Many people know how fleas bite; everyone is familiar with these small household parasites. And yet, questions remain, because there are different opinions, some say that these parasites are dangerous only for animals, others know firsthand how these small creatures can pester people.
What do fleas look like?
Fleas are parasites of black or dark brown color, the body is pressed from the sides, strong paws are located on the chest, which allow the insect to quickly move on the body of the victim and on uneven surfaces at any angle, and quickly move in long hair. This is why it is so difficult to identify cat fleas at first glance. Insects have highly elongated jaws and a piercing-sucking type of mouthparts. Parasites move in fast jumps. The insects are tiny, body length ranging from 1 to 5 mm; in the female of some species they can reach 9 mm.
Fleas are ubiquitous parasites; their presence has been recorded even in Antarctica. They can be found at any time of the year; they prefer a temperate climate.
Why fleas bite people
Dog fleas
This type of insect is classified as an obligate parasite. The structure of their oral apparatus is designed to use only blood; other food sources are not suitable for this organ. Parasites primarily feed on the blood of animals. Why do fleas bite humans? They do this in order to obtain nutrition, which will support the reproduction process. And it is unlikely that an insect that is hungry and finds itself close to a person will miss the opportunity to eat.
Types of fleas
Fleas come in different types, there are about 2000 of them, including human, dog, cat, rabbit, and earthen varieties. Some of them, for example, earthen ones, do not parasitize people; their food source is animals.
Fleas, dangerous to people, bite in any part of the body, annoying people. Fleas do not bite for pleasure; perhaps they get a pleasant feeling from the process, but the main goal is to obtain food. In all likelihood, these creatures do not have enough food for a long time, so attacks on people become endless.
Fleas that parasitize people feed not only on people, they easily take root among pigs, become permanent residents of pigsties, and often annoy villagers.
Advice! Fleas that parasitize people make their home in human hair. If you find fleas in your hair, do not rush to turn to animal shampoos, there is another way.
Removing fleas from hair:
- Fill the bathtub;
- Add a cup of lemon extract and detergent;
- Take a bath for half an hour (during the process, apply shampoo to wet hair and leave on your hair for the same period of time).
Earth fleas undoubtedly seem more harmless to people, however, when hunting for food, the parasites may not know who to bite and attack people. The only difference is that they bite exclusively on the legs.
How to protect yourself from insects
There is an opinion that fleas are found only in cluttered rooms where the floors are not washed for a long time. This is not true; parasites thrive in clean places. But still, they prefer to live where there are a lot of old things and where to hide.
Fleas live a long time, up to one and a half years, and manage to lay 2000 eggs. Reproduction occurs in geometric progression, and if a couple of these insects get into the house, very soon a crowd of hungry parasites will appear there.
To get rid of fleas, perform general cleaning. Vacuum all surfaces, wash floors with water with the addition of ammonia, carefully treating areas in corners and near baseboards.
But parasites cannot be removed with just washing the floors; on the contrary, they like a warm and humid environment. To exterminate insects, it is necessary to use insecticides in the form of aerosols and powders. Pets are treated with special products, their bedding is cleaned or changed. The room is sprayed with aerosol preparations or powders are scattered.
The basements of multi-story buildings often become breeding grounds for fleas, from where they penetrate into apartments. To get rid of parasites, you will need the help of a sanitary and epidemiological station.
Where do fleas come from?
These parasites appear in homes most often from animals. There was an opinion that the danger of fleas threatens only the first floors of residential apartments, but this is only a myth; pets live everywhere and can bring feline or other parasites with them. Between apartments, fleas can move from one door to another and even come to a house where a high floor and the absence of animals can guarantee safety from parasites.
Prevention from bites in Pokrov
Based on what we have read, we conclude that fleas do bite people. And every pet owner must follow the rules of prevention, namely:
- Regular examination of your pet;
- If necessary, carry out special processing;
- For every pet walk, use flea-repellent collars or other special means;
In order to protect yourself from flea bites, it is enough to wear covered clothing and use parasite repellents. Also, if there are fleas in the house, do not let the kids crawl on the floor.
Strong-smelling essential oils and plants (mint, wormwood) can also help repel parasites. Essential oils can be added to a bucket of water for cleaning floors, such as geranium. This will prevent parasites from entering the apartment.
Danger of bites
Fleas themselves can cause two diseases in humans: sarcopsillosis and pulicosis. But parasitic insects also carry infections, including even hepatitis B and C. By feeding on an infected organism, they can transmit the infection to the next victim and even turn it into a carrier. This is the main danger of parasites; there is a risk of getting bacteria and viruses into the body as a result of their bites. Therefore, you should not assume that, for example, cat fleas do little harm.
Prevention measures
To avoid dealing with fleas and prevent flea bites on yourself and your pet, you need to learn preventive measures and methods for removing fleas.
If we talk directly about cat fleas, they are very comfortable not only on cats. They also feel great close to their furry pets, and it doesn’t matter at all whether it’s a cozy apartment in a high-rise building or a hay barn in the village.
The first step is protecting your pets. There are a lot of proven means for this:
- insectoacaricidal shampoos;
- flea drops;
- pills;
- anti-flea collars.
It is important to remember that fleas are removed in conjunction with deworming. Detailed recommendations on this issue can be obtained from any veterinary clinic.
For current planned prevention, it is enough to treat your pet once every 3-6 months, depending on the drug chosen, lifestyle and place of permanent residence. Even a cat that doesn’t walk outside can pick up parasites, for example, from a neighbor’s pet or from a stairwell. You can bring flea larvae into your home on your shoes without knowing it, and then wonder where they came from.
The second stage of prevention is no less important. It applies to the treatment of places where pets are kept. For this purpose, a wide variety of products are also produced: repellent sprays, solutions, emulsions, liquid detergents.
Wash your cat's bedding and other favorite soft items that may contain flea eggs. If possible, steam them with a household steamer at maximum temperature and treat them with the purchased product. Wash all floors, disinfect bedspreads and carpets in the apartment.
Bedbugs or fleas
When declaring war on parasites in order to protect yourself, your children and pets from their attacks, do not forget the main thing - to correctly determine the source of the attacks. When a person begins to be bothered by bites, he is often inclined to act based on premature conclusions. Here's why fleas can be confused with bedbugs:
Insect preferences
Why fleas do not bite everyone is explained by their body characteristics. Insects are guided in their activities by smells; their olfactory organs are highly developed. The parasites find the victim by the smell of blood. Why some are bitten and others are not is very easy to explain.
On a note!
Insects become active at dusk. During the day they hide in shelters. It is very rare that fleas bite people at this time of day. In the evening, if the room is heavily infested, you can see pests jumping over the carpet, near the TV, or the animal’s sleeping place.
Before going to bed, a person takes a shower or bath. Women additionally apply cream and lotion to the skin of their feet. The smell of varying intensity remains on the skin. Men may resent that fleas “only bite me.” The women remain unharmed. This is because parasites are repelled by the intense aroma of skin care products.
Fleas often bite children. This is also easy to explain. Children have thin, delicate skin that can be easily bitten. Vessels with blood are located closer to the surface, fleas are well aware of the human smell and the aroma of blood. A photo of the bitten children is located below.
Flea bites on children
Where do fleas live in an apartment?
Fleas can be anywhere, they can come into the house with a pet and through it gain access to the apartment, live in carpets, their task, on furniture or in clothes. It is extremely difficult to calculate all their habitats and exterminate non-living ones. That is why these parasites are treated differently. They must be deprived of their usual source of food - the ability to bite the inhabitants of the house and make the place itself a remedy for them, for this they use chemicals or natural herbs - freshly cut wormwood is laid out around the house. This plant is extremely “fragrant” and parasites cannot tolerate it either.
Decide on the source of fleas in your home - if it is a pet, then, at the same time as “disinfecting” the house, you need to treat the animal in order to destroy cat or dog fleas. You can use drops or a collar to rid your pet of insects. When choosing a product, carefully read the instructions and strictly follow them.
You can ensure your safety with the help of a protective cream; give preference to closed clothing so that insects cannot reach your skin. It is also better to protect children with closed clothing.
Dog fleas most often attack people; the number of recorded attacks of this type of flea is a record one.
Dog fleas attack the skin of humans and animals, annoying everyone in the house and creating a risk of infections.
What types of insects are dangerous to humans?
Over 1000 species of fleas are biting. They are dangerous to people. If earthen parasites are harmless and feed exclusively on the blood of animals, then cat, rabbit, and dog species can parasitize the human body and infect with infections transmitted through blood.
It is not the flea bite itself that is dangerous, but scratching the affected area. In the event of an infection, inflammation will begin to develop with all the ensuing consequences. When some types of fleas bite, they inject an enzyme under the skin that clots the blood.
Doggystyle
The habitat of dog fleas is dog fur and soft bedding. Blood-sucking creatures do not live on the human body, although in times of hunger they will not refuse to drink his blood.
Dog fleas also bite people, settle in human hair, and can fall out of it. When bad conditions occur, they hibernate and live without food for several months. As soon as conditions become acceptable, the parasites come to life and begin to jump on animals and feed on their blood. There is nothing stopping them from changing their owner and transmitting the infection from a sick animal to humans.
Felines
Cat fleas rarely bite people, but they can attach themselves to the body, spread infection, and cause:
- allergies;
- redness;
- intense itching.
If a person begins to scratch the bite site, then if hygiene is not observed, there is a risk of infection and provoking suppuration. Parasites are carriers of diseases: encephalitis, helminthiases, brucellosis, anthrax, plague. A person can catch it after hunting, walking in the forest, or working on a farm. The victims are hunters who look into nests and hollows and do not disdain to eat raw food.
Reference! Cat fleas will welcome any blood donor. They are causative agents of diseases 3 times more often than canine ones. Such parasites lay eggs and black excrement on the skin and fur of cats. They can get into carpets, rugs, upholstery, and floor crevices.
Rat
Rat fleas parasitize rats, although they cannot live long and permanently on the host's body. Jumping fleas enter apartments from basements, from the street on clothes and shoes, through cracks in the floor of the entrance, from neighbors. The dogs bring them in after a walk.
Advice! Typically, bitten pets begin to itch, get nervous, sleep restlessly, and refuse to eat. If fleas have settled on the fur, then upon examination you can see waste products and bite points.
In humans, the site of a rat bite swells, the lymph nodes become enlarged, and the temperature rises. These parasites cause difficulty breathing, headaches, nervous system disorders, allergies, and Quincke's edema. Rats are carriers of infections:
- tularemia;
- plague;
- anthrax;
- salmonellosis;
- encephalitis;
- hepatitis;
- brucellosis.
Important! If a flea bite infects a person with worm eggs, then you should immediately consult a doctor.
Rabbit
Rabbits' fur is thick and ideal for parasitic blood-sucking creatures. Usually bitten pets are anxious and itchy. Fleas lay eggs in the hair of rabbits, which in turn can transmit the infection to humans.
If an insect bites a rabbit, it causes incurable diseases: hemorrhagic crisis, myxomatosis. A bird that accidentally swallows worm eggs can become a source of helminthiasis. If rabbits are treated with insecticides, then fleas in search of food can spread to people, biting the stomach, face, arms, legs.
If saliva is injected into a person's blood, the temperature may rise. Enlargement of the lymph nodes and the development of diseases may also be observed: anthrax, encephalitis, plague.
Basement fleas
Residents of private houses and the lower floors of multi-storey apartments can also become victims of basement fleas.
Insects appear in a home completely unexpectedly, often due to unsanitary conditions. There is no 100% antidote for them where there is coolness, dust, and dampness. Fleas begin to drink blood from cats, dogs, horses, mice, rats, sheep, cows and lay eggs on the animals' fur. They are annoying and dangerous. If they bite a person, they spread the infection, causing hepatitis, encephalitis, and pseudotuberculosis.
5 best ways to get rid of fleas in the basement
Important! At a humidity of 70%, t-17 degrees C, favorable conditions are created for reproduction and an increase in the number of parasites. Eggs and adults appear in basements with household garbage, old clothes and rags. They multiply quickly, looking for new victims and fresh blood. Fleas usually jump on steps and walls of residential buildings. If they are noticed, disinfestation must be carried out immediately.
Avian
Chicken fleas, almost invisible to the human eye, create inconvenience for people. Adults may not leave chicken coops at all due to the bird’s thin skin and nearby blood vessels.
Reference! Chickens infected with fleas begin to pull out their feathers and behave nervously. Parasites drink blood, which means they lead to exhaustion and anemia. They are carriers of brucellosis, salmonellosis, and encephalitis.
Such fleas are rarely transmitted to humans. Although they can start an attack right in the chicken coop. Although such a flea is unlikely to reach the blood vessels, it can provoke allergies and skin irritation.
Chicken fleas, how to get rid of and protect chickens from the parasite, read more in this article.
Fleas on dogs
Dog fleas cause a lot of trouble. You need to take a close look at your pet to understand that he has dog fleas. It is not immediately possible to notice dog parasites, since dog hair is long and fleas have the opportunity to hide from view. To identify dog fleas, you need to observe the dog's behavior. Due to constant bites, the dog becomes unhappy, has sudden mood swings, and it itches, as the skin experiences frequent itching.
If you suspect the presence of dog parasites, examine the animal yourself:
Treating flea bites: the best recipes
First of all, you must understand that if you want to get rid of the unpleasant consequences of bites while fleas are swarming in the room, this makes no sense, since old bites will be followed by new ones. We’ll talk about getting rid of fleas in our other materials, but now let’s talk about treatment.
How to stop itching?
Indeed, when fleas bite, the most unpleasant thing is the itching that begins. doesn't seem to lead to anything good. It is difficult not to scratch the wounds, but under no circumstances should you do this, otherwise even greater swelling, infection and complications may develop.
First, you need to wash the bite areas with warm water and soap and disinfect - for this, use any antibacterial gel, alcohol lotion or even alcohol - in case “battle wounds” caught you in nature. You can apply ice to reduce swelling from a fresh bite.
Next, you can use any of the safe home remedies that can be used by both children and adults for local relief from itching and swelling:
- apple cider vinegar diluted with water;
- 1 tbsp. spoon of soda + 1 glass of water;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey + 2 glasses of lemon juice - for large bite areas;
- tea tree oil or any product with aloe vera juice, gel, oil;
You can also try using the “travelling” method, along with local disinfection with alcohol, by applying tea bags to the bite sites. Tannins contained in tea have bactericidal, astringent, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic properties. It definitely won't get any worse!
If natural methods don't help relieve your itching, try using commercial anti-itch remedies such as calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream.
Hydrocortisone is a mild steroid cream, while calamine lotion contains iron oxide to treat mild itching.
If you can no longer tolerate the itching, and it does not subside, but, on the contrary, intensifies, consult a doctor; an allergic reaction may occur. The specialist will select the right antihistamine for you to stop itching and allergy symptoms. If you already know that you are allergic to insect bites, then use the same anti-allergy tablets as usual.
Please note: if you were bitten by someone and you felt a sharp deterioration in your health, expressed both in local skin damage and a change in your health for the worse, call a doctor immediately, do not waste time on self-medication!
Features of parasitism
Cat fleas are very picky in choosing a host. They can live not only on cats, but also on other warm-blooded animals with thick fur, as well as birds. These insects do not only affect fish and reptiles.
Cat fleas are obligate parasites. This means that they cannot live, reproduce and feed without their owner, and this applies to both females and males.
Cat fleas live on the surface of the host's body. During bloodsucking, the insect attaches itself to the skin of the victim with part of its oral apparatus, while the body and other parts of the flea's body remain motionless. The body of the parasite is covered with many bristles and spines, which make it difficult to remove the insect from the fur.
After attacking its victim with the help of palps, the insect spends 5–20 minutes looking for a suitable place to bite. When the parasite pierces the skin, it injects saliva into the wound, which has anti-clotting properties and helps search for blood. Fleas become saturated in about 10 minutes. The average duration of a meal in females is 25 minutes, in males – 11 minutes. The process of digesting blood in the former occurs faster than in the latter.
An adult insect eats much more blood than it can digest, so it is absorbed by the intestinal cells. As a result, a large amount of feces is released, which consists of undigested blood and serves as a food source for the larvae.
Control of parasites in animals
To avoid various unpleasant consequences of flea bites in cats and people, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures in a timely manner:
Regularly inspect your pet's fur for parasites.
Bathe your cat with a special anti-flea shampoo, and during periods when insects are active (most often at the end of summer), put an anti-parasitic collar on it.
Do not allow the cat to come into contact with animals that have access to the street.
If fleas are found on your pet, treat it with drops against external parasites in accordance with the instructions for use.
To destroy parasites in a kitten under 2 months of age, use only folk remedies for insect control, so as not to harm the baby’s health.
Do not let your pet walk on its own.
