What to do if bitten by a centipede? How to get rid of centipedes at home

In the hot summer, when people work outdoors or children play, they can be bitten by centipedes and poisoned. Indoors, if it is damp and unclean, centipedes may also sneak in, causing bite poisoning incidents. So what should you do if bitten by a centipede? How do you get rid of centipedes at home?

The centipede is a terrestrial multi-legged arthropod, commonly known as the hundred-footer. Its body is flat and long, with about 20 segments on the belly and back. Each body segment has a pair of legs, and the first pair of legs is hook-shaped and sharp, with a venom gland opening at the tip of the hook, located directly behind the mouthparts, so it is generally called the jaw tooth or venom limb, and it can discharge venom. Centipedes fear sunlight and like damp places. They mostly live in rotten wood, between stone crevices, or in dark, damp grassland, and occasionally hide in clothing.

Symptoms and treatment of centipede bites

When bitten by a centipede, its venom glands secrete a large amount of venom, which is injected under the skin of the bitten person through the venom gland opening of the jaw tooth, causing poisoning. The larger the centipede, the more toxin is injected when it stings, and the more severe the poisoning symptoms. Centipede venom is acidic and contains two toxic components similar to bee venom, namely histamine-like substances and hemolytic protein; in addition, it also contains tyrosine, formic acid, fatty oil, cholesterol, and so on. After a person is bitten by a centipede, the bitten area becomes red, swollen, painful, blistered, and necrotic, and lymph node and lymphatic vessel inflammation occurs, accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, coma, and shock.

The severity of a centipede bite should be considered comprehensively according to the following factors: 1. The size of the centipede is related to the amount of venom injected. 2. The manifestation of local symptoms and systemic poisoning symptoms. 3. The manifestation of allergic reactions.

1. Bites by small and medium-sized centipedes Local pain appears, and there is a white round swelling at the bite site, followed by redness, possible edema, epidermal necrosis, and lymphadenitis. It generally improves and disappears within 1 to 3 weeks. Some patients still have local swelling and itching 1 month after the injury if not effectively treated.

2. Bites by large centipedes Local burning swelling, severe pain, and unbearable burning pain. In severe cases, local blisters or necrosis may appear, with obvious lymphangitis and lymphadenitis. After the toxin is absorbed, systemic poisoning symptoms may also appear, such as dizziness, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, fever, and even delirium, convulsions, and coma. Because young children weigh less, their systemic symptoms are often more severe.

3. Allergic reactions Some patients have allergic reactions similar to bee venom allergy, developing allergic symptoms, and even anaphylactic shock, and fatal cases have been reported.

(1) Centipede venom is acidic. After a bite, you should tie a cloth band tightly 2 to 3 cm above the upper end of the affected limb, loosen it for 1 to 2 minutes every 15 minutes, apply ice around the wound, cut open the skin at the injury, use a suction device or cupping to draw out the venom, and immediately rinse the wound repeatedly many times with an alkaline solution (3% medical ammonia water, 5% to 10% sodium bicarbonate solution, or soapy water) to neutralize the acidic venom. The trace of a centipede bite is a pair of small holes, and the venom flows in through the small holes, so it must be rinsed repeatedly with alkaline water. Do not use iodine tincture or acidic drugs to rinse or apply to the wound.

(2) After rinsing the wound, the following treatment methods may be selected:

1. Grind realgar and licorice in equal parts into powder, mix evenly with tea oil, and apply to the affected area.

2. Crush 1 to 2 snake medicine tablets, mix with cold boiled water, and apply to the affected area.

3. Take the tobacco oil from inside a dry tobacco pipe and apply it to the injured area.

4. Use the saliva from the mouth of a rooster (hold the rooster upside down and the saliva will flow out) and smear it on the wound

5. Or take fresh dandelion, lobelia, houttuynia, mint leaves, fresh mulberry leaves, hyacinth bean leaves, Paris polyphylla, purslane, fresh taro tips, sweet potato, and other Chinese herbal medicines, choose one to several kinds, wash them, mash them, and apply externally to the affected area. They have pain-relieving, itching-relieving, and swelling-reducing effects.

(3) For severe pain, some painkillers may be taken appropriately; for those with signs of allergy, chlorpheniramine 4 mg may be taken orally 3 times a day, or astemizole 1 tablet daily. After the above treatment, if the swelling and pain at the affected area do not subside, the symptoms worsen, or the systemic symptoms are severe, the patient should be sent to the hospital promptly for treatment.

Methods for driving away centipedes

Centipedes are quite venomous, and if a centipede bite is not treated in time, it may endanger life. Therefore, if centipedes enter the home, you must find a way to drive them out or kill them. The relatively simple methods for killing centipedes in the home mainly include the following:

1) Place camphor balls in places where centipedes frequently appear;

2) Sprinkle lime powder at doors and windows and in other places where centipedes may crawl in;

3) Use pyrethroid spray to kill centipedes;

4) Close the room, fumigate the house with mugwort, and then ventilate;

5) Realgar water or a diluted solution of dichlorvos, sprayed on the floor and corners of the house and then keeping the doors closed for half a day gives the best effect

How to prevent centipedes

Centipedes like damp living environments. Therefore, in order to reduce the chance of centipedes staying and living indoors, be sure to pay attention to the following points:

1) Keep the home dry, and usually open windows more for ventilation. If water vapor cannot be reduced through doors and windows, use desiccants such as quicklime for dehumidification, or use an air dryer for dehumidification.

2) Centipedes like to live close to the ground and often hide in holes or crevices. Therefore, once you find that centipedes have entered the home, tidy up the indoor clutter. Do not leave objects all over the floor, and try not to let small gaps form between clutter and the ground. Do not give centipedes a hiding place, and they will naturally leave and find another hiding place.

3) Centipedes entering the home is often due to a damp environment around the house that is suitable for centipedes to live in. In some cases, centipedes intentionally or unintentionally intrude into human dwellings. Therefore, flower beds should be planned and arranged as far away from doors, windows, and wall foundations as possible, and clutter should not be piled close against the wall foundation, thus reducing the possibility of centipedes entering the home.

4) Centipedes often enter indoors through gaps such as door cracks, window cracks, and wall cracks. Centipedes are creatures active at night. Therefore, doors and windows should be closed tightly at night, especially in the hot summer, when many people open doors and windows at night to cool off, which easily leads to centipedes entering the home. If there are cracks in the walls, they must be blocked.