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The tropical rat mite’s bite is painful and causes skin irritation and itching. The spiny rat mite feeds on rats at night and hides by day in cracks and crevices around rat nests and resting places. They prefer warm places (e.g., around pipes and furnaces) where rodents live. The house mouse mite prefers to suck the blood of mice, but also will bite rats and people, often causing a rash around the bite. Three types of rodent mites readily bite humans: the house mouse mite (Liponyssoides saguineus), spiny rat mite (Laelaps echidnina) and tropical rat mite (Ornithonyssus bacoti). Rodent and bird mites may bite people when their hosts die or abandon their nests.
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RODENT and BIRD MITES (Liponyssoides sanguineus, Laelaps echidnina, Ornithonyssus spp., Dermanyssus gallinae, Cheyletiella spp.) Fortunately, the mites cannot live on humans, do not survive indoors, and are not known to transmit disease. When itch mite populations ‘explode,’ people and other animals may receive numerous bites. The mites cannot be seen and the bites are not felt, but leave itchy red marks that can resemble a skin rash. When separated from their insect prey, itch mites may contact and bite other animals including humans. herfsi) also attacks insects living in sheltered locations, including the larvae of midges (gnat-like flies) in leaf galls, and the eggs of cicadas beneath tree bark. Humans are bitten when they contact straw, hay, grasses, leaves, seeds or similar materials harboring the mites. Species including the straw itch mite ( P. Upholstered furniture, pillows and mattresses typically harbor more dust mites than carpeting. They feed primarily on dander, flakes of dead skin that fall from people and animals. Although they may “hitchhike” on clothing, dust mites do not live on people. But, unlike rodent mites, itch mites and chiggers, skin irritation is rarely caused by exposure to dust mites. Roaches and dust mites have also been implicated in triggering asthma attacks. That is, most persons diagnosed as being allergic to “house dust” are actually allergic to the dust mites whose bodies and feces are major components of dust. It has been shown that, like cockroaches, dust mites and their feces can become airborne and are one of the most common indoor allergens. Virtually invisible to the naked eye, house dust mites are nevertheless real. Much information (and misinformation) has appeared in recent years about house dust mites. Typical of many mite species, all clover mites are females capable of laying viable eggs without fertilization. They are most active in fall, and will seek refuge in structures as colder weather approaches, when molting (shedding skin) and when laying eggs. Clover mites enter homes when their food plants are removed or dry up. They feed on clover, ivy, grasses, fruit trees and other plants.
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Clover mites can be red, green or brown, and have front legs that are about twice as long as their other legs. If smashed when they crawl over carpets and drapery, the mites leave a red stain. Though they do not bite or cause health-related problems, clover mites can be a nuisance. This mite sometimes enters homes and other buildings by the thousands, causing panic among residents. The most commonly encountered mites, including those that can adversely affect human health, are listed below. While mites rarely transmit disease to humans in the United States, they definitely impact health in ways that range from simply being a nuisance when they enter homes in large numbers, to inflicting severe skin irritation that can cause intense itching. The irritation may be real or imagined: real, due to mechanical, chemical or other inanimate irritants, or imagined due to a psychological disorder. Yet, in many situations where mites or other “invisible” arthropods are believed to be biting or “attacking” people, no causative organism is present. Most mites never come in contact with humans, but some that do can affect a person’s health. All stages have eight legs except the six-legged larva. Like their relatives, the ticks, mites pass through four stages of development: egg to larva to nymph to adult. In fact, there are nearly as many different types of mites as there are insects. While some mites parasitize animals, including man, others are scavengers, some feed on plants, and many prey on insects and other arthropods. “Mite” is a term commonly used to refer to a group of insect-like organisms, some of which bite or cause irritation to humans. Mites Affecting Humans Mites Affecting Humans