Turns out, what I thought was a patch of eczema last week, may actually have been an Oak Leaf Mite bite! What’s that you say? Well, I had never heard of them either but it seems that our giant cicada invasion this summer brought with it a surplus of Oak Leaf Mites.
Oak Leaf Mites – also known by their Latin name Pyemotes herfsi – are a tiny European mite species. Tiny? Barely visible to the naked eye at an average length of 0.2mm, the Oak Leaf mite is redish brown with a shiny exoskeleton. And because they are so tiny, you won’t just find them around oak trees – they easily blow around with the wind so you can get a bite even if you haven’t been close to an oak tree or even if you never go outside since they fit through the openings in window screens! Unlike other biting pests, DEET has mixed effectiveness for these mites so managing them is difficult.
Why do we have so many of them this year? Well, they LOVE to feast on other insects – and it turns out that the nests of 17 year cicadas that we had earlier this summer were just full of these mites. Yay? The good news is that by the end of this month, their lifecycle will come to a close and we can go back to our normal range of biting pests.
What does an Oak Leaf Mite bite look like? The bite generally presents like a pimple at the center of a red, irritated area – and it itches like crazy!
How to deal with a bite if you get one? In my case, the treatments I use for eczema were pretty effective. Hydrocortisone or calamine cream/lotions help a lot. I also slathered mine with Aveeno Eczema Therapy cream – the ceramides and colloidal oatmeal in that also help with the itch. I’m 2 weeks in with my bites and they are finally starting to calm down but it has been annoying. I’m definitely going to be glad when the bites – and the mites – are gone!
Want to learn more about the Oak Leaf Mite? Here are some resources:
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