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For your pets, fleas are a nuisance but fleas bite humans too. If you have a flea infestation in your yard or at your home and if you don’t take it seriously, fleas can jump on you too. You may not notice them as they prefer hiding in shades but you must take proper care as human flea infiltrations are as painful as pet flea infiltrations.
Go through this article and you will get to know the thin line differences between pet fleas and human fleas. Questions like “Why do fleas attack humans? How do you know whether you have been bitten by a flea?” may come to your mind. This article gives the answers and guides to take remedial measures for these flea infiltrations.
The common flea bites you tend to get actually comes from your pets which means they are pet fleas. Though pet fleas suck blood from cats and dogs, they can also opt for a blood meal from a nearby human host too. The common human flea is Chigoe flea (Pulex irritans). They are widely known as ‘house fleas’. The other one is Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis).
Generally, human flea’s initial hosts include animals like foxes, coyotes, skunks and other furry mammals living in jungles and dense forests having temperate climates. The evaluation of fleas occurred in South America. But now they also reside in parks, gardens and other dense vegetated areas near you because of vast scattering through mammals around the world and affect birds, cats, dogs, opossums, chickens, rats, pigs, bats and also humans.
It is also believed that their favourite host is peccary or guinea pigs. Human fleas tend to jump on humans due to various reasons and hair loss and anaemia are the first signs of human flea bites. The white oval flea eggs are .55 mm in length, the yellow coloured larvae having 13 segments are .6 mm in length, and pupae are 4 x 2 mm in size.
The adult flea is dark brown in colour, wingless and laterally flattened. Their sizes vary from 1.5 mm to 4 mm. They have a sharp mouth through which they suck blood from the host’s skin. Human fleas carry a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which causes plague in humans and mammals.
The commonest sources of fleas, attacking humans are their own pets. But there are other circumstances too.
Pet fleas infest in your pet’s skin and suck blood from them. But if these jumping pests realise that there are huge sources of blood meal near them, they will definitely attack you. Keep in mind that a healthy human adult body contains 4500 ml to 5700 ml of blood which is an enormous source of the blood meal. Pregnant women have more.
Useful link: How long fleas can keep away from blood resourced host?
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As soon as they sense a substantial stock of blood meal near them, they will attack. You definitely have a flea infestation, if you have:
Watch this video to know how to get rid of human fleas in easy steps:
You should have a basic knowledge about fleas so that when you get a flea bite, you can realise that there is a flea infestation around you. Once you are sure about the flea infestation you will have to:
You may look for the best flea-collars for cats too.
Flea bites irritate your skin and you tend to scratch the prickly spot on your skin. The first thing you should do is to stop scratching that spot as it may lead to an allergic infection. Instead, you must:
This video will guide you to get rid of human fleas:
Killing human fleas is easy. You can get rid of them in no time. The advantage of human skin is, it is not that hairy compared to the pets and so fleas cannot hang on it for a long time. But they choose your clothes and hair. Flea infestation comprises of 10% adult fleas, larvae and pupae and 90% flea eggs which are loose and tend to fall out from the place of infestation to places like beds and pillows at your home.
Once you realise you have flea bites on your skin, firstly go for an extensive wash. The wash includes your clothes, bedsheets, pillow covers and mainly you. Wash your hair thoroughly in hot water. Use a flea shampoo, salt and baking soda mix or even a dishwashing liquid on your hair.
You can use lice comb too after you have washed your hair. Apply flea repellent sprays (which comes with fragrances now) on your newly washed clothes. Apply flea removal techniques and insecticides at your home and outdoors. Lastly, consult an expert flea exterminator.
Dreadful diseases can be spread by fleas if they bite humans. Oriental rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) are still as dangerous in today’s life as they were in the 14th Century in the European cities. Rats were blamed as the disease carriers spreading the ‘Black Death’ during that era. But it is untrue. Humans were disease careers. The disease came from the rat fleas.
Be it, humans, be it pets fleas are harmful and you should get rid of them immediately. Human fleas are no less harmful than the pet fleas and are capable to spread a plague. Face them, fight them and get rid of them ASAP. Are you sure they are fleas and not Bed bugs?
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