the skin are too many, abundant small hemorrhages can cause purpura with all the consequences.
The first few hours on the site of the bite keeps a noticeable blister, which quickly resolves.Micro-bleeding remains under the skin for a long time, and for a few days a bitten person can walk with traces of bites.
Different people have different sensitivity to flea bites. In some, itching and swelling at the site of the bite disappears within half an hour, while others may develop skin changes at the site of the bite: hardening, hardening, prolonged redness.
The combination of these symptoms is called pulicosis, a dermatological disease caused solely by flea bites. The characteristic type of pulykozny irritations can be seen in the following photo:
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“I have a strange reaction to the fleas. Their bites do not even blush - only small dots remain where the insect has bitten. But it is only a little to scratch this place, as a huge stain of 20 centimeters in diameter appears sharply, very dense and red. And itching, infection. Five minutes if you do not touch it, it passes ... "
Alyona, Minsk
Characteristically, the cause of the puliosis is almost always the human flea. But the bites of cat fleas, most often even in children pass quickly and without a trace.
On a note
Fleas have no preference in terms of what kind of person to bite.As a rule, they attack the first one. And the belief that insects bite those with thinner skin is wrong. It's just that people with denser and harder skin often do not notice their bites at all. There is a theory that fleas are more likely to attack people whose skin is thinner and the smell of blood in blood vessels is felt better by insects. But there is no experimental evidence for such an assumption.
Sometimes, puliosis can develop into complex dermatitis. However, this development is extremely rare and is characteristic only for cases of permanent and abundant lesions. In rare cases, and usually only when insects have very numerous insects, young children may experience anemia and changes in the composition of the blood.
Even more serious and usually requiring treatment is the body's allergic reaction to flea bites. But it is worth talking about it separately.
Allergic to flea bites
An allergic reaction is caused by insect saliva, which is rich in special enzymes. Such a reaction develops when a person is more sensitive to flea bites or insects in general.
On a note
Most often, allergies to flea bites are affected by children under the age of 12 years.It is they who can be signaled by the fact that there are these insects in the house: adults can regularly be bitten in a dream, but not feel them. The photo shows a skin area on the foot of a baby bitten by fleas:
The most common symptoms of flea bite allergy are:
- increase in body temperature to + 40 ° С
- anxiety
- respiratory complications
- fever
- diarrhea.
In the case of human hypersensitivity to insect bites, anaphylactic shock may develop.
If there are signs of allergy, you must immediately see a doctor. Antihistamines and sedatives are usually prescribed in these cases, and analgesics and sedatives are given for exacerbated itching.
Possible complications after flea bites
But even allergies and pulicosis are not the worst consequences of flea bites. The most dangerous are the diseases whose pathogens are borne by these parasites.
For example, the most widespread epidemic in the history of mankind, which decimated one third of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages — the epidemic of bubonic plague — arose precisely because of fleas that sailed to Italian ports on ships in the fur of rats.
Today, natural populations of rodents - gerbils, gophers and jerboas - are the main natural reservoirs of the causative agent of the plague, and it is the parasites on these animals that parasites can transfer a terrible infection from animals to humans.
In the photo - a small jerboa, the main carrier of the plague in Central Asia:
No less dangerous are other infectious agents carried by fleas:
- pathogens of salmonella and tularemia
- rickettsia - causative agents of typhus
- encephalitis virus
- trypanosomes
- anthrax spores.
A total of up to 200 pathogens of deadly diseases, scientists have identified on those or other types of fleas. Given that these species themselves in everyday life are practically indistinguishable from each other, the bitten person can never know what kind of infection he will pick up with the next parasite.
It is very important in no case to comb the flea bites. If the skin is damaged and the canal is opened, through which the parasite feeds, there is a risk of secondary infection of the wound by infection.
Most often, the scratched wounds start to fester and cause even more painful sensations than bites by themselves. Instead of such combing, it is much more sensible to immediately treat damages caused by insects.
How to handle flea bites
In order to maximally disinfect flea bites and reduce pain when they appear, it is necessary:
- Wipe bites with warm water and antiseptic soap;
- in case of severe damage, blot the bite area with an aqueous solution of vinegar or citric acid;
- lubricate the bites with antiseptic lotion or gel. Great Boro Plus or Calamine Lotion;
- in case of severe itching, to treat the bite sites with Hydrocortisone - it helps to relieve pain.
But the main recipe for getting rid of flea bites is the removal of the parasites themselves from the apartment or house and the prevention of their bites in nature. Both the one and the other task today can be successfully solved even by a non-specialist, and such an approach will most reliably protect oneself against flea bites.
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My husband and I went to the village to visit his parents and stayed with them for three days. For three days I was bitten by these fleas so much that there was no living place on my legs. I went to your page and looked at how to get rid of fleas and bites. They have not gotten rid of fleas yet, but vinegar water has helped with bites. Thank you that you are, and with your help we can take everything useful for yourself! ))
I had some bites, and I thought at first that the mosquito had bitten and that was all. And my cat recently walked, left for 3 days and I was worried. And today I saw - the bite became bigger and redder. My mom thinks my cat picked up fleas and a flea bit me. I do not know what to do, I worry.
We must wait until the knob jumps up to see the place of the bite. Then squeeze it like a pimple. You will see nothing that will leak out, but apparently, it is this saliva that is squeezed out and itching stops.
I was bitten by fleas and I'm allergic, what to do, I tried everything, nothing helps ((
From allergies every evening one tablet of the drug Loratadin.
I went to the basement for a cat, ran away, could not find him. Went around five houses, and since it was hot, she wore shorts. I came home, the cat never returned, I did not find it. But all the legs up to the knee and the hands to the elbow were combed, it turned out, fleas. I did not know that it was impossible to scratch, now I suffer, I can not undress and go out in a short T-shirt. All the legs and arms in blisters and pimples, a nightmare. It also itches after a few days, just touch it.
Margot and I went to the sea. All days they drank wine, lost themselves, nightmare. When we woke up on Friday, we noticed that terrible points began to appear on our body. Oh god, scary. And in the sea leeches and bitches. Our legs and arms began to take on an inhuman appearance, but also to go home, fear. What to do? That's bad luck 🙁 Help people, what to do?
Fleas from the apartment can be removed with the help of herbs. It is necessary to wipe the entire floor with a strong tincture. Wake up the grass around the perimeter of the baseboards. The next day will be "clean." The list of herbs: wormwood, tansy, eucalyptus, geranium, clove, lavender, juniper, pine and other conifers, thyme, essential oils of walnut, camphor, aloe, mint.
From flea bites well helps sinaflana ointment. I smeared the dog when she brought. There were huge scratching on the stomach, after three days the crusts had gone and that was all. She did not lick her, because bitter ointment. I haven't tried it myself, but the reviews are good.
I got a family of cats in the basement. I live on the second floor. When I leave and come home from work, the cats scurry up the stairs like madmen, run to me, sleep under the door. Once I came in the evening, I went to bed. In the morning I wake up, itch all. I see that someone bit. The bites look like this: small redness with a small hole, and they do not itch so much straight as they say here. In short, I smeared it with brilliant green, washed in the shower, washed some clothes and bed-clothes. But the bites continued to appear. Once before bed, I saw that a black dot was sitting on my leg - I slapped it (barely), looked at it better.Taurus length of 1 mm, such a long. I still doubt that this is a flea, because apart from her, we have midges in our apartment, but why then was she so bored? Help friends! I do not want to get infected!
Camphor alcohol is good for flea bites. Always in the first-aid kit. Lubricate every day for five days.
Onions need to smear bites. Itching quickly passes.
Our two cats are 7 years old, and never had any fleas from them, and the neighbors did too. And this year, some kind of guard: the neighbour's cat went berserk, covered with sores, they wanted to clean up already, but smeared the nape - and that was all. And now I'm sitting in bites, the cat itches, the bites itch. Nightmare! I pulled wormwood into the house, spread it out, waiting for the result ... I read who got rid of the bites with what, thank you. I will smear everything! Or maybe this is a favorable year for fleas, our summer began only in the middle of August ...
And what vinegar is needed, how many percent?