8 ms·

Speaking anecdotally - here in central Texas, we have a few species of mosquito, and my reaction to a bite varies from a small bump that goes away in a day to i

Speaking anecdotally - here in central Texas, we have a few species of mosquito, and my reaction to a bite varies from a small bump that goes away in a day to intense swelling and itching. And it all seemingly depends on which type of mosquito bit me.

hendler 5y ago
Tiger mosquitos gave my son a strong reaction https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708019/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708019/
singlow 5y ago
Seems like a plausible explanation but how do you have any idea which species bit you in order to be able to draw a conclusion that there's a correlation?
- Lammy 5y ago
  They're pretty visible/memorable due to their white stripes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus
  - singlow 5y ago
    But do you see the mosquito that bit you most of the time, unsmashed? Often enough to correlate?
    - sillyquiet 5y ago
      Speaking personally - not always do I notice the mosquito. But I have noticed often enough to note the difference. For me, the smaller, more stealthy mosquitos give me the small, temporary bump, but the larger more noticeable ones like the tiger mosquito or what we call zebra mosquitos (I think they are actually western encephalitis mosquitos (!)) have a more dramatic reaction.
jmnicolas 5y ago
Try heating it with a hair dryer until pain. I'm not sure for mosquitoes but it works for me with hornets and horse flies bites.
- kennywinker 5y ago
  There are little infrared pens that you can get that do this without pain, just heating the area with IR to denature the proteins injected by the insect
  - currydove 5y ago
    Oh interesting. Any recommendations that you have?
    - EGreg 5y ago
      Please share the Amazon links!
      - goldenkey 5y ago
        Please don't act like Amazon is the only shop around. They are a terrible shop, actively adversarial to their merchants and customers. They are chock full of fake reviews, they comingle inventory, and practice many dark patterns. Most people think that Amazon sells all the products on their site - because Amazon designs their site to look like it. Even young people who are technically literate are fooled. This results in a lot of harm.. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/amazons-plan-to-avoid-lawsuits-pay-customers-1000-when-products-injure-people/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/amazons-plan-to-... In actuality, eBay is more of a trustworthy marketplace than Amazon...
        meristohm 5y ago
        Thanks for promoting other options. When recommending books I use worldcat.org links rather than the more-exploitative for-profit vendors. In the interest of making more art available to more people, independent of spending-money, I’d rather us collectively invest more in public libraries. To what degree do public libraries fund authors?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wil421 5y ago
We have some in Georgia but I don’t think there are as many species as Texas. A mosquito has never left a mark or made me itch in my life. Poison ivy on the other hand…I could look at it and get a rash but not the go to the doctor rash.
01100011 5y ago
My wife has 'skeeter syndrome' and the bites vary from normal mosquito bites to 3-4" wide, weeping bumps depending on where we were at when she got bit. Hawaii was the worst. WA state wasn't too bad.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
charles_f 5y ago
Totally! I leave in BC, the few mosquitoes which make it into my house despite nets usually give me big bumps that last for a few days and scratch like hell. When I get into the deeper woods, I get eaten alive, but these bites' effect seems to last only a few hours. Might also be the blood pumping though, but I do think that natural selection, even over a short variation of geo, results in such differences
aidenn0 5y ago
I visited my parents in the DC area, and there's been a bunch of people developing really nasty rashes from insect bites, I don't know if it's confirmed, but it seems to be attributed to an oak-mite[1] 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyemotes_herfsi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyemotes_herfsi
- pwg 5y ago
  There was an article on that topic in the Washington Post at the end of July: WaPo link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/30/oak-mites-bite-cicadas-dc/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/30/oak-mites... Archive.is link (no paywall): https://archive.is/AEi6a https://archive.is/AEi6a
Igelau 5y ago
I get those reactions with one bite. If I get a lot of them I'm fatigued for days.
bserge 5y ago
Same thing in Europe.
gHosts 5y ago
I suspect wrong hypothesis there.... the variable is probably what other allergen is on you skin (or finger nails) and whether and how much you scratch it! Temperature is probably also a factor.
hikerhack 5y ago
I've found that washing the bite wound right away and taking an antihistamine like Allegra has helped keep the bite from swelling for me. Also adding tiger balm has helped with the itching.

hendler 5y ago

Tiger mosquitos gave my son a strong reaction https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708019/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708019/

singlow 5y ago

Seems like a plausible explanation but how do you have any idea which species bit you in order to be able to draw a conclusion that there's a correlation?

Lammy 5y ago
They're pretty visible/memorable due to their white stripes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus
- singlow 5y ago
  But do you see the mosquito that bit you most of the time, unsmashed? Often enough to correlate?
  - sillyquiet 5y ago
    Speaking personally - not always do I notice the mosquito. But I have noticed often enough to note the difference. For me, the smaller, more stealthy mosquitos give me the small, temporary bump, but the larger more noticeable ones like the tiger mosquito or what we call zebra mosquitos (I think they are actually western encephalitis mosquitos (!)) have a more dramatic reaction.

jmnicolas 5y ago

Try heating it with a hair dryer until pain. I'm not sure for mosquitoes but it works for me with hornets and horse flies bites.

kennywinker 5y ago
There are little infrared pens that you can get that do this without pain, just heating the area with IR to denature the proteins injected by the insect
- currydove 5y ago
  Oh interesting. Any recommendations that you have?
  - EGreg 5y ago
    Please share the Amazon links!
    - goldenkey 5y ago
      Please don't act like Amazon is the only shop around. They are a terrible shop, actively adversarial to their merchants and customers. They are chock full of fake reviews, they comingle inventory, and practice many dark patterns. Most people think that Amazon sells all the products on their site - because Amazon designs their site to look like it. Even young people who are technically literate are fooled. This results in a lot of harm.. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/amazons-plan-to-avoid-lawsuits-pay-customers-1000-when-products-injure-people/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/amazons-plan-to-... In actuality, eBay is more of a trustworthy marketplace than Amazon...
      - meristohm 5y ago
        Thanks for promoting other options. When recommending books I use worldcat.org links rather than the more-exploitative for-profit vendors. In the interest of making more art available to more people, independent of spending-money, I’d rather us collectively invest more in public libraries. To what degree do public libraries fund authors?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

wil421 5y ago

We have some in Georgia but I don’t think there are as many species as Texas. A mosquito has never left a mark or made me itch in my life. Poison ivy on the other hand…I could look at it and get a rash but not the go to the doctor rash.

01100011 5y ago

My wife has 'skeeter syndrome' and the bites vary from normal mosquito bites to 3-4" wide, weeping bumps depending on where we were at when she got bit. Hawaii was the worst. WA state wasn't too bad.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

charles_f 5y ago

Totally! I leave in BC, the few mosquitoes which make it into my house despite nets usually give me big bumps that last for a few days and scratch like hell. When I get into the deeper woods, I get eaten alive, but these bites' effect seems to last only a few hours. Might also be the blood pumping though, but I do think that natural selection, even over a short variation of geo, results in such differences

aidenn0 5y ago

I visited my parents in the DC area, and there's been a bunch of people developing really nasty rashes from insect bites, I don't know if it's confirmed, but it seems to be attributed to an oak-mite[1] 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyemotes_herfsi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyemotes_herfsi

pwg 5y ago
There was an article on that topic in the Washington Post at the end of July: WaPo link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/30/oak-mites-bite-cicadas-dc/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/30/oak-mites... Archive.is link (no paywall): https://archive.is/AEi6a https://archive.is/AEi6a

Igelau 5y ago

I get those reactions with one bite. If I get a lot of them I'm fatigued for days.

bserge 5y ago

Same thing in Europe.

gHosts 5y ago

I suspect wrong hypothesis there.... the variable is probably what other allergen is on you skin (or finger nails) and whether and how much you scratch it! Temperature is probably also a factor.

hikerhack 5y ago

I've found that washing the bite wound right away and taking an antihistamine like Allegra has helped keep the bite from swelling for me. Also adding tiger balm has helped with the itching.