Treating Swelling and Allergic Reactions to Spider and Insect Bites

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

• What Are Insect Stings and Spider Bites?
• Insect and Spider Bite Symptoms
• Allergic Reactions to Stings and Bites

A sting happens when an insect injects venom into your skin. The venom travels through the bug’s stinger. 

If you get stung, you’ll feel pain. Your skin may turn red or swell at the site of the sting. In some cases, people who are allergic to the venom can have a life-threatening reaction. Doctors call this anaphylaxis.

Among the most common stinging insects are:

• Wasps (including hornets and yellow jackets)
• Bees
• Fire ants

An insect bite happens when a non-venomous bug pierces your skin and feeds on your blood. This may cause a bump (doctors call them “papules”) to form. The telltale sign is intense itching.

Examples of biting insects include:

• Mosquitoes
• Fleas
• Bedbugs
• Lice 

Ticks and some spiders also bite, but technically they are arachnids, not insects. Ticks feed on your blood, but spiders do not. Also, some spiders have venom.

You can have an allergic reaction to a bite. And bugs that carry disease pass it on through their bites. This is often the case with ticks (Lyme disease) and mosquitoes (malaria, Zika virus).

Most insect bites cause only minor irritation, with symptoms like swelling at the site of the bite or itching or burning. You might also feel numbness or tingling.

An insect bite happens when a non-venomous bug pierces your skin and feeds on your blood. A sting is what happens when an insect injects poison (venom) into your skin.

If you’ve been bitten by a venomous spider, you may notice any of the following:

• Intense pain at the site of the wound
• Stiffness or joint pain
• Muscle spasms
• Abdominal pain, nausea, or vomiting
• Fever or chills
• Difficulty breathing or swallowing
• A wound that spreads or turns into a sore (tissue around the wound might also die)
• Dizziness
• Difficulty speaking
• Convulsions

Insect stings and bites can cause severe allergic reactions. Doctors call this “anaphylaxis.” Rarely, a spider bite can cause an allergic reaction that doctors call “anaphylactic shock.” It can be fatal.

Call 911 if you have any of these symptoms:

• Rapid swelling of the lips, tongue, throat, or around the eyes
• Difficulty breathing
• Wheezing or hoarseness
• Severe itching, cramping, or numbness
• Dizziness
• A reddish rash or hives
• Stomach cramps
• Loss of consciousness

If you have any of these things and have epinephrine on hand, don’t hesitate to use it, even if you’re not sure your symptoms are caused by allergies. Using an auto-injector pen as a precaution won’t harm you.

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What you need to know about Skeeter Syndrome

Written by Irene Lopez

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on April 28, 2022

• What Is Skeeter Syndrome?
• Causes
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Prevention Tips
• Conclusion
• More

It’s common for a mosquito bite to cause a slight reaction on your skin. This reaction can worsen over the next 24 hours, but it usually gets better from then on, often clearing up within a week. 

More rarely, though, you may experience a more severe reaction called skeeter syndrome. Here’s what you need to know about this condition. 

Skeeter syndrome is diagnosed when you have a strong reaction to a mosquito bite. You may see a large area of swelling, soreness, redness, and itching or pain at the location of the bite. Such a reaction can develop within hours of the bite, and it may last for weeks. 

You may notice some redness and puffiness within a few minutes of the bite, followed by a red-brown bump showing up over the next two days. The bump is usually hard and itchy. Sometimes, you may get small blisters or small dark spots that look like an injury. 

You need to be in contact with a mosquito for at least six seconds for this type of reaction to take place.  

Skeeter syndrome is caused by the body’s reaction to polypeptides found in a female mosquito’s saliva. Polypeptides are chains of molecules called amino acids.

A female mosquito needs to feed on blood to produce eggs. Mosquitos use a mouthpart called a proboscis to pierce your skin and suck up the blood. While they suck blood, they also inject a small amount of saliva into your body because the saliva contains a substance that stops the blood from clotting. Male mosquitos don’t bite humans. 

Skeeter syndrome is rare, but some people are more likely to get it than others.

• Babies and children, as they have lower immunity. 
• Adults bitten by a species of mosquito they’ve not come in contact with before. Polypeptides can differ from one mosquito species to the next. A person can have Skeeter syndrome from getting bitten by one species but have no reaction to a bite from another species.
• People who have an immune system disorder. That’s the system that protects your body from infections. 

If you’ve had several mosquito bites, you become less sensitive to the saliva, so severe types of reactions like Skeeter syndrome are not very common.   

A large area of swelling, soreness, and redness with pain or itchiness is common in a severe reaction. In addition, you may become feverish. Skeeter syndrome symptoms can also include hives, a type of skin rash. Your lymph nodes, parts of your immune system, may also get swollen. 

Your primary care physician or doctor can assess whether you have skeeter syndrome by looking at the affected area on your skin. There is no blood test to check for the syndrome, so your doctor will usually arrive at their diagnosis after finding out if a mosquito has bitten you.

Your doctor will want to know your symptoms and how long you’ve been having them before they suggest a treatment plan. They will also check your medical history and ask about medicines, vitamins, supplements, and any other form of treatments you’re taking currently.

Skeeter syndrome treatment usually involves oral antihistamines and topical steroid creams.

Oral antihistamines are a class of drugs used to treat the symptoms of allergies. They are taken through the mouth. Topical steroid creams are creams, lotions, or ointments containing steroids that help fight inflammation in the body. These are to be applied to your skin near the site of the infection. Sometimes, your doctor may ask you to take oral steroids.

Avoid scratching your bites as that can lead to an infection. 

There are several different things you can do to help prevent mosquito bites: 

Use insect repellants. Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellants. As long as you follow the product label instructions, they should be safe and work well for pregnant and breastfeeding women. You will always want to follow the instructions, though, to ensure safe application.

An EPA registration can tell you that the repellent has had its effectiveness confirmed. It can be unclear how effective natural insect repellants or non-registered ones are.

Avoid using insect repellants containing oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or para-menthane-diol (PMD) on children under 3 years of age. Avoid applying insect repellent on your child’s hands, mouth, and eyes. You will also want to avoid applying it to any cuts or open infections that your child has.

Cover your body. Use long-sleeved tops and long pants to protect your body from bites. Thicker clothing can be harder for mosquitos to bite through.

Treat your wearables. Treat your clothes and even things like boots, mosquito nets, or the tents you’re sleeping in with a 0.5% solution of an insecticide called Permethrin. Permethrin can kill mosquitos on contact. You can also buy clothes that have been treated with Permethrin for when you’re traveling.

Avoid applying Permethrin directly on your skin.

Use mosquito nets and screen guards. Use mosquito nets in hotel rooms with no air conditioning or on occasions when you’re sleeping outside. Use protective screen guards for your doors and windows. Follow up with indoor pesticides if you’ve had mosquitos or use the services of a professional pest control professional.

Use air conditioning as much as possible when you’re indoors.

Manage areas that hold water. You may have water features or areas that hold water both inside and outside your home, like buckets, pools, flowerpots, birdbaths, or trash containers. Empty these containers once a week and clean and scrub them from the inside out.

Fill tree holes so they don’t get clogged with water. Also, repair cracks and holes in your septic tank if you have one. Cover open vents and plumbing pipes.

Clear out areas that are damp and humid like the inside of your closets, the space under your sinks, or your laundry room.

Skeeter syndrome is rare. Call your doctor if you suspect that you have skeeter syndrome or if your mosquito bite symptoms are getting worse. Follow best practices both indoors and outdoors to prevent mosquito bites and safeguard your health. 

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Bed bugs painlessly bite exposed skin at night and are rarely noticed by victims. Bites usually occur on the face, neck, and hands. Skin reactions to bed bug bites vary from person to person depending on their individual response. Some people do not react, and the only sign of a bite is a small dot. It has been observed that older people are less likely to experience skin reactions than younger people.

The classic appearance of a bug bite is an erythematous papule or blister 2-5 mm in size with a central hemorrhagic puncture. Itching is common.

Some patients have asymptomatic purple spots at bite sites. Bullous reactions sometimes occur. Sometimes bed bug bites can present as papular urticaria or mimic urticaria.

Skin reactions may occur on waking or one to several days after bites. Sometimes the skin reaction appears with a delay of up to 10 days.

The linear course of bites is often indicative of bedbug bites, but is not a strictly obligatory sign.

Bed bug bites usually disappear on their own within one week

Sometimes bed bug bites can become secondarily infected, causing impetigo or cellulitis, in which case see a doctor immediately. Treatment of such complications can take several weeks.

The most reliable sign of a bedbug bite is the presence of bedbugs in the victim’s environment. Most often, bedbugs live in cracks and crevices of mattresses, pillows, bed frames and other structures.

The causative agents of some diseases were found in bedbugs, such as hepatitis B virus resistant to methicillin, Staphylococcus aureus and others, however, clinical transmission of these diseases to humans has not been identified.

Appointment with a general practitioner

For more details, consult a qualified specialist at the Family Clinic.

To find out the prices for an appointment with a general practitioner or other questions, follow the link below:

Labels BitingTherapist

how they look on the human body with a photo and how to treat them

Bedbugs are quite tenacious and dangerous insects. Scientists have long proven that these blood-sucking parasites can be carriers of various infections, including brucellosis, tularemia, Chagas disease, and even hepatitis ¹ . Also, approximately 80% of people have allergic reactions to bedbug bites ¹ .

During the bite, the bug secretes an enzyme that prevents blood clotting, but you may not even feel the bite itself. This is due to the physiology of the creature: otherwise the bug runs the risk of being “caught”.

There is a strong opinion that bed bugs, including bed bugs, can appear in conditions of uncleanliness, among numerous dirty and unwashed things, and this is partly true. One of the common reasons for the appearance of these harmful insects is migration from already infected apartments. Bedbugs (or their larvae) can come to your house on neighbors, on their clothes, books, household items and animal hair (for example, street). So, if you find a bed bug in your house, this does not necessarily mean that you do not care enough about the order in the house. 9Bed bugs we breed they are most often found on old clothes, in unsanitary conditions, furniture, mattresses, bedding ² What bites look like usually in the form of a “path” of small red dots on the body How bedbug bites can be dangerous reactions to bedbug bites can be nausea, muscle spasms, severe itching, redness and peeling of the skin, fear of sleep

What bedbug bites look like on the human body?

Almost immediately after a bug bite, blisters, redness and swelling appear on the skin, which are accompanied by itching, irritation, swelling. Most often, bites can be found on the legs, shoulders, back, neck – they look like dense red dots up to 1 mm in diameter, which form a “track” ³ .

Photo: shutterstock.com

If scratched, bites can turn into large bright red and sometimes bleeding spots ³ . Also, traces of blood may remain on a person’s bed linen and clothing, coinciding with bite sites.

Bed bug bites. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org, Oliver Arend

How to treat bedbug bites

According to disinfectologist Nikolai Dubinin , bedbug bites are dangerous and painful, and also cause severe itching. To get rid of discomfort, you can apply something cold to the bite site, for example, ice. A compress with a solution of soda (about half a teaspoon per glass of water) is also suitable, or treat the bite site with an antihistamine cream or ointment, a special balm after bites ³ .

What are the consequences of bed bug bites?

Transmission of pathogens by bedbug bites is possible in theory in foci of infectious diseases, but in practice this has not yet been proven. Bed bug bites can be life-threatening and cause severe allergic reactions. After the bite, papules form, painful blisters that appear either immediately after the bite, or after 10-40 minutes. The severity of edema may increase, accompanied by severe itching and hyperemia.

Popular questions and answers

The most popular questions about bed bug bites are answered by sanitary doctor, epidemiologist, disinfectologist, pest control expert Nikolai Dubinin.

Who is most often bitten by bed bugs?

– Period of activity of parasites – at night. Most often, bed bugs bite people in bed, and turning on the light will not help to avoid bites. Given a choice, bed bugs will choose tender skin that is easier to bite through, such as women and children ² . However, this does not mean at all that bedbugs do not bite men. Bedbugs bite all people, regardless of gender and age.

Bed bugs also prefer drunk people. The fact is that under the influence of alcohol, the human body releases more sweat and hormones that attract attention and whet the appetite of insects.

How many times does a bug bite a night?

– Bed bug bites are popularly called “breakfast, lunch and dinner” because they bite exactly three times. But there is more. If there is only one bite, most likely it was not an adult that bit, but a larva, which needs a smaller amount of blood to saturate.

Who doesn’t get bitten by bed bugs?

– Bed bugs choose a host with thinner and smoother skin, however, they bite absolutely all warm-blooded.

How to treat bedbug bites?

– Treatment after bedbug bites is prescribed depending on the clinical condition of the patient. Local allergic reactions can be treated on an outpatient basis, with the appointment of local or general therapy. The bite site is cooled, topical glucocorticosteroid agents are used, including combined ones, which contain an antibiotic and an antifungal agent. Such drugs help reduce itching, increase swelling and prevent the spread of infection.

How to protect yourself from bedbug bites?

– If you are a victim of bedbugs in your home, the best option to get rid of them once and for all is to have the entire room professionally disinfected. You need to disinfect the house, even if you find only one insect, because they multiply quite quickly. In addition, essential oils will help scare away bedbugs (they can be applied to the body before going to bed), perfume lotions with a pronounced aroma.

To prevent your home from becoming attractive to small parasites, it is recommended to regularly check furniture, mattresses, things for the presence of insects, monitor the condition of pets (especially those who are most often on the street), carry out regular wet cleaning in the house, be sure to move furniture, because you may not know about the presence of bedbug nests.

In addition, bedbugs do not like high temperatures (over 60°C), so upholstered furniture can be steamed regularly.

Sources:

1. Roslavtseva SA Modern distribution of bed bugs in the world (literature review) // Hygiene and sanitation. 2020. №3. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sovremennoe-rasprostranenie-postelnyh-klopov-v-mire-obzor-literatury
2. Bed bugs.