These guys look like harmless house flies but pack a serious punch in swarms. Black flies do not transmit diseases like ticks and mosquitoes do but they sure can be a nuisance.
These small flies are commonly called “buffalo gnats” because of their humped back appearance. They are typically dark in color and appear in a variety of neutral shades from light gray to black.
It can hurt when a black fly bites because she cuts a hole into the skin so she can feast on a pool of blood. She also injects an anticoagulant to prevent the blood from clotting, which can cause a mild to the severe allergic reaction in some people.
The painfully itchy bite of the black fly is created when the female cuts a hole in the skin to suck blood from animals and people. Females will attack incessantly around the eyes, ears, scalp and occasionally on the arms and exposed legs. The pain and swelling of the bite are due to allergic reactions to foreign proteins and toxins that the female injects when feeding. Black flies transmit diseases in the tropics, such as River Blindness. Fortunately, they do not transmit any diseases to humans but can cause extreme discomfort and irritation due to their biting habits and/or great numbers.
The bites of black flies cause different reactions in humans, ranging from a small puncture wound where the original blood meal was taken to a swelling that can be the size of a golf ball. Reactions to black fly bites that collectively are known as “black fly fever” include a headache, nausea, fever, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck.
Besides being a nuisance to humans, black flies can pose a threat to livestock. They are capable of transmitting a number of different disease agents to livestock, including protozoa and nematode worms, none of which cause disease in humans. In addition to being vectors of disease agents, black flies pose other threats to livestock. For example, when numerous enough, black flies have caused suffocation by crawling into the nose and throat of pastured animals. On rare occasions, black flies have been known to cause exsanguination (death due to blood loss) from extreme rates of biting. Saliva injected by biting black flies can cause a condition known as “toxic shock” in livestock and poultry, which may result in death.
Black fly outbreak across Spokane brings itchy, bleeding misery
June 2, 2017, The spokesman review
Danniele Hall was with her two young children and dog in the Dishman Hills when the black flies attacked.
“Within five minutes, our daughter’s forehead and the back of her neck were bleeding from five different bites,” Hall said. “In the same time, our son had bites all over his shoulders, and I had a bite that caused blood to run down my face.”
Her daughter’s ear and neck became swollen and one of the bites on her son was turning into a blister. Even the family dog suffered bites on his stomach.
“It’s as if they’re feeding on our skin!” she said.
Are black fly bites a health concern?
May 30, 2017, Washington news
Health officials said Monday that black fly populations seem to be on the rise.
The Hole family in Spokane Valley said they enjoy playing in their backyard, especially little Sophia. But Sophia found out the good times outside can come with something very unpleasant.
Sophia’s father, Chris Hole said: “She started getting bit and we thought it was spiders at first but then we found it was black flies, they started getting her around the neck.”
Hole said his daughter has been bitten at least six times.
“She doesn’t ever feel them but she ends up getting little welty, red bloody wounds from it,” said Hole. “We don’t like her constantly being attacked when she comes out to play,” added Hole.
Blackflies are actually beneficial to our ecosystem. Black flies up on nectar and therefore play a valuable role in the ecosystem as pollinators. They also feed and filter dissolved organic matter, making it available to other organisms within the food chain. Since these insects are vital for our ecosystem, it is of extreme importance to find a safe and non-toxic solution for the blackflies problem which would keep these insects at bay while not causing any harm to these beneficial insects.
Now, we no longer have to depend on these conventional, toxic insecticides to deal with these pests!
We need a long-term and effective solution to control their nuisance.
We at C Tech Corporation have a solution to combat against these black flies. Combirepel™ anti-insect additive a C Tech Corporation product is the best solution to prevent the infestation against these pesky little black flies.
Combirepel™ does not kill the target species but only repels them thus balancing the ecology and thus helping in maintaining the goal of
sustainability.
Combirepel™ is thermally stable and does not degrade on exposure to heat and sunlight. It does not kill or harm the insect but repels them. It does not volatilize and does not degrade the soil. It is RoHS, RoHS2, ISO, REACH, APVMA, NEA compliant and FIFRA exempted.
Combirepel™ liquid concentrate can be mixed into paints in a specific ratio and can be applied to the interior and exterior of houses, schools, hospitals, warehouses, offices etc. to keep black flies at the bay.
Combirepel™lacquer can be coated as a topical application on the surface of wood/concrete metal fences. The lacquer can be applied to the already installed applications like cables, pipes, metallic decors etc. The lacquer is compatible with most of the surfaces like wood, metal, concrete, polymer, ceramic etc.
Besides this, we offer Combirepel™ masterbatches that can be added to cables, films, pipes, tree guards, etc. to protect them from the ravaging insects.
Our product works on the mechanism of repellency. It temporarily inhibits the mating cycle of the insects. The product impairs the ability of the insects to reproduce, that is the insects will not lay eggs or the laid eggs will be infertile. The product causes feeding disruption in an insect by triggering an unpleasant reaction within the insect which might try to feed on the application. The product temporarily blocks the reproduction system of the insects by hindering the release of the vital hormones for growth.
This product work on the mechanism of sustainability and green technology and therefore significant in today’s time and date as ecology salvation has become the prime focus.
Contact us at technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com to keep the pests away.
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