[laughs]

...

they do come along and use their jaws to tear the skin, and it's actually anticoagulants that they have in their saliva, which are little proteins that essentially thin our blood and increase the blood flow to the horsefly's mouth, and we produce a localized immune response to that.

So we release histamine into our skin, which is what causes the redness and swelling that you see around the bite site, um, and also what is what causes the itching as well.

Alex, if we do get bitten, what are the best ways of treating it, and when does it become something so serious it needs more than just anything you can buy over a counter?

So I'd say in most cases, time is a healer.

But while you are healing and you want to keep the area clean, so washing with soap and water.

You can apply a ice pack straightaway.