Plague of parasites that float in the wind and ‘slurp liquid from human skin’ sweep US state

A PLAGUE of tiny parasites that can travel with the wind has invaded parts of the US after a historic insect emergence.

This April, trillions of cicadas – an insect that can grow as large as a hummingbird – began their descent on the midwest and southeast of the US.

Although most of the creepy crawlies have died off, the eggs (larvae) they left behind are now feeding oak leaf itch mites, causing a surge in rashes across Illinois, in the midwest.

The mites, less than half a millimetre in length and nearly invisible to the human eye, make their presence painfully known to anyone unlucky enough to be bitten.

They are also so tiny, they can easily be carried by the wind.

“The mites do not take blood,” Jennifer Rydzewski, an ecologist at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, told Newsweek.

Instead, “they inject saliva into the top layer of skin and slurp up the liquid.”

The bites trigger an inflammatory response in the body, leading to small, itchy bumps or blisters surrounded by large red circles that resemble a rash.

Scratching these rashes can result in open wounds, which are susceptible to bacterial infections.

“We have seen a significant increase in our suburban locations compared to our downtown office and this is presumably because that’s where the cicadas were,” Dr Jordan Carqueville, from The Derm Institute of Chicago, told NBC Chicago.

The phenomenon of itch mite outbreaks in the US is not new.

In 2021, The Washington Post reported that some residents in the DC area were experiencing the mites after the cicadas left. 

“We wake up at night just scratching,” one woman told the Post.

“It’s like we have splotches of white paint all over us now that we’re using the calamine [lotion].

“The sores are red and swollen, so it’s not pretty,” she added.

The latest cicada emergence seems to have brought them back. 

“I think they’re back and I don’t know what to do about them,” one TikToker said in June, showing a raised bump on her arm surrounded by a rashy-looking red area.

“It lasts forever….they are awful.” 

Investigations into the parasite found it had been feasting on eggs of oak gall midges, a type of fly that lays eggs on oak trees – hence the nickname oak tree mite.

When their populations surge and their food sources are exhausted, they turn to biting humans.

You should avoid being under oak trees, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which also recommends keeping windows closed because the mites are so small they can “pass through window screens.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s website says “DEET and other insect repellents may not work” on the oak itch mites.