Battling Bugs

Protect your Home from Bugs

• Clean kitchen surfaces and seal food in containers to eliminate food supplies for pests.
• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, when possible, and avoid dark colors.
• Avoid outdoor activities from dusk to dawn – when mosquitoes are more active.
• Inspect your home for gaps in window seals and doorways, to minimize the number of accessible routes pests have into your home. 
• Yard maintenances is also very important. Piles of leaves and grass clippings provide typical access points for pests. Clean out gutters, keep shrubs neat, cut branches back from the roof, and remove leaves and grass clippings from around the foundation.
• Homeowners can help control mosquito infestations in their yards by eliminating breeding grounds and environments conducive for mosquito activity. Pay particular attention to discarded tires, wheel barrows, pool covers, bird baths and flower pot basins that accumulate standing water. Turn over containers when not in use, and drill holes in the bottom of trash receptacles to allow for drainage.
• Make sure there are screens on all windows, doors and chimneys to prevent flies, mosquitoes and rodents from entering the home.  Check regularly and repair any holes.
• Firewood should also be stacked away from the house to prevent rodents, and insects from nesting near the home.
• Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks before coming indoors, especially if you've been in high grass or wooded areas. Many ticks are small and not easily seen. If a tick has latched on, completely remove it from the skin. Removal of ticks can be done by firmly grasping a tick with tweezers and pulling gently.

First Aid for Stings:
In most cases stings don't require medical care, but it is still important that these injuries are cared for properly to avoid complications.  Knowing a few simple first aid tips can help promote healing and prevent infection.

• A bee will leave behind a stinger attached to a venom sac. Remove the stinger as quickly as possible, because venom continues to enter the skin from the stinger for 45 to 60 seconds following a sting
• While much has been written about the proper way to remove a bee stinger, new research indicates that it doesn’t matter how you get it out as long as it is removed as soon as possible.
• If removed within 15 seconds of the sting, the severity of the sting is reduced.
• Wasps and yellow jackets don't leave their stingers in the skin after stinging, which means they can sting more than once.
• Wash the site of the sting carefully with soap and water.
• Several over-the-counter products or a simple cold compress can be used to alleviate the pain of a sting. Aerosol or cream antihistamine preparations that contain a skin coolant can also help.
• A sting anywhere in the mouth warrants immediate medical attention because stings in oral mucous membranes can quickly cause severe swelling that may block airways. 
• Seek medical care if you notice a large skin rash or swelling around the sting site, or if swelling or pain persists for more than 3 days, which could indicate an infection.

Approximately one to two people out of 1000 are very allergic to stinging insect venom.  You should seek medical care immediately if you notice any of the following signs, which may indicate a serious or potentially life-threatening allergic reaction:

• wheezing or difficulty breathing
• tightness in throat or chest
• swelling of the lips, tongue, or face
• dizziness or fainting
• nausea or vomiting

Individuals who are aware that they are allergic to stings should carry a ‘sting kit’ with them that contains epinephrine in either a normal syringe or an auto-injector, such as an EpiPen, whenever they think they might encounter stinging insects. Epinephrine is obtainable only by prescription from a physician.