ianstone
07-29-2010, 02:58 PM
Beware of the superfly with a taste for humans: Summer surge of insect bites that send victims to hospital in agony
By David Derbyshire (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=David+Derbyshire)
Last updated at 4:49 PM on 29th July 2010
Comments (101) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html)
If you're sitting in your garden and suddenly feel a sharp nip on your leg, beware - it may be the beginning of a thoroughly unpleasant experience.
Wildlife experts are warning that a superfly with a taste for human blood is being blamed for a surge of infected insect bites that has left some victims hospitalised.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A7EA0E6000005DC-227_224x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A743C14000005DC-41_224x423.jpg
Victims: Singer Mollie King and golfer Ian Poulter have both been laid low by insect bites as a warm wet summer provides perfect breeding conditions for flies
'THE NURSE TOOK ONE LOOK AND GASPED'
BY SARA NATHAN
There was a brief, sharp sensation as an insect bit into my ankle.
As I stood talking to a friend underneath a canopy of trees in a West London park, I paid no real attention.
By the next day, however, the two, small puncture marks left behind had already turned into a rash.
A day later and my foot looked like it could have been John Hurt's extra prop in The Elephant Man.
I could not put it down or walk on it. I had no choice but to get to my local A&E.
There the nurse took one look and gasped (I told you it looked vile).
Within minutes a doctor was with me and informed me I had contracted cellulitis, a bacterial-infection, most likely from a horsefly.
As the medics worried that the infection had hit my bloodstream, I was immediately pumped full of antibiotics, admitted to a ward, and spent the next two days on a drip.
When I was released, I had to take two different types of antibiotics four times a day to clear up the infection.
It has now been two weeks since the dreaded bite, my left foot is still sore - and I may even have to return to hospital.
The experts say the Blandford fly - a tiny bug that used to be found only in streams in rural southern England - is moving into towns and cities, encouraged by the popularity of garden water features.
The creature may be just two or three millimetres long but it packs a painful and unpleasant punch.
Its bites often turn infectious and can leave victims needing hospital treatment.
Concerns about the spread of the Blandford fly, also known as the black fly, follow reports of a rise in infected insect bites in the last few weeks.
The increase appears to have been triggered by the warm and wet weather which has made insects - such as horseflies, mosquitoes and midges - more active, particularly in the evening.
The balmy evenings have also encouraged people into their gardens where they are more likely to be bitten.
Researchers suspect some of the more serious cases are the handiwork of the Blandford fly.
Pop singer Mollie King, from The Saturdays, was forced to abandon a TV appearance earlier this month after she was bitten by a fly.
The 23-year-old was treated in hospital for the painful skin condition cellulitis after her foot swelled up.
And English golfer Ian Poulter pulled out of the French Open last month after an insect bite on his right shin became badly infected.
Stuart Hine, entomologist at the Natural History Museum, said: 'There appears to be more people who have been bitten recently.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A9B7605000005DC-659_468x827.jpg
'MY BOYS THOUGHT I TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE'
BY RAY MASSEY
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/29/article-1298527-0A9AAEDF000005DC-458_223x127.jpg 'You're going to be in hospital for at least a week and possibly a fortnight,' said the consultant on my first night as a patient with a grotesquely swollen and acutely painful left leg.
'What? From an insect bite?,' I gasped.
I'm still not exactly sure what the culprit was which landed me in Kingston Hospital, Surrey.
After clearing a pile of earth and cuttings in the garden, I awoke the next day, Thursday, with an intense case of the shivers.
My teeth were chattering and an hour later I had the sweats and my legs were locked.
The agony centred on my left leg. By Saturday it took me an hour to get out of bed, such was the piercing intensity of the pain.
By Sunday four or five large blisters, the size of half golf balls, had erupted on my leg. My two young boys were convinced I was turning into a zombie.
By Monday my GP had whisked me into hospital. Pumped full of heavy duty antibiotics at regular intervals, I had to sit it out.
The pain dispersed and I was walking wounded but the leg looks disgusting and will for some time yet as the globe-like blisters recede.
I received fantastic care from the medical and nursing staff at Kingston Hospital's Blyth Ward, as well as the hospital's medical assessment units which sent me there. But recovery will be slow.
One parlour game that kept us all amused was speculating on which South American country - as a relief map - my leg most resembled.
A constant refrain from friends, family and medical staff has been this: 'What bit you?' 'I have no idea,' has been my answer, 'but when I find it, it's toast.'
'I suspect it's mostly about changes in human behaviour because of the warmer weather, rather than changes in insect behaviour.
'We have had a lot of dry, warm spells and there are more people out and about, particularly in the evenings which increases the chance of being bitten.
'Mosquitoes are the biggest biter, but over the last few years there has been a greater incidence of black flies. They are beginning to breed more in towns and cities.'
Blandford flies breed in moving water and are traditionally found close to rivers and streams.
However, Mr Hine said the growing popularity of water features in the last decade - fuelled by garden makeover shows - had encouraged them into the suburbs.
'More people have been bitten by these flies over the last few years,' he added. 'The bites come up with huge swellings and people can have an extreme reaction.'
GPs expect to see an increase in insect bites in June and July when people spent more time in the gardens.
But this year, there is anecdotal evidence of a bigger than normal surge.
Donna Laws-Chapman, practice manager at the Timber Hill Health Centre in Norwich, confirmed that painful insect bites were on the rise.
'We have been inundated with patients suffering from insect bites, particularly during the hot weather,' she said. 'A lot of the bites were infected.'
The reported increase in insect bites is also being blamed on horseflies.
The insects prefer the countryside-and edges of cities, but can be found in suburban gardens.
Mosquitoes also appear to be on the rise, thanks to the growing popularity of water butts in gardens.
The insects breed in still puddles, ponds or containers and most people are unaware they have been bitten under the mosquito has flown away.
Dr Paul Barnard, of the Royal Entomological Society, said all insects were more active during warmer summers.
'Like all cold blooded things, the warmer the temperature, the better and further they can fly, ' he said.
http://f.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/articles/ic_print.gif Print this article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#ixzz0v6DQJE3u
By David Derbyshire (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=David+Derbyshire)
Last updated at 4:49 PM on 29th July 2010
Comments (101) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html)
If you're sitting in your garden and suddenly feel a sharp nip on your leg, beware - it may be the beginning of a thoroughly unpleasant experience.
Wildlife experts are warning that a superfly with a taste for human blood is being blamed for a surge of infected insect bites that has left some victims hospitalised.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A7EA0E6000005DC-227_224x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A743C14000005DC-41_224x423.jpg
Victims: Singer Mollie King and golfer Ian Poulter have both been laid low by insect bites as a warm wet summer provides perfect breeding conditions for flies
'THE NURSE TOOK ONE LOOK AND GASPED'
BY SARA NATHAN
There was a brief, sharp sensation as an insect bit into my ankle.
As I stood talking to a friend underneath a canopy of trees in a West London park, I paid no real attention.
By the next day, however, the two, small puncture marks left behind had already turned into a rash.
A day later and my foot looked like it could have been John Hurt's extra prop in The Elephant Man.
I could not put it down or walk on it. I had no choice but to get to my local A&E.
There the nurse took one look and gasped (I told you it looked vile).
Within minutes a doctor was with me and informed me I had contracted cellulitis, a bacterial-infection, most likely from a horsefly.
As the medics worried that the infection had hit my bloodstream, I was immediately pumped full of antibiotics, admitted to a ward, and spent the next two days on a drip.
When I was released, I had to take two different types of antibiotics four times a day to clear up the infection.
It has now been two weeks since the dreaded bite, my left foot is still sore - and I may even have to return to hospital.
The experts say the Blandford fly - a tiny bug that used to be found only in streams in rural southern England - is moving into towns and cities, encouraged by the popularity of garden water features.
The creature may be just two or three millimetres long but it packs a painful and unpleasant punch.
Its bites often turn infectious and can leave victims needing hospital treatment.
Concerns about the spread of the Blandford fly, also known as the black fly, follow reports of a rise in infected insect bites in the last few weeks.
The increase appears to have been triggered by the warm and wet weather which has made insects - such as horseflies, mosquitoes and midges - more active, particularly in the evening.
The balmy evenings have also encouraged people into their gardens where they are more likely to be bitten.
Researchers suspect some of the more serious cases are the handiwork of the Blandford fly.
Pop singer Mollie King, from The Saturdays, was forced to abandon a TV appearance earlier this month after she was bitten by a fly.
The 23-year-old was treated in hospital for the painful skin condition cellulitis after her foot swelled up.
And English golfer Ian Poulter pulled out of the French Open last month after an insect bite on his right shin became badly infected.
Stuart Hine, entomologist at the Natural History Museum, said: 'There appears to be more people who have been bitten recently.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/28/article-0-0A9B7605000005DC-659_468x827.jpg
'MY BOYS THOUGHT I TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE'
BY RAY MASSEY
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/07/29/article-1298527-0A9AAEDF000005DC-458_223x127.jpg 'You're going to be in hospital for at least a week and possibly a fortnight,' said the consultant on my first night as a patient with a grotesquely swollen and acutely painful left leg.
'What? From an insect bite?,' I gasped.
I'm still not exactly sure what the culprit was which landed me in Kingston Hospital, Surrey.
After clearing a pile of earth and cuttings in the garden, I awoke the next day, Thursday, with an intense case of the shivers.
My teeth were chattering and an hour later I had the sweats and my legs were locked.
The agony centred on my left leg. By Saturday it took me an hour to get out of bed, such was the piercing intensity of the pain.
By Sunday four or five large blisters, the size of half golf balls, had erupted on my leg. My two young boys were convinced I was turning into a zombie.
By Monday my GP had whisked me into hospital. Pumped full of heavy duty antibiotics at regular intervals, I had to sit it out.
The pain dispersed and I was walking wounded but the leg looks disgusting and will for some time yet as the globe-like blisters recede.
I received fantastic care from the medical and nursing staff at Kingston Hospital's Blyth Ward, as well as the hospital's medical assessment units which sent me there. But recovery will be slow.
One parlour game that kept us all amused was speculating on which South American country - as a relief map - my leg most resembled.
A constant refrain from friends, family and medical staff has been this: 'What bit you?' 'I have no idea,' has been my answer, 'but when I find it, it's toast.'
'I suspect it's mostly about changes in human behaviour because of the warmer weather, rather than changes in insect behaviour.
'We have had a lot of dry, warm spells and there are more people out and about, particularly in the evenings which increases the chance of being bitten.
'Mosquitoes are the biggest biter, but over the last few years there has been a greater incidence of black flies. They are beginning to breed more in towns and cities.'
Blandford flies breed in moving water and are traditionally found close to rivers and streams.
However, Mr Hine said the growing popularity of water features in the last decade - fuelled by garden makeover shows - had encouraged them into the suburbs.
'More people have been bitten by these flies over the last few years,' he added. 'The bites come up with huge swellings and people can have an extreme reaction.'
GPs expect to see an increase in insect bites in June and July when people spent more time in the gardens.
But this year, there is anecdotal evidence of a bigger than normal surge.
Donna Laws-Chapman, practice manager at the Timber Hill Health Centre in Norwich, confirmed that painful insect bites were on the rise.
'We have been inundated with patients suffering from insect bites, particularly during the hot weather,' she said. 'A lot of the bites were infected.'
The reported increase in insect bites is also being blamed on horseflies.
The insects prefer the countryside-and edges of cities, but can be found in suburban gardens.
Mosquitoes also appear to be on the rise, thanks to the growing popularity of water butts in gardens.
The insects breed in still puddles, ponds or containers and most people are unaware they have been bitten under the mosquito has flown away.
Dr Paul Barnard, of the Royal Entomological Society, said all insects were more active during warmer summers.
'Like all cold blooded things, the warmer the temperature, the better and further they can fly, ' he said.
http://f.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/articles/ic_print.gif Print this article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1298527/Superfly-taste-humans-Summer-surge-insect-bites-send-victims-hospital-agony.html#ixzz0v6DQJE3u