Multiple bites or stings

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Multiple bites or stings

Multiple bites or stings can be annoying but rarely cause serious problems when they come from:

• Mosquitoes.
• Flies.
• Fleas.
• Bedbugs and kissing bugs.
• Chiggers.
• Nonpoisonous spiders.
• Scabies.
• Lice.

Multiple bites or stings from an insect that is not considered poisonous can cause a toxic reaction. In the United States, insects that most commonly sting or bite and cause a more serious reaction are:

• Bees. After stinging only once, a honeybee leaves its stinger behind and then dies. Africanized honeybees, the so-called killer bees, are more aggressive than common honeybees and often attack together in great numbers.
• Wasps, including hornets and yellow jackets. These insects can sting over and over.
• Fire ants. This type of ant attaches to a person by biting with its jaws, then pivoting its head and stinging from its abdomen in a circular pattern at multiple sites.

It generally takes fewer bites or stings in a baby to cause a toxic reaction than in a toddler, child, or adult. Likewise, it generally takes fewer bites or stings in a toddler or child to cause a toxic reaction than in most adults.

Credits

Last updated:	February 01, 2008
Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Reviewed By:	William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine, Sean P. Bush, MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine and Envenomation Specialist
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer