These days, evenings of Spiti summer have become more irksome and not as pleasant as earlier. The whitefly, a small insect, has started entering residents’ rooms frequently during the evening. Bites on the legs, ankles and feet, arms, and neck that occur from dusk to dawn—these flying creatures are so small and silent that they are almost impossible to spot or capture.
These notorious creatures
are ‘sand flies,’ usually attracted by screen lights at night and human blood.
Females are bloodsuckers, attacking humans for the need of blood to produce a
new generation. Both male and female though feed on green leaves-sap/fluid for nutrition. Being a
carrier of vector diseases, they are dangerous when carrying diseases like
sandfly fever, which causes fever, headache, itching, muscle pain, and other
flu-like symptoms.
Despite their small size
(2-3 mm), sand flies pose significant public health and ecological concerns.
The prominent dangerous vector is for Leishmaniasis disease, which in later stages is known as Kala-Azar- a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania
parasites and transmitted by the bite of infected female sandflies. So, be careful and cautious about its presence.
Captured the attacker on the slide
Sand flies are weak
flyers and have short flying patterns. Under the categories of Arthropods and
insects, these tiny sand flies belong to the family Psychodidae of class- Diptera of suborder Nematocera, which means having two wings prominent and the other
two being small or rudimentary.
Prevention is better than
treatment
Effective repellent
lotions contain either dimethyl phthalate or diethyl toluamide as the active
ingredient. If the problem is severe and persists for a long time, some remedies can
be helpful like antihistamines (tablets/pills or in the form of lotion on the skin) to
reduce bite itching/swelling/redness. The intensely afflicted areas can also be
soothed by topical medications like hydrocortisone or calamine lotion, which are available at chemist shops.
Dhuni/fumes of aromatic local
herbs like Burse (Artemesia spp.), Chipcha (Oxytropis spp),
Shukpa (Juniperus spp.) and burnt fumes from citronella oil or herbal
candles help in keeping the sandflies away. You should refrain from scratching
the bites if you are bitten, as there is a greater chance of a secondary infection later when the wound is open to the environment.
This information is petite
yet significant—‘General public awareness is important before it becomes
endemic or becomes a regular guest of Spiti evenings.
