A former “Little House on the Prairie” star has warned fans about the serious dangers of bug bites.
Melissa Gilbert, 59, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder on the beloved Western TV series and served two terms as the Screen Actors Guild president beginning in 2001, shared two photos via Instagram on Friday cautioning her followers not to dismiss a swollen or painful bug bite.
“A Public Service Announcement: Well that was a fun night in the ER (she said with dripping sarcasm),” Gilbert wrote alongside a photo of her hand with an IV, and another that displayed a red and swollen upper arm.
The actor then explained that, two days prior, a flying insect that was neither a bee nor a wasp, bit her arm.
“By last night my arm was incredibly swollen, red and hot,” Gilbert continued, before adding that when she called her doctor, he suggested she “hightail it to the ER.”
Gilbert said she was planning to wait it out, but her husband, “West Wing” actor Timothy Busfield, intervened and insisted they follow doctor’s orders and head to the hospital.
“After many tests I was diagnosed with an abscess and cellulitis,” she continued. “Got an IV of clindamycin, Benadryl and acetaminophen.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abscesses and cellulitis are infections that occur when bacteria infects the skin, and possibly the deep tissue beneath the skin. Abscesses are known to be filled with pus and cellulitis causes redness, swelling and pain.
Gilbert said that with medical care her swollen and painful mystery bite immediately began to improve, but she was still up all night in discomfort. After she was discharged, she began a regimen of antibiotics, Benadryl and ibuprofen.
“The lesson,” Gilbert said, was to “take bug bites seriously! If it swells up like crazy (my whole upper arm was swollen!) don’t wait to get treated, thinking ‘it’s just a little bite. How bad can it get?'”
The “Little House on the Prairie” star, clearly shaken, continued urging fans to seek medical attention any way they could. “I’m serious! Back in the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder, this would’ve meant death or amputation. There’s treatment available. So now I’m going to take my meds and rest like the good bunny I am. Stupid bug bite.”
Gilbert concluded by thanking Bon Secours hospital in Port Jervis, New York, with a “special shoutout” and then saying, “Going back to bed now.”