Ked Bites and disease transmission

[ShropshireSam]

I have some new ground in the Midlands where I shot four young Red stags on Sunday. I gralloched them without gloves as I thought I would be covered in blood anyway (and hands were washed). Needless to say I was covered in blood upto my elbows during the gralloch. When I washed my hands after I noticed my arms were covered in bites (about 20 on each arm), in the morning they were saw red welts and the next day my left arm had a red rash and was swollen. Thankfully my doctor has a good triage system so I was seen that morning and put on a double dose of strong antibiotics and anti-histamines. The swelling and rash have subsided leaving the itchy bites and some bruising. I can only assume it was keds and the deer blood caused them to have a feeding frenzy??? Looking online keds seem to rarely bite people but they can carry a number of bacterial pathogens including one that can be deadly if left untreated, but it is not proven that keds can transmit these bacteria to humans. I've ordered some oversleeves from BDS and from now on I'll be wearing those with my long gloves when gralloching Reds and Fallow. Anyone else have multiple bites during gralloching?

 

[HonestJohn]

Blandford fly? I was attacked and suffered hundreds of bites that lasted several months, I left them untreated which definitely aggravated the condition.

I’ve been covered in keds and never been bitten. Do they even bite?

 

[Buchan]

No. I always wear armlength gloves with vinyl over the top as it is cleaner for carcass and me.

I think you've been unlucky and while there is Bartonella henselae (cat scratch fever) isolated from keds, it's not common, and it could have been midges. You'd have felt that many keds on you

 

[HonestJohn]

Midge bites tend to go away pretty quickly though, usually within a couple days

 

[dryan]

Thankfully no keds here, I remember stalking in Dumfries many years ago and being covered in them!

When gralloching larger deer I wear nitrile gloves then for getting close and personal inside the carcass I have orange plastic lambing gloves that I wear over that go right up the whole length of arms. More to stop getting bloody and ticks on me. Worth thinking about.

 

[deerstalker.308]

I’ve known people to be quite allergic to different species and get significant irritation from red and fallow specifically, are you you perhaps aren’t allergic to something?

 

[VSS]

I have never known anyone be bitten by keds. Certainly if they did it would be the odd one, not dozens.
I think something else bit you (probably midges), and the excessive reaction was possibly down to the deer blood irritating the midge bites.

 

[User00053]

Beware the Scottish birch fly at all cost.

 

[Buchan]

I have never known anyone be bitten by keds. Certainly if they did it would be the odd one, not dozens.
I think something else bit you (probably midges), and the excessive reaction was possibly down to the deer blood irritating the midge bites.

alpha-gal might be an issue.

 

[Dunwaters]

I get an allergic reaction to either the blood or the moss I routinely use to wipe it off.
No obvious bites, just an itchy rash that subsides in 20-30 minutes.

 

[kieran222]

If the temperature is right you can get lots of Midge bites when you get blood on your arms during a gralloch.

 

[ShropshireSam]

A week later and bites have subsided but still very itchy. Oversleeves from BDS have arrived. From now on I will always wear the gloves and use the oversleeves on big deer.