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.