[Karen W. (OP)]

Well  I was wondering what the effects would be in reverse. Could my hghly medicated blood be harmful to the preditor who either sucks my blood or bites me..... and I do refer to insects here...not human preditors....! LOL..

[chris]

I'm doubtful about this. Drugs are designed to lock onto a target with high specificity; all the time that they are drifting around free in the bloodstream they are not acting on their target and therefore not being therapeutic! Usually drugs are present in the bloodstream transiently and ultimately partition off into tissues or are excreted.

This is not always the case because some drugs achieve their action by achieving high plasma levels; this would include antibiotics used to treat septicaemia (organisms circulating in the blood) for example.

Also, there are some agents that bind to the proteins in plasma (drugs like phenytoin for epilepsy do this), but even so the concentration is very low so the actual dose delivered to a biting insect would be tiny.

A further layer of complexity is that biting insects are physiologically very different to humans. Their bodies may therefore lack the molecular target that a drug interacts with in the human; consequently the agent would not affect the insect.

A bit of a woolly answer - sorry about that - but I think the bottom line is no, your medications probably won't affect the average insect that bites you!

Chris

[RD]

I was going to suggest that alcohol in the blood could result in sozzled mozzies.

But it appears that insects [well bees anyway] need a 5% alcohol solution to get drunk.
Blood alcohol would never get that high: the the drink-drive limit is less than 0.1%. 

ethanol solutions greater than 5% significantly impair Pavlovian conditioning of proboscis extension [of bees]
consumption of 10% and 20% ethanol solutions decreases locomotion [of bees [and humans []]]

Source

[Karen W. (OP)]

LOL.. Yeah and Thats all I need I am tipsy without alcohol! lol

[JnA]

Damn.. I was hoping to see a yes answer and then some youtube links to the effects of paracetamol on spiders (like the THC footage)

[Don_1]

I, I...... I are chriiiing (Hic) toohooww ob    er   ob   phhhh ob b blije yooohoou (HIC) whheth a demoooonsstraaaash (Hic) hun ovvvv thhhe eeeeffffects (HIC) ovvv alka alka  alka  (HIC) hol on a mooozzzzzzzzzie (HIC HIC HIC).




Thissssssssssh izzz veeeerrie (HIC) har har har (HIC) hard woorrrrrrk (HIC) yoooou (HIC) knoowwwwww (HIC)



Bbbbuut (hic) Iee arrre chryyyying (hic) va va va verrry (HIC) hhhhhaarrrd (HIC)

[RD]

Damn.. I was hoping to see a yes answer and then some youtube links to the effects of paracetamol on spiders (like the THC footage)

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=458.msg202544#msg202544

[Karen W. (OP)]

Wow((( Do you think caffiene mixes thngs up so much in us?to on a smaller scale!

 crazy changes in those webs!

[Chemistry4me]

I, I...... I are chriiiing (Hic) toohooww ob    er   ob   phhhh ob b blije yooohoou (HIC) whheth a demoooonsstraaaash (Hic) hun ovvvv thhhe eeeeffffects (HIC) ovvv alka alka  alka  (HIC) hol on a mooozzzzzzzzzie (HIC HIC HIC).




Thissssssssssh izzz veeeerrie (HIC) har har har (HIC) hard woorrrrrrk (HIC) yoooou (HIC) knoowwwwww (HIC)



Bbbbuut (hic) Iee arrre chryyyying (hic) va va va verrry (HIC) hhhhhaarrrd (HIC)

Where are the pictures?
I can't see anything!

[Don_1]

I have no idea, I don't even remember posting this!

E bah gum! I must have smashed out of my tiny mind when I posted that!

[John Chapman]

A further layer of complexity is that biting insects are physiologically very different to humans. Their bodies may therefore lack the molecular target that a drug interacts with in the human; consequently the agent would not affect the insect.

Chris

Conversely, I wonder if it is possible to control biting insects by injecting their prey with a chemical that affects the insect but not the host. Could mosquitos be controlled by 'inoculating' people with some sort of insecticide?

Actually, thinking about it, this is already done with cats and dogs. You can now buy the 'drops on the back of the neck' flea treatments which presumably work in exactly that way.

[Karen W. (OP)]

I for one have no intention of ever being innoculated with any form of insecticide.

Don....I too cannot see your pictures.

[Bored chemist]

By the time the insect bites you and dies of the insecticide,it's too late- it already bit you.

Incidentally, in answer to the original question; since your drug laden blood isn't too toxic for you , it's not likely to be too toxic for the spiders.

[Karen W. (OP)]

I was thinking more in the lines in that..a tylonol can kill a dog and what is helpful to me in the doses prescribed for my body size and weight would also be toxic to me if too much were prescribed for my body weight and size etc..  So wouldn't those kind of doses be toxic to the insect also, or would it be nil and void because the insect could only take in a small dosage preportional to his own weight and size?

[John Chapman]

No I was thinking more along the lines of epidemics of insect pests, specifically mossies in Africa.

By the time the insect bites you and dies of the insecticide, it's too late - it already bit you.

If you have malaria and get bitten then maybe the mosquito won't live long enough to pass it on to the next person.

....since your drug laden blood isn't too toxic for you , it's not likely to be too toxic for the spiders.

It works with cats & dogs, killing their fleas without causing any detected damage in the pets. Also, Chris pointed out earlier in this thread that insects are physiologically very different to humans. Their bodies have different molecular targets for drugs and chemical agents that harm one may not harm the other.