Health encyclopaedia

Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

Bites, insect

There are various insects in the UK that bite, including midges, gnats, mosquitoes, flies, fleas, lice, spiders, horseflies, ants, mites, ticks, and bedbugs. These insects can bite animals and humans. When they bite they feed on our blood and can spread diseases. The saliva from the insect passes into the skin and causes irritation and swelling.

It is unusual to catch diseases from insect bites in the UK but in places such as Africa, Asia and South America you can catch diseases such as malaria. For more information on this, see the encyclopaedia entries on travel health and malaria.

• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

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