Bed bug bites in children

Bed bug bites in children rarely cause a serious and aggravated reaction, usually limited to typical redness and small seals at the site of skin puncture. As a rule, children easily endure the attacks of these insects, experiencing only an itch that looks like a mosquito. The photo shows how fresh bedbug bites look like in a baby with a mild lesion:

However, in those few cases where the child's body reacts acutely to a bedbug bite, the reaction can be extremely strong. That is why parents need to know what to do if they are bitten by bugs and what a bug bite looks like in a child in general.

 

Why are bedbug bites dangerous for children?

The main danger from bedbug bites for children is the occurrence of an allergic reaction to skin damage. If the child is not sprinkled with mosquito bites, then even after being bitten by bedbugs, he will most likely not be surrounded by a rash. Although there is no clear relationship here: the salivary secretion of these insects is different and the immune system of the child's body will react to these substances in different ways.

The specificity of bed bug bites is that the insect bites several times at one meal, leaving a well-defined bite path. Usually, looking at the nature of the skin lesion, it is quite clear when it was the bugs that bitten. The photo below demonstrates well the characteristic appearance of bedbug bites in the form of a track:

Of course, with multiple bites, they cause more severe itching in the child. This is especially true for infants and children of the first years of life: bedbugs in a crib, even in small quantities, do not allow the baby to sleep, he constantly screams and tosses and turns.

The very allergic reaction to bedbug bites manifests itself in an increase in the area of ​​redness, third-party rashes and itching even on intact skin areas. At the same time, the bites themselves become denser, become hard with a clearly distinguishable blood plug in the center:

Much less often - in isolated cases - a generalized allergic reaction may occur. In this case, inflammation and enlargement of the lymph nodes, fever, headaches and digestive disorders are possible. Similar symptoms appear in children, especially those susceptible to insect bites.

In some cases, bedbug bites in children cause:

• iron deficiency anemia - only a few cases of such a reaction were reliably recorded. In all these cases, the child was bitten by bedbugs in very large numbers, and the amount of blood lost and exposure to enzymes from the saliva of insects caused a change in the general composition of the blood.
• Anaphylactic shock is an extreme degree of development of an allergic reaction associated with loss of consciousness, severe edema, and disruption of the internal organs.
• Infection of bite sites.It should be remembered that the bugs themselves, although they are carriers of pathogens of many diseases, never transmit them to the person they bite. At least, in the entire history of medicine, not a single such case has been recorded. Infection occurs due to the fact that itchy bites are scratched by nails when scratching, and bacteria from dirty fingers enter the wounds.

Bedbug bites almost always prevent children from sleeping and resting normally. In impressionable children, the realization that someone may bite them in a dream or that there are insects in bed can cause nightmares and depressed mood.

Bed bugs are especially dangerous in kindergarten: here, in one infected room, they can bite dozens of children, especially in winter, when it gets dark early and the extended day group stays in the kindergarten until evening.

Review:

Nightmare, on the second day we brought the little one from the kindergarten all bitten. And the teacher still sarcastically said so, they say, none of the parents complains. I have already written an application to the SES, and until I receive a notice of processing from them, I will not take my child there again.

Ekaterina Slobodyanyuk

Bites from other types of bed bugs can be even more painful, but are never numerous. Only kissing bugs living in tropical America attack several of them and carry the causative agent of the deadly Chagas disease. But in our country they are not found.

And further: Where the hell did the bugs come from in the apartment and what to do in such a situation

 

Treatment and treatment of bedbug bites: medicines and folk remedies

Knowing what to do if bitten by a bug, you can quickly relieve severe itching from bites and ensure a fairly quick disappearance of the signs of the bites themselves. There are several main tips for handling bites:

• if there is no acute reaction to bites, it is enough to wipe them with cold water and soap or alcohol. This will relieve itching and prevent infection of the wounds.
• In case of severe pain and inflammation, an antihistamine should be given to the child. A universal remedy is Fenistil in drops - it can be given to children of all ages. The Rescuer balm is also good. Children over two years old can be given a quarter of a tablet of Suprastin, Tavegil or Diphenhydramine.

  

• When the temperature rises, the baby must be given an antipyretic and forced to drink plenty of fluids.

You can also use ointments for insect bites.

In any case, if the temperature after bedbug bites continues to rise or the child has swelling, it should be shown to the doctor.

Folk remedies for bedbug bites include a decoction of chamomile and a solution of baking soda, which lubricate the bite sites themselves. Also very popular is the asterisk, famous since Soviet times, which the Vietnamese continue to produce today. It should be remembered that folk remedies for bedbug bites are intended only for external treatment of the skin, and will not help with a serious fever or swelling.

In the event that a predator bug or one of the water bugs has bitten, the child may experience a very extensive and painful lump, which is easily confused with a bee sting. For side effects, the same remedies should be used as for bed bug bites.

On a note

Nobody will probably tell you how to get rid of bedbug bites on the skin: if the skin has reacted to the bites, then within a few days these points will be clearly visible on the body. The best way to prevent the appearance of new ones is to start destroying bedbugs as quickly as possible, and if it happened on a trip, change the hotel.

 

Video: bed bugs drink blood

It is important to start using all means as early as possible. If you wash the bedbug bites with cold water immediately after waking up, then they most likely will not begin to swell. And an antihistamine taken on time will ensure the absence of edema and enlargement of the lymph nodes in the child.

The photo below shows an example of a moderately severe allergic reaction in a child to bedbug bites:

 

How to determine that the child was bitten by bedbugs

Despite the fact that insect bites in children are generally treated the same, in cases with bedbug bites, you always need to know exactly what they bit. If you make a mistake and attribute everything to mosquitoes, then in this way the child will be doomed to endure bites every night.

Review

I never thought that these parasites could live in my apartment. When the child began to itch, she sinned for everything: allergies, malnutrition, kindergarten. Two dermatologists drove us around the offices, they suspected both chickenpox and rubella, but they never said anything concrete. And the son literally could not sleep! But what will a one-year-old child say? I met some insects in the apartment a couple of times, but I didn’t even suspect that they could be bedbugs. And only a doctor in a paid clinic said for sure that insects bite the child. And when my husband turned over the blanket in the crib at home, I almost threw up. Then she herself almost got poisoned while poisoning them with dichlorvos. But now at least she is calm: this evil is not at home, and the child sleeps normally.

Alla, Kaliningrad

The main signs of bedbug bites are:

• clearly distinguishable chains of three to five bites each
• the appearance of bites at night or in the morning, almost always in a comfortable bed
• itching but not pain
• the location of the bites is mainly on those parts of the body on which there were no clothes during sleep.

And further: Proven methods for the destruction of bedbugs, which have shown high efficiency

The photo clearly shows the tracks from the bites:

Bites from other bed bugs are less specific and can be easily confused with wasp or spider bites. However, the definition of what a bug of another species has bitten is not so critical: these insects rarely bite and in exceptional cases.

But bed bug bites are easier to prevent than to suffer later with their treatment in a child. Therefore, in the end - a few tips on how to calculate the presence of bedbugs in the room:

• bed bugs smell.In the room where they hide, you can catch a slight smell of sour raspberries or cognac.
• On the bed, a bug accidentally crushed at night leaves brown spots.
• Before sleeping indoors, check the underside of the mattresses on all beds. Usually, if there are bugs in the room, then it is on the mattresses that you can find several insects.

If such a check did not reveal the presence of bedbugs, then the child can be left here to spend the night. In the worst case, there will be few bites in the morning.

 

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A good example of how bed bugs bite