Worst Insects In Illinois According To LawnStarter

ACROSS ILLINOIS — 'Tis the season for bug bites, and LawnStarter, the largest U.S. provider of lawn care, pest control, and other standard home services evaluated information on biting and stinging pests to find the worst insect pests in Illinois and across the country. For the report, LawnStarter asked which bugs are the worst? and where are particular bugs the worst? To find this out, biting and stinging pests were evaluated in four ways, including:

• The most common pests. Our definition of pests is broad, including spiders, scorpions, and insects. If it’s not a mammal and not a reptile, we counted it.
• Which ones cause the most trips to the doctor?
• Which kill the most people?
• Whose bite is most painful?

The summer months of July and August each send about about 170,000 Americans to emergency rooms for treatment of bug bite and insect sting emergencies during, according to LawnStarter. A study published by the Southern Medical Journal in May 2020 reports that an average of 1.2 million Americans a year needed emergency treatment for bug bites and stings, amounting to an estimated $5.7 billion in health care costs and lost wages.

LawnStarter found that bees/hornets are the baddest bugs in Illinois. View LawnStarter's online map of the "Baddest Bugs By State."

Here are the 10 Worst Biting, Stinging Insects and Pests in the United States:

1) Bees

2) Mosquitoes

3) Ticks

4) Yellow jackets, wasps, hornets

5) Kissing bug

6) Black widow spider

7) Bed bugs

8) Brown recluse spiders

9) Ants

10) Scorpions

Brown recluse spiders are described as "shy inhabitants" of 23 states in the South and Midwest that rarely come into view, according to LawnStarter. They bite only in desperation, and you may not even feel it when they bite. However, the damage is deep, as this spider's venom causes necrosis — injuring and killing nearby tissue. Fatalities, however, are very rare, and there is a low amount of ER visits from this spider bite. According to LawnStarter, the pain and damage from this bite is at a 1-3 on a 4-point scale.

More information including 'Insect Bites and What They Do' can be found in the report on the LawnStarter website.