Emergent Care - Have you identified one or more of the following symptoms?
- Difficulty breathing, wheezing, rapid heart beat, hives and/or cough ("systemic reaction")
- Severe swelling of the eyes, lips or tongue
- History of serious allergic reactions, with or without breathing problems
- Insect bite of the mouth or throat or multiple bites
- Intense pain, open wound, muscle spasms, mental changes, chills, fever, nausea, vomiting
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Seek Immediate Medical Attention!
These symptoms can be life-threatening. |
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| carry an "Epipen",( a pre-loaded syringe of epinephrine), if prone to severe allergic reaction from insect bites
bees, fire ants, hornets, wasps and yellow jackets cause approximately 50 % of severe reactions
wear white or light colored solid clothes to avoid bee stings
peak swelling from a bite is in 1-2 hours
pustules from fire ants develop in 12 hours
an individual sensitive to flea bites may have itchy, raised, round bumps for weeks |
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Self-Management - You can help in the following ways:
- remove stinger if present, by scraping off with plastic card or fingernail
- do not squeeze or use tweezers to remove stinger
- rub bite with deodorant containing aluminum salts, baking soda paste or meat tenderizer or apply cold pack for 10 minutes
- apply hydrocortisone cream (Cortaid, Hydrocort) as needed to relieve itching
- take OTC antihistamine (Benadryl) as needed to relieve itching
- bathe with cool baking soda or oatmeal (Aveeno) to relieve itching
- trim fingernails to avoid scratching and possible infection
- tick bite - to remove, use tweezers near head and pull gently
- brown recluse spider - is fawn to dark brown with violin shaped spot; bite causes rash, ulcerations, fever, headache, vomiting, joint pain, yellow skin and shock
- black widow spider - has a coal black spherical body with an orange or red hourglass shape marking on under surface (note: bite can be life threatening in a young child)
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