Scourge of the deer fly

Hjortelusflua.Photo: Mehl, Reidar / Folkehelsa / SCANPIX

If you want to avoid this, you should be egoistic Lipoptena Cervi, or deer fly, adhere to the body, and if you get sick, you could stay that way for a year.

 

At this time of year, the deer fly are here and are waiting for you to pass by.

‘Deer fly wait passively for someone to get within sight,’ says Preben Ottesen, senior adviser at the National Institute of Public Health.

Mostly found off road, and on trails Deer fly are active from now until when the frost comes. Unfortunately, there is little to help with deer flies.

‘It goes straight to you no matter if you are using mosquito and insect protection, or something else. The chance of catching them is greatest when you go off road, and on paths’, explained Ottesen.

He said it’s a good idea to bring a comb when you’re on a trip.

‘Then you can quickly get them out of your hair. If you are you selfish, you start on the woodland trails a little later in the day, in the hope that others who passed by before you have caught them and cleaned the route.’

Dress well

Biologist and lecturer at Østfold University College, Rune Aae, told NRK that one should dress for protection.

‘There is, however, nothing to do with deer flies by way of mosquito protection. Nothing works on it,’ he said.

Here’s how to keep them away Deer flies are a blood-sucking parasite that live on animals such as deer, and moose. In the fall, they often land on humans. If you are unlucky you can get over fifty on you at a time.

‘If you first get deer flies on you, it’s best to get them off you as soon as possible. Squeezing them to death against your skin is impossible because they are leathery and flat.

The best thing is to pinch them with your fingers and throw them away. If they have broken their wings, they won’t be able to seek other animals or humans’, said the Public Health Institute.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today