Insect Bites
An insect bite produces a small puncture in the skin, and
infection may be introduced when the insect carries organisms in its mouth or
excrement. Tick fever, or Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is similar to
European typhus fever, is transmitted by the bites of ticks. In Mexico and
southern United States, a type more closely related to European typhus is
transmitted by lice, ticks, and mites living on rats.
Malaria and yellow fever
are carried by certain mosquitoes. While most of the United States is free of
malaria, in parts of the South it has not yet been eliminated completely
through destruction of mosquitoes chemically or elimination of stagnant ponds
and other places where the mosquitoes breed. If you live in or visit such areas
where malaria may be a threat, protect yourself against mosquitoes with a
repellent salve, make certain that screening is adequate, and if necessary use
mosquito netting over the bed at night.
You can be immunized against yellow
fever, and although the disease has been eliminated in much of the world,
immunization is worthwhile if, for example, you travel to parts of South
America or Africa which are near jungles where the yellow fever mosquito still
flourishes.
Animal Bites
Any animal bite that penetrates the skin should be
thoroughly washed with soap and water and treated by a physician. Rabies, or
hydrophobia, a viral disease affecting brain and nervous system, is transmitted
by the bite of dogs and other domestic and wild animals harboring the virus in
saliva. If possible, a biting dog should be caught and studied by the health
department.
If the dog is infected, or if it dies within 10 to 14 days, the
bitten person must receive Pasteur treatment or the new serum to prevent
rabies, which is a 100 percent fatal disease. If the bite is on the head, neck,
or face, treatment should be started at once, without waiting to see if the dog
dies, since the virus, when introduced at these sites, can reach the brain
quickly.
The rabies virus travels along nerves to the brain, so the
farther away the bite the longer the trip to the brain. In bites on the foot,
it has taken as long as a year for rabies to develop. Unless the dog is caught
and found to be free from the disease, Pasteur treatment or the new serum must
be given. All warm-blooded pets-cats, dogs, monkeys-now can be vaccinated
periodically against rabies by a veterinarian.
No pet owner should neglect this
precautionary measure. If a dog must be shot because of viciousness, it should
be shot in the body so the undamaged brain can be studied in a health
department or police laboratory. Any dog that is acting queerly should be
examined by a veterinarian.
