Stop bugging me!

 

While we are all familiar with the range of biting and stinging insects we find outdoors, particularly at this time of year, what should we be looking for at home?  It doesn’t matter how house-proud we are, it is still possible to be faced with a home-invasion of the multi-legged variety.

Whether it is in a school hat, on the dog’s coat, in your luggage after a weekend break, or flying in through the window the ease with which we can find ourselves under siege is startling.

Head lice: Tears often accompany the first day at school but tears can turn to horror when your child starts scratching frantically at their head and you spot the lice racing around their scalp and the eggs (nits) stuck to the roots of the hair. Lice will colonise anybody’s hair, clean or otherwise and getting rid of them can be a real challenge. They can be transferred from one head to another when heads touch, leaning over a book for example, from one hat to another and after using someone else’s hairbrush or comb. When a child comes to school with head lice it can spread through the whole class and be very difficult to deal with if some individuals do not co-operate in efforts to eradicate them as re-infestation is very common.

The lice are easiest to spot at the nape of the neck and in the hair behind the ears, however  if you suspect a child has lice but cannot spot them it can be a good idea to comb their head with a nit comb over the bath so that any lice that fall out can easily be seen.

There are a variety of methods recommended to deal with head lice, which include wet-combing, using olive oil on specific days in the louse’s life cycle to suffocate them or shampoos.

Lice can be resistant to insecticides in shampoos and it is a good idea to discuss your problem with your pharmacist who can advise on the best way to get rid of them. The whole family will need to be checked out and thorough cleaning operation carried out in the home, including clothing, bedding and soft toys.

Bedbugs are no longer a thing of the past encountered only in “flea pit” hotels; they are increasingly common in hotels throughout the developed world. Signs of bedbugs in your hotel room include specks of blood or what looks like black pepper on sheets, mattress and headboards, while the bugs themselves are about the size of an apple seed.

If you are unlucky enough to get bitten, bedbugs often leave a line of three bites, described as “breakfast, lunch and dinner” by the experts which distinguish them from flea bites.

Simple ways of preventing transfer of bedbugs back to your home include leaving your luggage on the luggage rack or desk and avoiding leaving clothes on the bed or a spare bed in the hotel room. Keep a close eye out for them and carry out a thorough de-bugging on return home if they have hitched a rid

Fleas are usually introduced into our homes via pets and the warm winters and recent warm weather has caused populations to explode. Fleas are very quick to reproduce, bite frequently and can go for months without a blood meal so need to be addressed seriously as they can transmit a variety of human diseases. It is not just people who have reason to dislike fleas: flea bite hypersensitivity and flea allergic dermatitis are the most common skin diseases in dogs and can be very hard to treat so it is important to get rid of fleas as soon as possible. Although most of us like to believe that our dog and cats do not have fleas, it is said that all dogs do have them; you just do not know it.

 A good cleaning regime , vacuuming carpets and washing bedding where pets lie and sleep  and using vet-recommended flea treatment s are to be highly recommended as treatment of dog skin allergies can be expensive and time-consuming if nothing else, and cats don’t need them either!

Cockroaches and houseflies do not pose a problem in terms of biting but they still pose serious risks to health and need to be managed wherever they are found.  

The most serious threat posed by cockroaches is an allergic response as they can trigger asthma attacks and while they have been shown to carry salmonella, staphylococcus and polio virus no actual evidence of outbreaks has been attributed to them. Nonetheless they often produce a repulsive smell and it is well worth the effort of keeping your home clean and your rubbish safely disposed of to avoid sharing your home with them!

Houseflies have been a particular problem this year and the last: because of the diseases they carry on their body which include dysentery, E.Coli and cholera, the common housefly, ‘musca domestica’ is considered to be the most dangerous nonbiting fly in the world.

Poor sanitation and poor hygiene practices in the home leave us vulnerable and simple steps such as keeping food preparation surfaces and utensils clean and using bins with well-fitting lids and emptying them frequently are easy and effective. Bins should be washed out regularly to remove food particles which allow flies to feed and breed. Even keeping doors and windows closed to deny flies entry are helpful.

The US Centre for Disease Control recommends blocking entry and flyswatters as preferable to using most insecticides on flies, particularly near food: sometimes the old-fashioned way is best if we want to avoid ingesting the same poison we are keen to administer to the flies!

Finally, with regard to using insect repellents and insecticides, it is very important to avoid using chemicals near food or children’s hands and to always read instructions extremely carefully.