Termite Bite: 5 Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment Tips

Termites are wood-eating insects with very small jaws, using saliva as their digestive fluid to digest it.

Their saliva contains enzymes that break down wood chemicals to enable them to consume so much wood, making termites one of the most abundant insect species on Earth and one that can do great damage when left unchecked.

A termite bite is a medical condition in which tiny jaws of a termite soldier penetrate the skin of a person or animal, often with painful results; but, typically not serious in its effects.

Common symptoms of termite bites include itching and reddening of skin at the site of bite; severe skin reactions like abscesses may develop if not immediately treated after experiencing such an incident.

People have long engaged in “termophagy”, the practice of eating termites for nutrition or cultural ritual, often called termophagy.

Many cultures have developed specific methods for collecting and eating termites; the basic steps often remain the same: dug holes near termite mounds with fire lit nearby to attract termites which are then scooped into holes before being consumed (Cameroon: Bamileke).

Snouted harvester termites (Trinervitermes spp.) may be consumed as food sources in some regions, particularly drier climates where other edible insects are scarce.

When ground or boiled and combined with other ingredients like bananas or rice to form a paste or stew. They can even be eaten raw.

Consuming termites has long been a popular pastime among various cultures across time and history.

Some even kept colonies of these insects inside their houses to ward off pests and ants; however, over recent years this practice has become more difficult due to an increase in disease-carrying insects such as termites.

Coptotermes gestroi and C. formosanus termites can be highly destructive to buildings in Southeast Asia; most often dispersed via ships carrying goods from other countries.

Coptotermes gestroi is not known to attack humans directly; however, when provoked it can bite humans with sharp pain and swelling at the bite site; this may result in localized abscesses or cellulitis and severe itching reactions that require treatment with antibiotics; more serious skin reactions can be reduced by quickly cleaning off affected areas with soap and water following termite bites, while adding anti-itch medication can also help.

Damage

As their name implies, termites (commonly known by their initials Termitus) are wood-eating insects that pose an immense health risk to both people and livestock alike.

Furthermore, termite damage to agricultural or forestry products may occur as well.

Damage caused by termites is generally the result of colony attacks on structures to gain the nutrition it need for survival; their presence indoors typically indicates termite activity has already begun nearby.

Termite swarmers should generally not cause for alarm unless found indoors, yet their presence could indicate termite activity already occurring nearby if termite activity already is underway.

Coptotermes gestroi is classified within Isoptera’s Rhinotermitidae family, one of its more distantly related taxa.

It has close relations with the Xylostermitus genus and contains more destructive species.

In the wild, termites are harvested and used as fishing bait and in traps to capture birds like francolins, quails, and thrushes.

Informants have reported that termite mounds are often damaged to attract these birds before setting a snare on top of broken sections to catch them (e.g. DRC (Teke).

Earwigs, beetles, and flies often find refuge inside termite tubes, likely due to sugar released by swarmers or the smell emanating from a termite nest.

Treatment

Termite saliva can wreak structural havoc by weakening timbers and feeding on living trees, drilling holes in paper and styrofoam products like paper towels and even eating through concrete and masonry structures.

Coptotermes gestroi is an especially harmful threat in sub-Saharan Africa as a major pest of structures and represents an existential risk to many rural homes and buildings.

Preventing or treating termite damage requires several strategies, from barriers to soil termiticides. Soil termiticides may be applied preconstruction or post construction – either to protect building foundations from being compromised or treat already constructed structures already damaged by termites.

They typically contain pyrethroids like permethrin, cypermethrin, and bifenthrin as well as imidacloprid chlorfenapyr and chlorantraniliprole which are effective against termite damage.

Termite mounds may be constructed and treated to ward off termites (Chad: Banen).

Filled with leaves of Andropogon grass (Chad: Tupuri), manioc (DRC: Mbochi), Eriosema shirense (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae), banana (DRC: Baga), or banana leaf, these barriers are then covered with raffia, bamboo, straw or banana leaf covering (Burundi: Hutu).

Insecticides are then added to treat these barriers – an effective approach is achieved!

Informants in sub-Saharan Africa reported using snares set on termite mounds to trap fish and birds.

One participant from Zambia mentioned using one consisting of conical reed with a piece of termite mushroom; others used these traps on termite mounds to catch insectivorous birds such as guinea fowl, quails, and thrushes.

Prevention

Termidae termites create mounds of soil (geophagy) up to 5 meters high and 12 meters across, and Africa boasts the world’s greatest diversity.

These mounds may serve as burial places or be seen as oracles for future predictions; informants often speak about their destructive power as well as other characteristics associated with termite mounds.

Coptotermes termites, particularly Coptotermes gestroi, have become one of the most damaging species worldwide, being found across Asia and spreading throughout Europe and North America. C.

Gestroi is particularly detrimental, having infested buildings, structures, and trees across these regions – eating wood as well as anything containing cellulose before drilling through plastic, rubber, or styrofoam to reach food sources – even weakening trees until storms take them down entirely.

As opposed to insecticides which kill entire colonies of termites at once, bait stations contain slow-acting insect growth regulators (IGRs).

IGRs are spread among foraging termites before being passed along through their colonies to queen, king and soldier termites; eventually however they become fully effective and begin limiting new damage caused by colony expansion – yet even with this delay IGRs can significantly decrease or prevent damage to wood structures.

Diagnosis

Termites can do serious damage to homes, yet can be hard to detect until it is too late.

Regular inspections are key in helping prevent and treat termite infestations; professional termite inspectors offer thorough assessments that determine which treatment option would work best in each situation.

Signs of termite infestation often include sagging floors or ceilings that sound hollow when tapped; other indicators of an infestation could include mud tubes, wings that have fallen off and holes in the wood.

Most informants viewed termites as nuisance insects and rarely mentioned their pest status. Termitids, an expansive group of insects commonly found across Africa (p. 86, [1]), include Macrotermes spp. which build massive mounds five meters high and 12 wide used by wild animals and cattle as salt licks (p. 80, [1]).

Termites secrete substances with various defensive functions, including glues, contact poisons, alarm pheromones for soldiers and workers, irritants that repel or deter, and greases which stop mandibular bite wounds from healing (p.89, [1]).

When Spirolabia kaja sp. nov earwigs came into contact with Schedorhinotermes sarawakensis termites an antennation reaction was initiated and they avoided further contact by turning 180deg and moving away from where contact occurred (p89 [1]).