Fleas can be carried by a range of host animals including our pets, rodents and birds. It is easy to mistake fleas as just a nuisance for pets and for us, not a serious threat to anyone’s health. However, fleas can transmit a surprising number of diseases to animals and humans. Fleas can cause serious harm to you and your pet’s health through their bites and when they are ingested.

Damage fleas cause

PetMD and PetCarerX warn of the risks fleas pose to humans and pets as follows.

To humans, fleas can cause:

  • Murine Typhus a bacterial infection that can cause a headache, fever, nausea, and body aches. Left untreated, it can lead to worse illnesses including diabetes, kidney disease, and a history of alcohol abuse. The disease can ultimately lead to death.
  • Mycoplasma haemofelis (M. haemofelis) is a parasitic bacterial disease that is transmitted to cats through flea bites, as well as tick and mosquito bites. It can lead to an infection of the red blood cells, that can cause fever and the destruction of large numbers of red blood cells that cause anaemia.
  • Tapeworms are a parasite that makes themselves at home in the intestines of dogs, cats, and humans. Children can get infected by accidentally swallowing an infected flea, which they can encounter while playing outdoors.
  • Cat Scratch Disease is caused by the bacteria that causes cat scratch fever. Your cat may seem perfectly healthy, but can still make you sick because a person may get cat scratch fever even if the cat doesn’t present symptoms. Cats pass the disease on to humans by biting or scratching a person hard enough to break the skin, or by licking on or near wounds or scabs. In rare cases of human infection, the disease can affect the brain, eyes, heart, or other internal organs, though these complications are more likely to occur in children under the age of five and in people with compromised or weakened immune systems

To animals, fleas cause a number of diseases, some of which can be fatal. including

  • Plague – infected cats and dogs will have a fever, swollen lymph nodes, and may even die suddenly without much warning.
  • Flea allergy dermatitis -leading to hot spots and extreme itchiness for pets. Dog hot spots are infected patches of circular skin that could soon become a big wound if your pet continues to itch and bite at it.
  • Haemobartonellosis can also be carried by fleas – The disease targets red blood cells and can range from mild to very severe symptoms. If very severe cases, it can cause cats to suffer anaemia that results in weight loss and a fast heart rate and eventually death if left untreated. Dog can suffer loss of appetite and weight loss

Flea treatment service

Using just shop-brought fumigation products doesn’t always work due to the flea being able to lay dormant for many months and the insecticide not being able to penetrate the outer layer of the eggs.

Envirowell supply a range of thorough treatments for fleas including a heat treatment to focus on eggs and larvae hidden under carpets and areas of built-up lint materials. on our treatment process we find the initial source of the flea infestation and then advise on prevention of the small insects.

So if you have spotted any signs of a pest in your property.

Call us now so we can quickly get you pest free.