I asked a question a couple of days ago about red bumps on my son's bottom - luckily, one of the other mothers (Shelly R.) was able to point me in the direction of folliculitis and mentioned that her child had had the same reaction after flea bites. We HAVE been battling fleas, and I was wondering if anyone else has suggestions as to how to 1) rid the house of them (we've sprinkled Mule Team Borax on the carpets and vacuumed to beat the band), without using pesticides (we WILL if we have to), and 2) any other confirmation of having the folliculitis be three in a row (which is typical for bed bugs). We've (unfortunately) also had those, but the bites were different than the flea bites. Now though, we haven't had flea bites (with a darker dot in the middle and a kind of raised reddish area around it) for a while, so I was wondering if the folliculitis is a delayed reaction to the flea bites? Help!!! I had a pharmacist look at the bumps, which she confirmed were not bug bites - but I've just been reading about "parasitic folliculitis", which can be caused by certain mites, or damage done to the skin by other parasites (i.e. fleas) gross. Has anyone else had any experience in this area?
Has a doctor looked at the bumps? If not I urge you to get a medical diagnosis before spending time and money on something that may be totally unrelated.
There are companies that use natural ingredients to get rid of pests. Look int he yellow pages.
Oh I feel your pain.... My dogs picked up fleas for the first time about 3 weeks ago! And those fleas love my little 5 year old- poor girl. (she seems to be the only one to get the bites) Anyways, after fogging, yard spray, frontline and a box of Borax I finally called the vet for advice. Here is what they told me it takes to rid the fleas. First, she said by the time you see a flea they have already laid many, many eggs all over your house. Yuck! So, get your dogs on treatment- Frontline etc. Then vac, vac, vac your house daily. Not sure if the borax really works but I have been using it too. After you vac take the bag outside to the trash or the fleas will jump back out. She said you have to spray your yard once a week for one month to rid all flea stages. She suggested Wal Mart- its in a blue bottle that you attach to the hose, Bayer brand- Total yard control (I think). As for the house, my vet sells a spray called Knock Out that is safe to use indoors and you can spray it on everything from ceilings to floors. So, hopefully after a month you will see some real results. But she also said it your animals need the treatment for a minumum of 3 months to rid them of all cycles. Vacuuming has really seemed to help my house. We dont have alot of fleas I just see them here and there but it has gotten much better. These are some tough bugs!! Let me know if you want more info. Goood luck. Also, I was giving my daughter Benadryl for the itching. She also had similar bites like you are describing. We decided it was an allergic reaction to flea bites ( very common)
I am not sure if you mentioned this, but perhsps you should have a doctor look at these. while pharmacists are great and very helpful, they are not doctors.
For what it's worth, fleas on pets & in houses are rare in Colorado. What people out here (in the Denver area at least) call "flea" is usually a small black beetle of some sort.
(some info: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05600.html)
One of my son sometimes gets red bumps ALL OVER his torso. It's actually a reaction to detergent or fragrance (it can happen if we switch laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, diaper creams, lotions....)
GOOD LUCK!
we had professional exterminators treat our home for fleas. It was safe for my daycare & did the job.
