Are there no see ums/midges around in Feb?

[eastern]

My little one has got a bite on his neck and says its very itchy it looks very similar to the midge/no serum bites he gets in the summer? I just wanted to know if they are still around in Feb

[Jonnie]

Not just yet. We are approaching tick season but just a thought have you been near pine trees? See the thread on processional moth.

Check at the chemist but I use Hydro-cortisone and fexophenadine anti histamine when bitten badly

[Bonnie]

Yes the mossies are around. I have seen them & have the bites as evidence that my eyes aren't deceiving me. I am fortunate to have them year round.

[davidthomas]

We've been bitten and have also seen mosquitoes. Strange, been here over ten years and not seen them before at this time of year.

[The Dog Walker]

I've seen them too, in my bedroom recently, but for the last 2 years I have been using Vick, the well-known vapour rub--just a smear on areas that could be exposed at night, and haven't been bitten at all during that time. Worth a try, and also for some strange reason,a little under my nose, helps me to sleep!

[eastern]

Ah thank you guys! My husband also said he has seen a couple in the house recently very weird for February time though, thank you for all your advice really appreciate it )

[karmels]

I have been eaten alive for the last two days with sand flies, the TR new gave a report of a very large sand storm over Southern Turkey, maybe this is were they are coming from. These sand flies can only be seen at night when you have low lighting on, the are like tiny white flying spects of dust, both my upper arms are covered in tiny lumps.

[eastern]

Karmels,thank you for your reply and yes this is what my son has on his neck defo looks like a midge bite and that makes sense if there's a sandstorm, annoying little buggers!!

[Deniz1]

Annoying and dangerous I had sand fly virus my first summer here and ended up in hospital it nearly killed me.

[eastern]

What is sandfly virus??? :/

[karmels]

It is called dengue fever, causes headaches, sickness and diarrhea body pains.
It put me in bed for 10 days, the only thing I took was dioralyte powders.
If you get these symptoms go to a doctor as it is dangerous to the very young and old.
You could search this on google for a better answer.

[dippersgirl]

I've definitely seen mosquitoes!! One landed on my laptop the other day, quite a sizable one. I always have a spray bottle by my laptop and gave it a squirt - sorted!!! Hoping that my laptop screen did not mind, cleaned it straight away.

[Maisiemoo]

I know a couple of people who have been to the Girne hospital with really bad sand-fly fever, dealt with very quickly and efficiently, put on a drip for a while and sent home. My husband was unfortunate to develop it 2 days after getting to the UK and was really ill, but the doctor at the hospital had no idea how to deal with it and his GP ended up having to research it online.It can be a really nasty illness and caused by such a tiny thing!

[Deniz1]

I was ill for 4 weeks and it took me ages to feel totally well again I got it again a year later but not as bad hopefully I am immune now.

[MrA]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappataci_fever

So called sand fly fever is NOT Dengue fever although it would have some similarsymptoms or is it as dangerous see above

Dengue is mosquito borne and basically tropical

[the butlers wife]

Sand flies have nothing to do with sand, beaches or sand storms. They are named so because they resemble a grain of sand, they are also too small to see with the naked eye. They do however cause flu like symptoms if bitten and can make you quite ill for up to 3 weeks.





The butlers wife

[karmels]

MrA.
Ask any doctor here in the season of sand fly fever and he will tell you it is a strain of Dengue fever no matter what you have googled.
If you have ever had this you will appreciate the distress it causes, to a family who have never encountered anything like this in the UK.
I have lived all over the world and have visited may hot countries, but I have never had anything like the SAND FLY FEVER I had here in 1997 when there were no private hospitals as we have now, KNIT picking on a word doe not give our expats any info on how it should be treated.
God help you if you ever get it, but at least we have the private medical care now.

[Deniz1]

I had only been here a month didnt know anyone really and lived on a half built site the foreman spoke a little english and he was the one who took me to the pharmacy who in turn took me to a hospital. I couldnt keep water down even. Thank God for these kind folk or I wouldnt be here today.Weeks after the slightest effort brought me out in a sweat I nearly packed up and left but so glad I didnt. It really is an awful thing whatever it is called. It is like really bad flu and food poisoning mixed together.

[Johnny Lee]

Deniz 1 that's a good description, only you forgot very very severe. we both had it within a month of arriving, I had literally thousands of bites and of course it can kill you.

People seem to think that it is only relevant to sand but any dry dusty area, (IE .TRNC) I read that in the first Gulf war our troops did not know what had it them and it it did far more damage to them than the conflict.

It will also depend greatly on the area you live. When we caught it we were renting in Bellapais area near Altinkaya about 400 feet above sea level, it was rife with Sandfly. A local couple who had lived in Girne all there lives purchased a mega posh house behind us, we got talking to her and she was distraught.

She had never seen them or even heard of them, until they moved to their new house, she did not want to sit in the garden or even be at the house,they purchased special out door machines to try to eradicate them.

Also people think they only come out at night . They are constantly around during the warmer months.

Also a major problem if they have been biting dogs and cattle etc. and then bite you.

[Deniz1]

I know!!!

[karmels]

Johnny Lee.
Thats a bitch, now not only will we get sand fly fever but rabies and mad cow disease.

[Toftsv]

I got bit by a sand fly in October on my left arm and I was very ill with it ( age 42 ).


I was on the strongest antibiotic over here as my arm was infected and poison was traveling up it.

If you have a fan facing you in or outside the house they can not land on you..... hope this helps.

Regards.

Peter.

[Jonnie]

MrA.
Ask any doctor here in the season of sand fly fever and he will tell you it is a strain of Dengue fever no matter what you have googled.
If you have ever had this you will appreciate the distress it causes, to a family who have never encountered anything like this in the UK.
I have lived all over the world and have visited may hot countries, but I have never had anything like the SAND FLY FEVER I had here in 1997 when there were no private hospitals as we have now, KNIT picking on a word doe not give our expats any info on how it should be treated.
God help you if you ever get it, but at least we have the private medical care now.

Sandfly fever is not Dengue, I would be surprised if you get Dengue Fever here. You may get sandfly fever here, not the same and not nitpicking either. Whilst I do not dispute people get sandfly fever here I do think it is over-diagnosed and often miss-diagnosed. God help you if you get Ebola, calling for divine intervention for sandfly fever is a bit unnecessary as most recover however unpleasant it is. I am bitten like crazy by sandflies during the summer and thankfully have had no ill effects so it is important not to create a panic. Largely you can avoid this with sensible measures such as insect repellent, treating your bedrooms and covering up. Pretty much as you would do to prevent mossie bites They will get through mossie nets on windows but if you treat the nets with the stuff you spray for cockroaches they will not come through. I do not have great trust in the private or public medical services here having had a friend recently told to eat 5 portions of fruit per day to control diabetes exacerbates that. It is all to easy for these doctors to inflate their importance and often their fees when actually they are just dealing with a form of flu virus.

[Jonnie]

I got bit by a sand fly in October on my left arm and I was very ill with it ( age 42 ).


I was on the strongest antibiotic over here as my arm was infected and poison was traveling up it.

If you have a fan facing you in or outside the house they can not land on you..... hope this helps.

Regards.

Peter.

That would suggest you had a bacterial infection rather than sandfly fever, a common result from a bite, you cannot treat a virus with antibiotics which is why we cannot treat the flu or a cold though bacterial infections often follow a cold. Again if the poison was travelling up our arm it would be from an infected bite not from a virus.

Good info regarding the fan, even if you do not run AC at night a fan is good, neither mossies or sandflies will travel. I spray the tops 18 inches of my bedroom with a foodsafe insecticide which seems to kill them when they land. Deltamix, more info here http://kibkomnorthcyprusforum.com/viewt ... t=termites

[eastern]

Oh dear this virus or whatever it is sounds super scary!!!
But thanks for all the advice once again

[karmels]

Jonnie.
My last word on this subject, if you are not a doctor go and ask one. I have had this fever and was told by A DOCTOR it was a strain of Dengue Fever.
Being ex military we use to have an international vaccination certificate with all sorts of things you could catch abroad, I visited some of the world dirtiest places and never caught anything nasty but the trots and in my job that was 4 days off work.

[MrA]

Having looked into this i suspect the confusion is that Sandfly fever is categorised along with Dengue, West Nile and several others as being the same "Type' particularly in symptoms. The WHO however has never had a recorded case of Dengue in Cyprus. I suggest that if this really is Dengue then not only should it have been reported to the Government Health Officer but the WHO as well, as it would infer we have infected mosquitos on the island which are the only transmitter of Dengue, these have been found outside their usual areas in recent years due to the increase in world trade and global warming, hence now being an issue in the Carribean.
I was certainly not "nitpicking" and yes good advice on Sandfly fever is needed and welcome for visitors and locals but we should not over alarm people about something that is not here (yet)

WHO Dengue map http://apps.who.int/ithmap/ (check the box showing Dengue overview)

This is interesting article about the effects of both SandFly fever and Dengue on soldiers.
https://static.awm.gov.au/images/collec ... 84--1-.PDF