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The bite sites surrounded by areas of purpura and more or less evident edema Slika 1. Mesta ugriza okružena područjima purpure i manje ili više evidentnim edemima
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Introduction. In contact with insects, people present a wide range of reactions, local or systemic, whether caused by insect bites or a venom injections, sucking blood or exposure to insect?s body and its secretions. Simulium erythrocephalum is an aggressive anthropophilic species, and following its bite humans may develop purpuric macules, edema a...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... patients were either outdoors on the riverside, or their residence was nearby the Danube river. The clinical examinations showed that the bite sites were surrounded by areas of purpura and more or less evident edema, accompanied by pain and itch (Fig- ure 1). In most cases, erythema affected a large skin area (Figure 2). ...
Context 2
... patients were either outdoors on the riverside, or their residence was nearby the Danube river. The clinical examinations showed that the bite sites were surrounded by areas of purpura and more or less evident edema, accompanied by pain and itch (Fig- ure 1). In most cases, erythema affected a large skin area (Figure 2). ...
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Citations
... In the natural environment, people are exposed to direct and indirect effects of insect parasitism, including Simulium spp., Lipoptena spp., and Hippobosca equina [18,20,21,[50][51][52][53][54]. However, many of hematophagous insects have a relatively short feeding period, which can make it challenging to secure them for identification purposes. ...
... Although many incidents of blackfly bites on humans and skin lesions caused by these insects have been reported worldwide [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57], such cases have been monitored [58][59][60] and epidemiological studies have been conducted [61,62] in a few regions. In Poland, insufficient attention has been paid so far to the effects of the parasitism of blackflies on humans [32,63] despite the wide spread and mass occurrence of these insects in some regions [33,34,[63][64][65]. ...
... Many case reports described in the literature from the beginning of the 20th century (e.g., [67][68][69]) to the beginning of the 21st century [32,56,57,70] show highly diverse reactions in humans bitten by blackflies and, consequently, a wide spectrum of local and systemic symptoms. In addition to the individual traits and sensitivity of patients, the diversity of symptoms may also be associated with the biological and physiological features of these insects, probably the composition of the saliva of various species. ...
The components of blackfly (Diptera: Simuliidae) saliva secreted during feeding on humans and animals induce various pathological reactions manifested by skin lesions and systemic symptoms. In this study, we describe 43 cases of severe skin lesions induced by blackfly bites and analyze their potential causes. Based on the results of a survey of 418 patients, we identified periods with risk of blackfly attacks and their environmental determinants in the eastern part of the European Union. Especially strong inflammatory reactions after blackfly bites were reported in patients with concomitant cardiovascular diseases (mainly with venous insufficiency), metabolic diseases, and bacterial infections. Enhanced symptoms of simuliosis were also observed in other patients attacked by these insects only once or repeatedly. The greatest number of blackfly attacks in the study area is recorded from May to July, with a peak in June (38.73%) in the afternoon (37.10%) and evening (33.03%), when patients are in fields, forests, or their households. The case analysis indicates interactions of various factors in the development of severe inflammatory reactions in patients bitten by blackflies. Therefore, it is recommended that subjects exposed to the presence of blackflies during their work or rest should limit the length of their stay in a vulnerable environment during the highest seasonal and daily activity of these insects. It is also necessary to take measures to reduce the number of blackflies and popularize methods for prophylaxis of their attacks.
... Cases of human dermatitis caused by Simulium have also been reported by other authors from various European countries, e.g., [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] and other parts of the world, e.g., [44][45][46][47][48]. ...
Due to their mass occurrence in some environments and high aggressiveness, blackflies (Simulium spp.) represent the most bothersome arthropods attacking humans. In this study, we describe the medical effects of blackfly infestations in humans in southeastern Poland. Local and systemic reactions to blackfly bites were monitored in 418 patients (61.24% of females and 38.76% of males) of medical centers. Only skin lesions at the site of the bites were found in 88.52% of the patients, whereas accompanying systemic reactions were diagnosed in 11.48%. The most common signs observed in the area of the bites were pruritus (94.74%), burning (55.02%), edema (44.02%), and erythema (40.91%). The skin lesions, which were most often grouped small papules and papular and purpuric lesions with a varied range, typically persisted for several days, or for several weeks in some patients. Statistical analyses confirmed that the persistence of the skin lesions did not depend on the sex of the patients and the number of blackfly infestations. The systemic reactions to the components of the blackfly saliva were manifested by headache, increased body temperature, arthralgia, lymphadenopathy, and menstrual disorders in the females. The patients were most often attacked simultaneously by many blackflies on exposed parts of the body, mainly the upper limb, lower limb, head, and neck areas. The investigations indicate that blackflies are an important etiological factor of dermatitis and other symptoms in humans; hence, they should be considered in clinical diagnosis.
The subgenus Boophthora is a typical Palearctic taxon, which includes only 6 species, among them. Simulium erythrocephalum has a transpalearctic distribution. In Europe, Adler notes only the species S. erythrocephalum, and Yankovsky – two species S. (Boophthora) erythrocephalum and S. (Boophthora) chelevini. According to morphological characteristics, these species differ in their life stages. We have studied the development of S. erythrocephalum and S. chelevini from three rivers of Volyn region, Ukraine (Styr, Chornoguzka, Putylivka) from 2017 to 2019. We used the EPPO PM7 / 129 standard. Collected samples, 615-bp fragments of the COI gene were sequenced from five individuals of S. erythrocephalum and five individuals of S. chelevini and compared with four samples of S. erythrocephalum from the GenBank. We obtained the nucleotide sequence of S. chelevini. All of the S. erythrocephalum samples from Ukraine had 692 bases, the S. erythrocephalum samples from Armenia had 673 bases. S. erythrocephalum and S. chelevini did not have any intraspecific variations. These intraspecific variations were not larger than the interspecific variations. It has been proved that the populations of S. erythrocephalum and S. chelevini from medium and small rivers of Volyn do not differ in biological, behavioural and genetic characteristics. Comparison of S. erythrocephalum and S. chelevini life stages showed clear differences in 20 morphological features, which are probably manifestations of phenotypic variability. Comparison of species with data from the GenBank from Spain and Armenia on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene confirmed the opinion that S. erythrocephalum and S. chelevini are one species. On the phylogenetic tree, the data are not grouped, there is no clear separation of the clades. Bootstrap values are 95–100%, which may indicate a significant similarity of all studied samples and the lack of isolation of individual morphotypes from Volyn, Spain and Armenia. To finally confirm the taxonomic position of these two species, additional research is needed covering more individuals from different parts of Europe and analysis of more genes.
