Bug Off!

Keep The Insects At Bay With These Top Tips.

- Donna Fleming

One of the downsides of summer is the fact that insect bites are more common. Insects that can feast on you in this country include mosquitoes, sandflies, fleas, mites, spiders and bedbugs.

Insect bites usually show up as itchy red bumps on your skin. Sometimes there will be a little blister in the middle and they can be painful.

In most cases, after causing discomfort for a couple of days, bites go away on their own. But they can become infected, taking longer to heal and potentially causing bigger problems.

The crucial thing to remember with bites is to try really hard not to scratch them. That can be easier said than done, but scratching can lead to the skin breaking and the bite becoming infected.

Tips to beat the itch

Apply aloe-vera cream, which can soothe the bites.

Cool the affected area by holding a cool wet cloth or towel against it, or an ice pack wrapped in a towel.

Take an antihistamine or use an anti-itching cream if the itching is hard to ignore. Possible complications While most bites are a harmless annoyance, in some cases they can become infected. This happens when the bite breaks your skin and bacteria that live on the skin’s surface get through to the deeper layers via the puncture points.

Aggressive scratching can also open up a bite, increasing the chances of bacteria getting in, especially if you have dirty fingernails. Several types of bacteria can lead to a painful skin infection called cellulitis.

Signs of cellulitis include:

Bites that are still there after a couple of weeks and don’t seem to be getting better.