The cicada emergence of 2024 is over, but it has left behind an unpleasant souvenir. This year’s massive brood is being blamed for a spike in bites related to the oak leaf itch mite, Dr. Gene Kritsky of Mount St. Joseph University in Chicago said, according to WMAO-TV. This is not new, he said. Seventeen years ago after Cicada Brood XIII faded away, “people in Chicago who had oak trees in the yards, started to complain of bites after the cicada emergence,” he said. Insects called “oak leaf itch mites” may be to blame for a spread of red bug bites this summer – and cicadas are serving as unwitt…