10 dangerous bugs you need to watch out for this summer
Don't learn about these the hard way
Ticks
You've already heard about Lyme disease, but ticks also spread other severe or even life-threatening illnesses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Heartland virus and Possawan virus. If you find a tick on you and start experiencing symptoms of a tick-borne illness, it's important to contact your doctor immediately — as with any other serious reactions to a bug or bite.
Kissing Bugs
Found across the southern United States, these parasitic creepy-crawlers carry Chagas disease, an infection that can double or triple your risk of death. More than 300,000 people in the country currently live with it, and most don't even realize, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Triatomine bugs — also called kissing, assassin or vampire bugs — hide indoors and out and usually bite humans while they're sleeping.
Mosquitoes
It's not just the itchy bites that bug the heck out of you. The blood suckers actually rank as the deadliest animal in the world because they're disease vectors. In the U.S., applying insect repellent and covering your skin will help protect you from West Nile and Zika viruses.
Black Widow Spiders
These venomous weavers hang out in woodpiles, fences, or other places with undisturbed debris. You can identify them by the red dots or hourglass shape found underneath the abdomen. According to the CDC, most bites occur when a person accidentally brushes against a web. The disruption prompts the black widow to strike, releasing a neurotoxic venom into the skin via two puncture marks.
Brown Recluse Spiders
The other spider species you should learn to identify: the brown recluse. Most common in the Midwest and South, these arachnids have dark violin-shaped markings behind their heads. The venom can destroy skin tissue, so keep an eye out in log, rock, or leaf piles as well as dark closets, attics, and shoes, the CDC says.
Chiggers
Chiggers live in grassy and brush-filled areas predominantly in the Southeast and Midwest. They're almost too small to see, but the larvae can cause outsized pain with their parasitic bites. The best way to get rid of the mites is by mowing and pruning; as for the itchy red bumps, soothe the inflammation with calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream, the Mayo Clinic advises.
Fire Ants
If you live in the South, you'll want to steer very clear of fire ant mounds. The hills may not measure even a foot high, but each nest contains between 100,000 to 500,000 insects, according to Orkin. The ants will latch onto victims with their jaws and then repeatedly inject venom with stingers until they're brushed off or killed. As if the initial burning sensation wasn't bad enough, the bites then develop into fluid-filled pustules.
Bees
The good news: Bees — even Africanized "killer" bees — don't act out of aggression, BBC reports. These helpful pollinators only deploy their venom as a defense mechanism against someone swatting or disrupting the hive. The reason they're so dangerous is that some people can experience severe allergic reactions to the stings, so it's important to carry an EpiPen if you know you're one of them.
Wasps and Hornets
While bees will generally only sting once, these relatives can do it multiple times. If you find a stinger embedded in your skin, use a fingernail or credit card to scrape it away instead of tweezers, which may release more venom into the wound. Wearing light-colored clothing and skipping perfume may also deter stinging insects in the first place.
Horse Flies
There's more than a few species of biting flies that can ruin your outdoor adventure, but these bloodsucking insects give out some of the most painful bites thanks to their knife-life mouthparts, according to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. Besides just general discomfort, the bumps can then get infected by scratching. Protect yourself from horse flies — and most of the other pests on this list — by applying insect repellent with deet or permethrin and wearing long sleeves and pants.
Ticks
You've already heard about Lyme disease, but ticks also spread other severe or even life-threatening illnesses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Heartland virus and Possawan virus. If you find a tick on you and start experiencing symptoms of a tick-borne illness, it's important to contact your doctor immediately — as with any other serious reactions to a bug or bite.
Kissing Bugs
Found across the southern United States, these parasitic creepy-crawlers carry Chagas disease, an infection that can double or triple your risk of death. More than 300,000 people in the country currently live with it, and most don't even realize, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Triatomine bugs — also called kissing, assassin or vampire bugs — hide indoors and out and usually bite humans while they're sleeping.
Mosquitoes
It's not just the itchy bites that bug the heck out of you. The blood suckers actually rank as the deadliest animal in the world because they're disease vectors. In the U.S., applying insect repellent and covering your skin will help protect you from West Nile and Zika viruses.
Black Widow Spiders
These venomous weavers hang out in woodpiles, fences, or other places with undisturbed debris. You can identify them by the red dots or hourglass shape found underneath the abdomen. According to the CDC, most bites occur when a person accidentally brushes against a web. The disruption prompts the black widow to strike, releasing a neurotoxic venom into the skin via two puncture marks.
Brown Recluse Spiders
The other spider species you should learn to identify: the brown recluse. Most common in the Midwest and South, these arachnids have dark violin-shaped markings behind their heads. The venom can destroy skin tissue, so keep an eye out in log, rock, or leaf piles as well as dark closets, attics, and shoes, the CDC says.
Chiggers
Chiggers live in grassy and brush-filled areas predominantly in the Southeast and Midwest. They're almost too small to see, but the larvae can cause outsized pain with their parasitic bites. The best way to get rid of the mites is by mowing and pruning; as for the itchy red bumps, soothe the inflammation with calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream, the Mayo Clinic advises.
Fire Ants
If you live in the South, you'll want to steer very clear of fire ant mounds. The hills may not measure even a foot high, but each nest contains between 100,000 to 500,000 insects, according to Orkin. The ants will latch onto victims with their jaws and then repeatedly inject venom with stingers until they're brushed off or killed. As if the initial burning sensation wasn't bad enough, the bites then develop into fluid-filled pustules.
Bees
The good news: Bees — even Africanized "killer" bees — don't act out of aggression, BBC reports. These helpful pollinators only deploy their venom as a defense mechanism against someone swatting or disrupting the hive. The reason they're so dangerous is that some people can experience severe allergic reactions to the stings, so it's important to carry an EpiPen if you know you're one of them.
Wasps and Hornets
While bees will generally only sting once, these relatives can do it multiple times. If you find a stinger embedded in your skin, use a fingernail or credit card to scrape it away instead of tweezers, which may release more venom into the wound. Wearing light-colored clothing and skipping perfume may also deter stinging insects in the first place.
Horse Flies
There's more than a few species of biting flies that can ruin your outdoor adventure, but these bloodsucking insects give out some of the most painful bites thanks to their knife-life mouthparts, according to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. Besides just general discomfort, the bumps can then get infected by scratching. Protect yourself from horse flies — and most of the other pests on this list — by applying insect repellent with deet or permethrin and wearing long sleeves and pants.
Ticks
You've already heard about Lyme disease, but ticks also spread other severe or even life-threatening illnesses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Heartland virus and Possawan virus. If you find a tick on you and start experiencing symptoms of a tick-borne illness, it's important to contact your doctor immediately — as with any other serious reactions to a bug or bite.
Kissing Bugs
Found across the southern United States, these parasitic creepy-crawlers carry Chagas disease, an infection that can double or triple your risk of death. More than 300,000 people in the country currently live with it, and most don't even realize, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Triatomine bugs — also called kissing, assassin or vampire bugs — hide indoors and out and usually bite humans while they're sleeping.
Mosquitoes
It's not just the itchy bites that bug the heck out of you. The blood suckers actually rank as the deadliest animal in the world because they're disease vectors. In the U.S., applying insect repellent and covering your skin will help protect you from West Nile and Zika viruses.
Black Widow Spiders
These venomous weavers hang out in woodpiles, fences, or other places with undisturbed debris. You can identify them by the red dots or hourglass shape found underneath the abdomen. According to the CDC, most bites occur when a person accidentally brushes against a web. The disruption prompts the black widow to strike, releasing a neurotoxic venom into the skin via two puncture marks.
Brown Recluse Spiders
The other spider species you should learn to identify: the brown recluse. Most common in the Midwest and South, these arachnids have dark violin-shaped markings behind their heads. The venom can destroy skin tissue, so keep an eye out in log, rock, or leaf piles as well as dark closets, attics, and shoes, the CDC says.
Chiggers
Chiggers live in grassy and brush-filled areas predominantly in the Southeast and Midwest. They're almost too small to see, but the larvae can cause outsized pain with their parasitic bites. The best way to get rid of the mites is by mowing and pruning; as for the itchy red bumps, soothe the inflammation with calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream, the Mayo Clinic advises.
Fire Ants
If you live in the South, you'll want to steer very clear of fire ant mounds. The hills may not measure even a foot high, but each nest contains between 100,000 to 500,000 insects, according to Orkin. The ants will latch onto victims with their jaws and then repeatedly inject venom with stingers until they're brushed off or killed. As if the initial burning sensation wasn't bad enough, the bites then develop into fluid-filled pustules.
Bees
The good news: Bees — even Africanized "killer" bees — don't act out of aggression, BBC reports. These helpful pollinators only deploy their venom as a defense mechanism against someone swatting or disrupting the hive. The reason they're so dangerous is that some people can experience severe allergic reactions to the stings, so it's important to carry an EpiPen if you know you're one of them.
Wasps and Hornets
While bees will generally only sting once, these relatives can do it multiple times. If you find a stinger embedded in your skin, use a fingernail or credit card to scrape it away instead of tweezers, which may release more venom into the wound. Wearing light-colored clothing and skipping perfume may also deter stinging insects in the first place.
Horse Flies
There's more than a few species of biting flies that can ruin your outdoor adventure, but these bloodsucking insects give out some of the most painful bites thanks to their knife-life mouthparts, according to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. Besides just general discomfort, the bumps can then get infected by scratching. Protect yourself from horse flies — and most of the other pests on this list — by applying insect repellent with deet or permethrin and wearing long sleeves and pants.
Don't learn about these the hard way
Summer means more camping, swimming and just generally soaking up the sunshine, but all of that warm-weather fun also means more encounters with some not-so-welcoming species. Ticks, mosquitoes and kissing bugs can spread dangerous diseases. Fire ants, horse flies and chiggers inflict painful bites. And let's not forget about venomous spiders and stinging bees, wasps and hornets. Keep your eye out for these critters this summer.