With warm weather comes the invasion of household bugs. However, some insects are worse than others are. While most bugs found in and around your home are harmless, others can be deadly. Tragically, 40 to 100 Americans die each year due to fatal insect bites.
Mosquitoes
Mosquito bites cause more deaths to humans than any other insect. Although a mosquito bite hurts, it’s the germs carried by the insect that present the greater threat. If you live in an area highly infected with mosquitoes, protect yourself by staying indoors when they’re most active at dawn and dusk. Besides using insect repellent, be sure you don’t have any standing water around your house. Mosquitoes also tend to gather at ponds and around water puddles.
Brown Recluse Spider
Brown recluse spiders hide in dark, undisturbed areas, such as garages, so you need to take caution, turning on lights when reaching into darkened areas. Besides spinning their webs in garages, sheds and woodpiles, they hang out in cellars, and places that are dry. Inside the home, they gravitate to cardboard, so be careful about handling boxes or cleaning where you can’t see what’s there. Other dark places inside a home may include dressers, shoes, and even behind pictures and furnaces. If you spot one, call a professional exterminator.
When you’re first stung by a brown recluse spider, you may not even know it. However, soon you’ll know something is wrong because you can get a high fever and extreme chills from a bite. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, rashes, and intense pain in muscles and joints. If bitten, go to your local hospital emergency center immediately.
Black Widow Spider
Black widow spiders can be identified by a colored, hourglass-shaped mark on their abdomens. They’re to be taken seriously because of the strong venom (15 times greater than that of a rattlesnake.) Symptoms may include muscle aches, nausea, and labored breathing. Although most people bitten do not suffer serious harm, sometimes the bite of a black widow spider can be fatal to small children, the elderly, and the sick.
Bites from black widow spiders are sharp and painful. If bitten, seek medical attention immediately. Just as the brown recluse spider, black widow spiders like to hide out in dark places. Over-the-counter insecticides aren’t effective, so again, you need an exterminator.
The Common Housefly
Surprisingly, the common housefly can be one of the most dangerous insects in your home. That’s because of all the germs it carries. Houseflies carry germs resulting in diseases such as typhoid, cholera, bacillary, dysentery, tuberculosis, anthrax ophtalmia, and infantile diarrhea. Check for holes in window screens and don't leaves doors open. If you do see a housefly, swat it immediately.
Cockroaches
Just as brown recluse spiders, cockroaches also like to hide in dark quiet corners (such as in food pantries.) As some children are extremely sensitive to cockroach allergens, cockroaches have been linked with childhood asthma. Cockroach allergens can come from the saliva of a cockroach and droppings, as well as decomposing animal bodies. By properly storing food and having a clean kitchen, you can reduce the odds of cockroaches. Get rid of all garbage, immediately, to prevent cockroaches from breeding inside your house.
Teach Children Not All Bugs Are Dangerous
Most bugs are not deadly (or even harmful). If you have children, teach them which ones are harmful by showing pictures found in books or online. Then stress the importance of telling an adult, as well as staying away from them. In other words, teach your kids without making them paranoid.
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