It is not a “flying tick”, but equally unpleasant.

A pest that is relatively unknown in Germany is spreading in Central Germany: the deer louse fly. In fact, these bloodsuckers do exist in this country, the site “ wize.life ” is not telling you an old wives’ tale, as some of our readers suspected.

Screenshot wize.life
Screenshot wize.life

No “flying tick”

Right from the start we would like to erase from memory the nickname of this parasite: Even if at first glance this fly looks like a tick, it is not, but belongs to the family of louse flies , its scientific name is Lipoptena Cervi . Rule of thumb: Flies and other insects have 6 legs, spiders and mites (arachnids) have 8 legs.

However, their behavior is similar to that of a tick

Since this insect is now spreading more and more in Germany, you should know where you can find them and how they approach the “victim”.
These animals mainly roam around in the forest and attack game there. Due to their greater distribution, they are now also dangerous for animals and possibly humans. However, they are more noticeable than ticks. Like the flies we know, they buzz around you before settling on the host. In dogs this is often the abdominal area, in humans it is the neck.

Now comes the part that is similar to ticks: They crawl quickly on the skin to find a suitable spot and then suck themselves there. The unusual thing is that they then shed their wings, so they have no intention of disappearing again. Bartonella schoenbuschensis , which was only discovered 20 years ago .

Is it dangerous?

To date, there have been very few studies into how the bacterium affects humans. You don't notice the bite itself, but the bite areas swell after a short time and resemble a bruise. There is also severe itching and pustular formation. The bacterium is suspected of causing heart inflammation in people, but so far this is pure speculation ! It is not even certain whether the bacterium is even transmitted to humans; investigations into this have only been ongoing since 2017.

Conclusion

The deer louse fly is actually spreading in Germany's forest areas. It has tick-like behavior, but is not a “flying tick”. There are still no established studies on the extent to which the bacterium found in the animal is dangerous for humans. The claim that the deer louse fly causes heart inflammation is currently purely speculative.


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