Question
Hello Jack,

I moved into an older house a couple of months ago, and after about 3 weeks of moving in, my daughter and myself started getting these bites all over. After going to the doctor, he prescribed steroid cream, which helped for a week or so, but then it got progressively worse the next 2 weeks. We went back to the doctor and he said it must be scabies (he did not do a skin scraping) and prescribed permethrin. Things were not getting better after 3 rounds of the permethrin and cleaning every night like a mad woman. I could feel these "things" on my legs and feet when I would walk through the kitchen or my bedroom. I moved my daughter out of the house and within 2 weeks she was fine. My situation got worse and the dog started scratching as well as seeing a couple of "tunnels" and some hair loss behind his elbows. I treated the dog with Revolution and have him staying outside and he seems to be fine now. The landlord sent over an exterminator and he treated the house for fleas. After he did that, the bites got even worse so I left the house and haven't been back in 2 weeks, with one exception... after 2 days of being gone, my bites cleared up and I did not feel them crawling on me. I had to go back to the house to get clothes and was in the house for less than a minute, and then I felt them again. I still continue to get bites, and I can feel these things crawling on me. When I feel them crawling on me, I use tape on the area, and pull off either a black/brown looking dot, or sometimes a tan colored dot. I've had an entomologist at Blackland Research take a look at them, and all he says he can see are some blue fibers, and one of the samples looked like it had some eggs and an insect, but he said it looks like nothing he's familiar with. I am at a complete loss for what's happening to me, and even going to a dermatologist found no answers. The bites actually look similar to a mosquito or flea bite. I can see a small dot in the center of a welt that is usually half-dime size. These bites occur anywhere on my body, but if the bite on my torso or neck, I seem to be more sensitive, even having one side of my neck getting really inflamed and swelling.
Any idea what this might possibly be? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

Answer
Janie,

Was that the Blackland Research & Extension Center in Temple, TX? If the entomologist at the station found no insects or mites it is likely that something else is causing the skin lesions. While these types of questions are very common they almost always turn out to be something other than insects/mites. I'm glad you had someone look at your sample under a microscope because that would have been the first thing I would have suggested.

The most common cause of these reactions (which very closely mimic bites) is allergy or chemical/physical irritant. Since this is a new (old) house my first guess would be some chemical in the house left by the previous owner. Do you know who owned it before you? Is is possible that they were doing something in the house that would leave a chemical residue? This would be the first avenue I'd explore. If it seems possible that there's a chemical residue of some kind, based on who lived there before, I'd start asking the county public health department about getting the house tested. Obviously I'm only guessing but I'm pretty sure it is not insect/mite related.

Post a follow up if you have questions.

Jack DeAngelis
http://www.livingwithbugs.com