Horse Flies (6552)

Female horse and deer flies are vicious, painful biters. They feed on the blood of cattle, horses, mules, hogs, dogs, deer, other warmblooded animals, and even humans. These flies cut through the skin with their knife-like mouthparts and suck the blood for several minutes. When they fly away, a drop or two of blood usually exudes from the wound, permitting secondary feeding sites for other nuisance insects. The flies are potential vectors of such diseases as anthrax, tularemia, anaplasmosis, hog cholera, equine infectious anemia, and filariasis. Also, deer and horse flies are suspected of transmitting Lyme disease (New England Journal of Medicine 322:1752, 1990). Biting deer flies frequently attack humans along summer beaches, near streams, and at the edges of moist, wooded areas. Some people, when bitten, suffer severe lesions, high fever, and even general disability. Symptoms are allergic reactions to hemorrhagic saliva poured into the wound to prevent clotting while the fly is feeding. A person can become increasingly sensitive to repeated bites. Nuisance Autumn horse flies "buzz" people and rest on porches during late summer.

For more information, please visit this Ohio State University fact sheet.

Penn State Entomology Dept.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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