In the article presented to your attention, we will talk about ectoparasites. The blood of warm-blooded animals is a natural food for the designated representatives of wildlife.
Blood-sucking insects are arranged in such a way that, depending on the conditions of existence, they look for an object to attack by the smell of skin secretions, body temperature or appearance.
We meet with bloodsucking insects both outside the house and on the street: in the forest we are attacked by midges - mosquitoes, midges, ticks, gadflies and horseflies, and at home - bedbugs, lice and fleas.
In this material, we tried to cover in detail the means of protection against blood-sucking insects, to talk about the danger that our he alth is exposed to if we ignore dangerous parasites or demonstrate resistance to their bites.
Itching, which is caused by the bites of blood-sucking insects, is explained by the presence in their saliva of special enzymes that thin the blood and prevent it from clotting. In some people, it provokes allergic reactions, even death. Most often, the bite site swells and itches, that is, it itches.
Blood-sucking insects often become carriers of dangerousdiseases - plague, encephalitis, typhoid fever, malaria and others.
Protection against bloodsucking in nature
When going to the forest or to the lake in the summer, you must always have a bottle of insect repellent with you. Gnus is a general term for all diptera blood-sucking insects that live among grass, trees and shrubs.
Pharmacies offer a wide range of the most diverse and effective insecticides and repellents that repel blood-sucking insects, for example, DETA, Repekul, Benzphthalat, Taiga, Benzimine, which have proven themselves for a long time and are excellent. Solarol and others. They are available in the form of aerosols, ointments, emulsions and lotions. However, the effect of all drugs is short-lived. After about an hour, depending on various factors, the smell subsides and the insects start attacking again. The difference between insecticides and repellents is that the former destroy insects and are extremely toxic, while the latter only repel gnats.
Despite the fact that chemicals are very convenient and effective, not all of them are equally safe - most of them contain the poison dimethyl phthalate. This substance is strictly contraindicated for small children and pregnant women. For this category of people, it is better to use natural oils of clove, camphor, anise or lavender.
Smell of vanilla against midges
Sweet and delicate aroma of vanilla is pleasant to our sense of smell, but completely unbearable by midges. Prepare the vanilla solution and pour it into a spray bottle. Occasionallyspray the liquid on yourself and on the child, and no diptera will encroach on you.
Even synthetic vanillin, sold in grocery stores in the baking spice section, will do. Dissolve one sachet in hot water and pour into a bottle. It is very simple and convenient.
You can also make a solution from natural vanilla. To do this, cut the pod and scrape out the seeds along with the inner pulp. Then place the seeds with pulp in boiling water and put in a water bath. After half an hour, remove from heat and put in a warm place to infuse. After two hours, the solution will be ready for use. A glass of water requires 6-8 pods. The disadvantage of this tool is its color - it is very dark and leaves marks on clothes. This infusion is recommended for adding to the bath while bathing the child. A baby smelling of vanilla can sleep peacefully in a stroller on a balcony or in a garden - mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects will not even fly up to him, let alone bite.
Mokrets
These tiny vampires are carriers of tularemia, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and filariasis. Midge midge is the smallest (from 1 to 4 mm) of the blood-sucking insects found in Russian latitudes. Especially a lot of them in the taiga forests and tundra. There were cases when small midges ate a slightly tipsy person who fell asleep among the trees to death.
The blood of warm-blooded animals is food for sexually mature females. Since all phases of the development of biting midges are carried out in water, those who are most likely to become a victim of their biteslocated near fresh water bodies with stagnant water.
Repellents and vegetable oils with a strong and pungent aroma repel midges very effectively. When choosing a victim, midges are guided by the smell of skin secretions.
The bite of these blood-sucking representatives is quite painful, since the midges do not pierce the skin, as mosquitoes do with a long proboscis, but bite through with jaws that look like two sharp stilettos.
Mosquito
Mosquitoes of all stages of development, except adults, pass in the fresh water of lakes, ponds and swamps. In humid forests and tundra, there is no other salvation from them than repellents and protective mosquito nets. It is interesting that the mosquito feeds on human blood, and not the male mosquito. Komariha, that is, the female, drinks blood to carry out the reproductive function, while the male receives food only from the juice of plants.
Essential oils of clove, anise and camphor repel all bloodsuckers, including mosquitoes. You can make a mixture of several different oils. You will get excellent and safe protection against mosquitoes and other bloodsucking animals hunting nearby.
When you go out into nature, don't forget to take a bottle of the mixture with you to use several times. As we said above, after an hour or less, the smell applied to the skin weakens, and flying blood-sucking insects begin to attack again.
Female mosquitoes make a characteristic thin sound. When there are especially many mosquitoes, an incessant rumble is heard in the air. They are especially fierce in hot weather before the rain. Bites quickly become inflamed, andskin swells. No matter how itchy the wound, you can’t comb it - it will only itch even more, and blood poisoning can occur. Pharmacy "Psilo-balm", "Fenistil" and butadione ointment, as well as an aqueous solution of drinking soda help to quickly relieve irritation.
Mosquitoes are active mainly from May to October, but it happens that the mosquito family settles in warm and damp basements of residential buildings. Then there is no escape from their squeak and bites even in winter.
If the midge lives no longer than three dozen days, then mosquitoes born at the end of summer, after 1-2 months, with the onset of cold weather, fall into diapause, from which they emerge with the onset of heat.
Mosquito-borne diseases include certain types of encephalitis, malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and lymphatic filariasis. The most dangerous in this regard are females that have undergone diapause.
Long-term protection against mosquitoes is, first of all, the elimination of their breeding centers located near human habitation. Such measures include: draining small stagnant reservoirs and swamps, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in basements, and the active use of insecticides.
The fight against blood-sucking insects is also possible using environmentally friendly methods, in particular, the colonization of reservoirs with mosquito larvae-eating mosquito larvae, planting eucalyptus trees along the banks and breeding certain types of gram-positive, spore-forming soil bacteria, which are insecticidal food for mosquito larvae, midges and mosquitoes.
Gidfly and gadfly
Measures of protection against horseflies and gadflies are the same as against any gnat. The same repellents, the same ointments and fragrances.
The bite of a horsefly is very painful and allergenic. You can quickly remove swelling and itching with an aqueous solution of baking soda.
Another good remedy for the effects of bites is a mash of glycerin, alcohol iodine and ammonia. You need to mix 40 g of iodine and alcohol, add 60 g of glycerin and shake. When the mixture discolors, the drug that relieves swelling and itching is ready. It will not scare away the insect, but it will alleviate the condition of the bitten and neutralize the effect of the anticoagulant injected into the wound. Shake the bottle before use as glycerin tends to flake off and sink to the bottom.
Gadflies, unlike horseflies, do not drink blood, but lay eggs under the skin of warm-blooded animals. Having bitten through a small hole, the female lays eggs in it, from which larvae emerge, feeding on the blood and tissues of a mammal. Fortunately, on the territory of our country, gadflies attacking a person are not so common. Our gadflies are more dangerous for livestock - sheep, goats, cows, etc. A well-fed and he althy animal is rarely bitten. As a rule, gadflies attack weak and sick individuals when they go down to the reservoir to drink water, or sleep in the open air.
Gidflies infect animals with tularemia and anthrax, and gadflies with myiasis.
Gadflies and horseflies cannot stand the smell of birch tar, black elderberry, anise, cloves and kerosene.
Deer fly
Deer fly, also known as elk fly, bloodsucker fly, deer tick, elk louse and elk tick. The population of this blood-sucking is directly related to the number of deer and elk, although it parasitizes not only on them, but also on smaller animals - foxes, badgers, dogs and others, even on birds. She does not shy away from human blood. In our country, the bloodsucker fly prefers the European regions to the Urals. It is she who is the carrier of such a dangerous livestock disease as anthrax.
Deer flies choose their prey based on movement. They only attack adults. Small children may not be afraid of them. The hunting season is autumn, and only when the weather is dry and calm.
A bloodsucker remains a fly until it clings to the victim's skin with its prickly paws. Immediately after that, she sheds her wings and becomes like a tick. It is very difficult to tear it away from the body, but it is necessary to do this, since after one individual a representative of the opposite sex arrives in order to settle on the found victim and lay eggs. The first 30-60 minutes, blood-sucking insects crawl, looking for the most secluded place with close blood vessels, and only after that they start eating.
Bloodfly bites are invisible, but they are sharp and painful, and itching does not appear until the second day. At the same time, a small hard papule appears on the affected area, which lasts for two to three weeks.
The best protection against bloodsucker flies is special clothing with a headdress, as well as appropriaterepellents.
Tick
Forest ixodid ticks are especially dangerous for residents of most regions of Russia. Although their bites are not painful, they are carriers of a host of serious illnesses - Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis, hemorrhagic fever and borreliosis.
Insect activity is sharply increased from late spring to hot summer days and autumn to frost.
Ticks hide in tall grass and jump on clothes. They move from bottom to top, looking for open areas of the body, so trousers should be tucked into socks, and a shirt should be tucked into the belt. Long sleeves and a collar should be buttoned up, and a headscarf or hood, or both is better.
It's not easy to spot a tick. It is very small - up to 2 mm, but on light-colored clothes it is clearly visible as a black spot.
When going to the forest, it is necessary to treat the skin and clothes with a special repellent against ticks, and then, after about an hour, repeat the procedure.
When you return home, it is advisable to immediately examine yourself. Favorite places of insects are behind the ears, in the groin, under the armpits and on the back of the head.
If a tick is found, it is required to remove it as soon as possible without tearing off the head. It is in the salivary glands that pathogenic bacteria are contained.
The tick is pulled out with special tweezers or a thread loop.
Currently, forests and places of popular recreation are treated with special means against ticks before the start of the summer season, so when going to nature, try to stay close to places equipped fortourists, and do not walk far from the paved paths.
Ticks annoy not only people, but also animals. After each walk, carefully inspect your pets for ticks. Against the attack of blood-sucking animals, a few drops of the Bars universal remedy are applied to the withers and along the spine. It is considered one of the best against fleas and ticks.
Popular folk remedies for home bloodsuckers
In residential buildings there are the following representatives of blood-sucking insects: bed bugs, lice and fleas. Note that it is quite difficult to get rid of these parasites.
First, because they are most active at night and attack unnoticed, most often when a person is sleeping.
Second, because they are very small and have a protective coloration.
Third, they are arranged by nature itself so that without a person or his warm-blooded pet (cat, dog, budgerigar, etc.) they cannot exist - the instinct of procreation pushes them to human habitation.
Fourthly, some of them can live in basements and attics, entering the apartment only to drink blood, and then get out.
Hence the conclusion - it is extremely difficult to defeat bedbugs, fleas and lice. It is easier and more correct to prevent their appearance in the apartment at all. How to do it?
For centuries, our ancestors used various herbs to repel insects. The smell of wild rosemary, wormwood, tansy, chamomile, lavender is hated by parasites, so it was advised to lay out flowers, leaves and branches under sheets and mattressesthese plants.
Home hygiene was maintained by adding natural or synthetic vinegar, s alt, herbal decoctions to the water for dusting.
Even incantation of the dwelling and other witchcraft rituals were practiced, for example, they collected harmful insects that settled in the house and threw them into the coffin of the deceased or onto the ice floe during freezing. It was believed that after the brothers, the rest of the domestic blood-sucking insects would leave the dwelling.
Bed bug
In relation to the spread of any disease, bed bugs are beyond suspicion. However, they should be feared because of the great discomfort that they create for people living in the territory they have chosen. Adult bed bugs and their larvae feed on human blood. They do not encroach on animals, as thick hair makes it difficult to get close to the skin. Small children are most often at risk, if there are any in the house. If they don't, then everyone else. It all depends on the size of the bedbug population and their appetite.
During the night, the bug feeds repeatedly. It crawls over the human body, leaving characteristic bite paths. After the anticoagulant he injected wears off, the wounds begin to itch.
With the onset of morning, the bug hides in the junction of furniture parts, in bedding, books, slots in electrical appliances and other hard-to-reach places.
If you don't know what bed bugs look like, you might not notice them. These insects look like flat brown peas. The photo shows what the bugs look like, but this is a strong increase. Re altheir size is up to 4 mm. It is very difficult to understand that this is an insect, and not just a dirty spot. Neither head nor paws are visible. A blood-fed bug greatly increases in size.
It's hard to get rid of bed bugs. Even leaving the apartment for a long time is unlikely to help, since these bloodsuckers are able to fall into suspended animation for several months and wake up with the return of their owners.
The natural enemies of bedbugs are domestic cockroaches, but it's up to you to decide whether to start them or not.
To prevent bedbugs from settling in the apartment, it is necessary to observe strict hygiene of the home - regularly carry out wet cleaning, vacuuming, boiling and ironing bedding, as bedbugs love to lay their eggs in the folds of sheets, duvet covers, pillowcases and mattresses. In wardrobes and beds, it is desirable to lay out fresh herbs every year - wild rosemary, wormwood, tansy, calamus, wheatgrass roots and pyrethrum chamomile. If at least one bug is found, all items in the room should be treated as soon as possible with ammonia, vinegar, turpentine, kerosene, acetone or denatured alcohol. Domestic blood-sucking insects cannot stand these smells. They also do not tolerate sunlight, so try to bring pillows and mattresses to the balcony more often in the summer. If at least one bug has appeared, then during such an assault, it will not linger in your house, let alone leave offspring, but will look for another, more peaceful haven.
Bedbugs get into apartments along with furniture, books, things brought from vacation, etc. Ifthere were bedbugs in the hotel, it is likely that they will get into suitcases and bags. In addition, bedbugs also enter apartments through ventilation openings.
Lice
You can catch lice in any public place - on a bus, on a train, at work, in a hotel, etc. However, getting rid of these bloodsuckers is not as difficult as bedbugs or fleas.
Three types of ectoparasites - the head, pubic (flat) and clothes louse, cannot live without a person and without his blood. A few days of starvation are enough, and adults die. Another thing is their larvae, nits. They may not develop into the adult stage for a month, but under favorable conditions they turn into adults in 5 days.
Lice, or pediculosis, is a disease of the poor, the so-called social. The reason is that lice are a consequence of non-compliance with the rules of personal hygiene. Dirty clothes worn without a change, an unclean body are two factors that contribute to the development of head lice. Epidemics of typhus and relapsing fever are due precisely to lice, which carried infected blood from infected people to he althy people.
Adult louse (her photograph is in front of you) does not exceed 4 mm. Nits are 4 times smaller. Nits attach themselves to hair or fabric fibers.
Lice and their larvae cannot tolerate temperatures below -22 degrees Celsius and above +44, so they are removed from clothes by boiling or ironing with a hot iron.
Lice is removed from the hair with both folk and pharmacy remedies. For young children from 4 years old, Spinosad is recommended, adults are shownIvermectin and Permethrin. The last two destroy not only lice, but also other ectoparasites, including fleas.
The pubic, body and head louse that parasitizes a person (a photo of hair infected with nits is presented in our article) does not come into contact with domestic and wild animals and does not know how to hide as skillfully as a bug. In isolation from a person, she quickly dies, therefore, getting rid of pediculosis is quite simple.
Folk remedies include: head wrapping with a mixture of kerosene and any oil in a ratio of 1:1; cranberry juice, which kills lice and dissolves nit shells; tar soap; garlic juice; hellebore tincture; vinegar and others. The product must be kept on the hair for at least half an hour, and then rinse and rinse the hair with vinegar (50 ml per 1 liter of water). Then you need to comb out the nits with a fine comb. After a week, repeat the procedure.
Lavender and tea tree oils help against head lice infection (blood-sucking insects cannot stand their smell). It is enough to put a few drops on the skin behind the ears, and the lice will not want to drink your blood.
Flea
Fleas can infect us with more than 20 diseases, including plague, tularemia, typhoid and hepatitis. Carriers of pathogens are primarily rats. Also dangerous are domestic dogs and cats that bring fleas from the street. If birds live in the attic of the house, then they can also become sources of infection.
A flea is not easy to notice: it is very small (1-2 mm) and has the ability to instantlyand jump far.
You can get rid of fleas by limiting their entry into the house. If a dog or cat goes outside, then a special anti-flea collar should be put on it. Bars is also effective. From fleas of your pet, and, consequently, you will be protected by a few drops applied to the withers of the animal.
Chemical preparations against bloodsucking insects
Currently, pharmacies sell insecticides that successfully destroy bedbugs, fleas and lice - Chlorophos, Dichlorvos, Metaphos, Karbofos, Raptor, Delta … or Lambda Zone”, “Combat”, “Executioner”, “Sinuzan” and others. They spray or fumigate the entire room. Access to free air during processing should be blocked. People should not be in the room for at least a couple of days, since all of the listed drugs are very toxic.
If it is impossible to destroy the bred parasites on your own, it is recommended to use the help of specialists from the sanitary and epidemiological stations that are in every city.
