Question
Ok around july 17th my gf brought home a kitten that a friend gave her. Two days later we realized she had fleas. We took her to the vet. Got advantage and applied it. Found dead fleas and did a good clean up. Fast forward to august 10th, my gf gives up the kitten to her mother because im allergic to cats. Jump to august 19th, my gf is complaining of itchy spots. One on her foot, one on her ankle, one on her leg and one on her thigh. I apply so cortisone cream to help the itch. The next day when she came home from work, she got undressed to apply some more cream and saw a bug crawling on her. I have no idea what bug it was because she slapped it off her leg so fast. To me it looked like an ant. It seemed to scurry like an ant in my opinion. So she made me use a bug bomb yesterday august 20. Now today I have noticed 3 small red spots on my foot but they don't itch. Im paranoid about bugs. I feel like things are on me when they aren't. Do you think this could be fleas from the cat? Or something else? I've examined the bed and have found nothing. I've washed the bed sheets and pillows. We have an orkin man who also sprays. We have all hardwood floor except for a small area rug. This bug thing is kinda putting a strain on our relationship as well. I didn't want the cat cause I was allergic and she did it anyway. Then it had fleas and I don't feel good to be at home. Im always worried about what bugs im going to find next. I hope you can ease my mind and my nerves

Answer
Jen,

I don't think the cat or fleas have anything to do with what you are experiencing now and the ant could have been just an ant. I not sure I can alleviate your fears but I can tell you they are unfounded. They are very few insects, mites or spiders that can do you any harm. However, I know that people's fears are real. What you are describing is a very common condition called entomophobia, literally a "phobia about insects". There are some very good self-help books about this phobia or you could talk with your doctor about desensitization therapy. I wish I could help more but this is not really an entomological problem.

BTW, bug bombs of "foggers" are not very effective for any kind of indoor pest control and are generally not recommended any longer. If you want to apply pesticides indoors the new botanical (plant oil) pesticides are considered safer and more effective. Here's an article about botanical insecticides http://www.livingwithbugs.com/botanical_insecticide.html that may be interesting. Also, we don't recommend routine spraying for pests, especially not indoors.

Good luck.

Jack DeAngelis, PhD
Extension Entomologist (ret.)
My website about home and garden pests: http://www.livingwithbugs.com