Treat Bug Bites and Stings

• TASK: Treat bites or stings from a variety of commonly encountered bugs in order to avoid unnecessary pain and discomfort.
• CONDITIONS: Given an instance where you or someone around you is bitten or stung by a creature that results in the need to treat the wound.
• STANDARD: You must be able to treat the wound so as to minimize the discomfort and pain.

If you spend any time outdoors, there’s a good chance that at some point you’ll encounter a bug of some kind that thinks that it can make a meal of you in some small way. The great majority of these encounters will result in minor discomfort on your part, but it’s important to be able to treat the injury (small as it may be) in order to prevent it from becoming infected.

Spiders
The treatment for spider bites is more or less the same for all types of spiders save the black widow. Black widow bites are very painful and treating them with anti-venom can cause allergic reactions.

• Wash the bite with soap and water.
• Apply a topical antibiotic cream.
• Apply an ice pack or cold compress to the bite.
• If possible, elevate the site of the bite.
• Keep an eye on the bite to look for any infection or necrosis (when the skin dies). If you see signs of necrosis, consult a doctor.

Chiggers
Chiggers are little mites that resemble small spiders. It’s a common misconception that chiggers burrow into your skin. When they bite they hang onto your skin, but they won’t dig their bodies into yours.

• Take a warm shower and scrub your body anywhere that a chigger may be attached.
• Apply an antihistamine or hydrocortisone cream to the sites to reduce the itching.
• Don’t scratch the site of the bites.

Ticks
Ticks are little critters that look like a spider, but typically have shorter legs and thicker bodies. When one bites you, it latches on and sucks your blood. It won’t drink much, but because it punctures your skin it can cause infection and has the potential of introducing lyme disease.

• Do not pull them out with your fingers.
• Do not try to burn them out.
• Use a pair of long-nosed tweezers to grab the snout of the tick as close to your skin as possible.
• Pull the tick straight out, don’t twist or wiggle it.
• Wash the bite with soap and water.
• Keep an eye on the bite to watch for infection.

Bees
Bees, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets all have their own unique characteristics, but treatment of the stings is relatively similar and simple.

• Remove the stinger if it’s still in the skin.
• Wash with soap and water.
• Apply an ice pack, cold compress, antihistamine or hydrocortisone cream to reduce itching.

A sting can become life threatening, however, if the person has an allergy. Seek immediate medical assistance if a person experiences any of these symptoms:

• Trouble breathing.
• Dizziness.
• Swelling of the tongue.
• Hives (red dots or splotches on the skin).

If a person who is allergic begins to exhibit any of these symptoms, they should use an epinephrine auto-injector immediately. If a person is unable to do so, you should assist by injecting it into their thigh muscle.

Mosquitos
Mosquito bites are fairly common and relatively easy to treat. They typically cause swollen and itchy spots that last for a few days or longer if you scratch them. You don’t need to do anything to treat the site of the bite, but you can do things to reduce the itching.

• Scratching will satisfy the itch temporarily, but will prolong the duration of the itch.
• Scratching around the edge of the swelling will help alleviate the itch while only minimally prolonging the duration.
• Applying anti-itch creme to the site of the bite can help.
• Just don’t scratch.

Leeches
Leeches, like mosquitos and ticks, bite on and suck your blood. Similarly, they won’t suck too much blood so you don’t need to worry about blood loss as a direct result of the sucking. Where a leech differs from the rest is that it injects an anticoagulant to keep the wound from scabbing over. This can cause the wound to continue bleeding once the leech is removed.

• Don’t panic. Yes, it’s gross, but ultimately harmless.
• Look for the leeches friends. If you got one, there’s a good chance that there’s more elsewhere.
• You can just wait it out. It will drink its fill of your blood and move on.
• If you can’t stand to wait, use a credit card or ruler to gently scrape the leeches mouth off your skin.
• Once the leech is detached, you’ll need to bandage the bite quickly to avoid unnecessary blood loss. The anticoagulant will do it’s job and keep the blood flowing from the bite unless you stop it with some kind of pressure dressing.

Sources

• Mayo Clinic
• WikiHow
• Art of Manliness (ticks, leeches)