First aid for insect bites

With the arrival of summer, many different insects wake up. And some of them are not as harmless as they seem. Wasps, bees, bumblebees, spiders – these insects are dangerous, first of all, because when they bite, they release a certain dose of poison into the human body, which causes an allergic reaction of varying severity.

The most dangerous bites are considered to be in the head, neck and chest area. In some, especially severe cases, when an insect bite develops a serious allergic reaction – anaphylactic shock. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how to behave in such a situation.

First of all, you need to know what you can not do in any case.

First, it should be understood that scratching the tissues in the bite area can lead to further spread of the poison, and also in this way it is very easy to bring an infection into the wound, which will only aggravate the situation and lead to serious consequences.

Secondly, you can not use water from nearby natural sources to cool or wash the wound, as this in most cases leads to infection, and sometimes to tetanus infection.

First aid for bites of such insects includes:

• Calm the victim down. 
• If the sting remains in the skin, use your fingernail to scrape it out. Do this in a sliding motion, hooking and pulling the sting out of the skin. Do not use tweezers, because this way you can squeeze the bag of poison and thus squeeze a large amount of poison into the bloodstream.
• Cool the bite site with ice to reduce swelling, burning, and pain. You can use hypothermic packages. To relieve itching, you can use an ointment or lotion.
• Rinse the bite area with water.
• If the victim is stung in the mouth or throat, let him suck an ice cube or rinse his mouth with cold water. This will reduce the risk of laryngeal edema.
• If the victim develops an allergic reaction and feels worse, give him a half-sitting position. This will make it easier for the victim to breathe.

Call the emergency services if:

• The victim has an increased sensitivity to insect venom, and he does not feel well.
• The victim was stung in the mouth or throat.
• You can't extract the sting yourself.
• The victim's well-being worsens after the bite.

In particularly severe cases, insect bites can develop a serious allergic reaction – anaphylactic shock. This reaction is terrible because it occurs and develops very quickly – within a few minutes. The most susceptible to anaphylaxis are people who have a tendency to allergies, as well as asthmatics. As a result of respiratory and circulatory disorders, a person may die from lack of oxygen.

How to provide first aid for anaphylactic shock.

• immediately call an ambulance.
• give the victim a horizontal position and lift the legs.
• cool the bite site.
• in case of loss of consciousness, it is necessary to monitor the breathing of the victim every minute. In case of ineffective breathing (less than two exhalations in ten seconds), it is necessary to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Take care of yourself and be healthy!