After cicadas descended upon the Chicagoland and Midwest area earlier this summer, there is now a new bug to worry about. But this one actually bites. 

“Very red, itchy and they pop out of nowhere. And every day you wake up with a new one,” said Kelsey Van, junior, about the mite bites. “When I wake up, I just have them, and I’m like ‘how did you get into my bed?’”

Recently, people have been noticing a surge of mosquito-like bites, characterized by itchiness, red rashes and giant welts. These bites actually stem from cicada mites, specifically, the oak leaf itch mites, according to NBC Chicago. 

“They thrive on the larva and eggs of cicadas,” said Peter Pintz, biology teacher. “Mites are sort of parasitic in that they prey upon the eggs of the cicadas.”

The mites are now appearing because of the summertime surge of cicadas coming out of the ground. The abundance of cicada eggs has led to a large growth in the mite population because they feed on them.

“If you go look at a tree and you see that it has a branch that has a couple of brown leaves on it, that’s a leaf that had a bunch of cicada eggs laid on it,” Pintz said. Leaves that have the cicada eggs on them are where mites reside.

According to researchers at Penn State University, “Studies have shown that the mites can fall from trees in numbers of up to 370,000 per day.” 

The mites are carried by the wind and are able to enter homes through window screens, which is why one may get bites every time they wake up. Most of all though, infested pine oak leaves are to blame. Raking said leaves, or having one of the trees in a yard significantly increases the chances of being bitten. 

Athletes participating in outdoor sports are also heavily affected by the cicada mite bites. 

“The Burns Field tennis courts have a lot of trees around it, and if you’re standing near the trees, or even just anywhere on the court, you’re definitely going to be bitten,” said Ella Yang, junior on the tennis team. “And it’s super annoying because the bites don’t appear until a few hours later.”

While major discomfort comes with the mite bites, there are things you can do to treat or prevent them. According to NBC Chicago, the most important thing is to avoid itching and scratching the bites, as they can open and become infected. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) states that calamine lotion along with topical anti-itch creams and oral antihistamines can help with this.  

The IDPH also recommends limiting the time doing gardening activities and the time spent under and around infested trees. If you see brown leaves, don’t sit under that tree, as there is a high possibility of mite activity in that area. Washing your clothes and showering immediately after exposure in those areas also helps reduce mite bites. 

Read more about cicada mites from the IDPH here: http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcitchmites.htm