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[bacardiandlime]

This is not a severe health issue, but it is somewhat irritating. I am staying in a different city from where I usually live, and seem to be getting bitten by something. I am getting small red bites around my neck and shoulders. They are a bit itchy, but don't look like mosquito bites. I have not seen any insects. I would like to know if anyone has any tips for identifying the source? I sleep with the window open, but my first alarmed thought was 'bedbugs'!! (I've never encountered these before, and my quick google suggests they deliver bites much worse than I have). Any suggestions?

[macaroon]

Not bedbugs, I don't think. 

Bedbugs will get your legs and arms, and you'll be able to - ick - see bloody flecks on your sheets when you wake up.

It might be prickley heat (not bites).  You can clear that up with stridex pads after bathing. 

[wegie]

It might be prickley heat (not bites).  You can clear that up with stridex pads after bathing. 

The day that anybody suffers from prickly heat in B&L's current location is the day the sun goes supernova ;-)

The last time I was there, I got bitten to pieces as well, almost certainly by midges.

[scotia]

I concur with wegie: it sounds like midge bites. Midges will go for areas that are not covered, unlike bed bugs. I have been bitten in my own bathroom in the last few days and I didn't know they are active where I live. There are good reasons why they are called no-see-ums elsewhere.

[jammer]

Your bites are probably nothing.

For comparison sake though, I was bitten by bedbugs two years ago at a conference in Las Vegas and my bites looked like small, not very itchy, roundish, red marks/blotches around my neck and chest.  The first two nights in the hotel I thought maybe I was just breaking out - which I hadn't really done since high school - but I had no other explanation.  I covered them with makeup and went to my panels.  A few days later bites showed up around my ankles because, I found out later, I sleep in full pajamas and this was where they could get at me.  We discovered the problem when I squashed a bug crawling on the unmade bed and it left a big red streak.  

If you suspect bedbugs, you're supposed to check the seams on the side of the mattress and especially behind the headboard.  They're very small, round, dark brown, and very, very flat - and usually only come out at night unless they're disturbed.  We didn't see any red flecks on the sheets - which I gather is only if there is a huge infestation.

The good (?) things I found in all my research though were that bedbugs don't carry disease and it also has nothing to do with unsanitary conditions.  The best hotels get bedbugs.  All you need is one person with one bedbug in the suitcase and there could be a problem.  I don't know if that's comforting or not.  

[kohelet]

Chiggers?  Friends who have moved here, in the south, have been caught off guard--I guess it's a regional thing.  They (chiggers, not my friends) like to bite around wastebands, collars, etc., and they're really hard to see.

[bookishone]

If you're in the way North, perhaps black flies? I think of June as their season, but they definitely do like to bite around the hairline, neck, and back of the ears. Their bites are itchy because they inject their saliva while they chew -- yes chew -- on you.

[kohelet]

wastebands

Waistbands, too.  (ugh)

[biomancer]

B&L, your description sounds like no-see-um bites to me.  I don't know the actual insect name (though I'm inclined to say that Wedgie and Scotia are right and they are midges), but I know that when I visit North or South Carolina, they get me bad.  My friends get bites like the ones you described, but for some reason mine swell into large (fist-sized) welts.  The no-see-ums are small enough to fit through a lot of window screens, and if I remember right they looked sort of like tiny mosquitoes.  The bites were itchy as all get-out, but benadryl and the clear variant of calamine lotion helped me a lot.

[bacardiandlime]

Thanks for the advice, all. I'm just putting cortisone cream on the bites. Unfortunately I don't have screens here, but I might get some bug spray tomorrow.

[sciencephd]

fleas ?

[bacardiandlime]

I did think of fleas. There are no animals in the house, and these don't look like flea bites. (I used to live with a flea-ridden cat, so I am familiar with them). I realise people respond differently to insect bites, but these are redder (very visible), smaller, and less itchy than fleas.

[kedves]

I was thinking of no-see-ums, too.  They're very small and annoying.  I don't know how long you're going to be staying there, but you could get flexible screening material at a home store and tape it with masking tape to the window.  If you can take antihistamines, that sometimes helps with the itchy reaction.

[frogfactory]

I did think of fleas. There are no animals in the house, and these don't look like flea bites. (I used to live with a flea-ridden cat, so I am familiar with them). I realise people respond differently to insect bites, but these are redder (very visible), smaller, and less itchy than fleas.

Bacardiandlime - I think the most likely culprits are gnats/noseeums, but animals not currently being in the house actually makes it more likely that fleas will have a go at you.  If there were previously rats or domestic animals around, any fleas shed would tend to infest the original animal; if they were then removed, fleas will infest humans as a last resort.

Go easy on the cortisone, of course, and if you're having long term problems with bites, it might be better to switch to a non-steroidal cream, or you'll just end up tearing holes in your skin when you scratch.