Flea bite and humans
If by any chance
you have been suffering from small red bite
marks on your ankles and lower part of the
legs than you have been attacked by fleas.
Fleas are parasites which survive on mammal
blood and can cause serious medical altercations.
Three kinds of flea can attack humans namely:
1. Dog flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
2. Cat flea (Ctenocephalides Canis)
3. Human flea (Pulex irritans)
They are eyeless insects and depend on their
mouth which is adaptive to chewing. Another
interesting fact about fleas is that they
don’t have wings either instead have
very strong legs which help them in making
long jumps. Their sting has anti-coagulant
and enzymes that are powerful enough to cause
skin allergy. Anti-coagulant doesn’t
let blood to clot which makes it easy for
the fleas to suck blood. Bites marks become
red wounds with itchy sensation and when not
treated on time can become infectious skin
allergy. In case of flea bite in children,
practice extra caution as their skin is more
sensitive than adults.
Flea bites in humans can take their sweet
time to heal but there are chances that some
other infection might occur. So, for speedy
healing you can use medicated lotions and
creams. There is a procedure for treating
flea bites which is as follows:
1) Wash the affected area with antiseptic
soap or solution which will kill the germs.
2) Putting an ice pack on the swelled area
can ease the irritation on the bite mark.
3) Medicated lotions like hydrocortisone and
calamine can be applied.
4) But they are various home remedies which
can be used for treating flea bites with out
any negative side effects.
Once treatment is done, you have to take preventive
measures to make sure that infestation doesn’t
occur again. There are various methods for
preventing flea infestation like:
5) Pets should be cleaned with the help of
flea shampoos as drowning kills fleas.
6) Flea powders, flea combs and flea collars
can also be used which are effective in curbing
fleas.
7) Pet’s bedding and areas frequented
by them should be washed with water or sprayed
with Insect Growth Regulators which are animal
and human friendly.
8) House should be cleaned thoroughly especially
dark and warm corners, carpets and couches
with vacuum cleaner.
9) Bushes and grass should be trimmed and
sprayed with insecticides like Diatomaceous
Earth and Nematodes.
The most important thing for preventing flea
bites on humans is cleanliness and proper
treatment. To make sure they don’t reoccur,
you can repeat the treatments after an interval
of time.
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