Urgent warning to Brit staycationers over potentially deadly insect risk – how to keep yourself safe | The Sun
A DANGEROUS insect invasion threatens havoc for holiday-makers this summer, prompting warnings on how to try to stay safe.
Disease-ridden horseflies are becoming rampant in UK gardens as well as resorts popular with "staycationers", experts have revealed.
And their stings and bites have the potential to prove fatal.
The British Pest Control Association puts the blood-sucking flying bugs in its "Top Ten Stings and Bites to Avoid List".
And unlike bees, they don't buzz so can come up against humans unnoticed.
This week's thunderstorms across the country – following a recent heatwave – offer the kind of muggy conditions in which horseflies thrive all the more.
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Possible reactions to being bitten by the insects include skin infection cellulitis.
And a bite also risks leading to anaphylaxis – a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can develop rapidly and severely.
Such side-effects are rare yet have led to deaths.
Former rugby player and father-of-four Andy Batty, from Brixham in Devon, died aged 48 after suffering a massive allergic reaction to a horsefly bite.
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He died within seconds of being bitten after suffering anapyhlactic shock, paramedics revealed.
Lindsey McManus, deputy chief executive at Allergy UK, said at the time: "Anaphylaxis to a horsefly bite is incredibly rare. It is more common for people to develop localised infection and pain around the bite.
"As with any allergic reaction, the sufferer would have previously developed antibodies, in this case, to the horsefly allergen by being bitten previously.
"The body's immune system reacts on further contact by producing chemicals such as histamine, which cause the symptoms that we recognise as allergy, including itching, swelling, rashes, and in the most severe form, anaphylaxis.
"This is very unusual and although horsefly bites can be painful, the likelihood of someone being this allergic is very rare indeed."
The BPCA is now warning of the dangers the bugs could increasingly pose, saying: "Literally designed to eat a horse, their bite is both impressive and painful.
"The horse fly is a sanguivorous insect and therefore wants to bite you.
"They can persistently chase you at a flying speed of around 15mph, and it'll bite right through clothes.
"It has mandibles that can rip and tear flesh apart."
And pest management firm Sentomol cautioned: "Unlike insects which surreptitiously puncture the skin with needle-like organs, female horseflies have specially adapted mouth-parts which they use to rip and/or slice flesh apart.
"This causes the blood to seep out as the horsefly licks it up.
"The horsefly is secretive, with an annoying ability to land without being detected and escaping before the victim begins to experience any pain.
"The subsequent bite can be extremely irritating.
"Its bite is considered more immediately painful than that of a mosquito."
Potential remedies include dabbing a bite with antiseptic then covering the wound with an ice pack to help avoid infection and swelling.
The NHS also recommends: "See your GP if you have symptoms of an infection, such as pus or increasing pain, redness and swelling."
One victim already this summer, Dean Collins from Brighton, posted online: "Was with my girlfriend in the park and just been bitten on the leg by a horsefly.
"Man, it’s so painful, far worse than a wasp sting."
Also falling prey was Alice Duvall, from Amesbury in Wiltshire.
She said: "Was in my mum’s garden yesterday and this horrible thing landed on my arm and the bite was excruciating.
"Left a huge red blotch which began swelling straight away. It was a horsefly – there are loads of them all of a sudden in this weather.
"They’re really sneaky too – I never felt it land on me, I only knew when it bit me. It didn’t buzz or anything, like a wasp or bee would.”
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