ohDEER Discusses the Mosquito Bite – Which Isn’t Really a Bite

Only the female mosquito bites (actually she pierces your skin with her proboscis), and that is for the purpose of feeding on blood necessary to produce eggs. Male mosquitoes feed on flower nectar, an activity a by-product of which is one of the few positives that mosquitoes render our planet – that would be pollination.There is also that infernal noise of the female mosquito approaching – a hybrid whine and whistle created with the flapping of her wings.  Male mosquitoes also make a noise with their wings, but it is not as loud or high-pitched, and since they don’t attack us, we don’t hear them much.

After the female mosquito lances us and sucks our blood – and whether or not we slap the offending pest and effect its demise, or she manages to dine and fly away – she may still render us irritation in the form of skin swelling and itching caused by the mosquito saliva activating. Click here to be transported to a Medical News Today article, “Why do mosquito bites itch and swell up?”, written by Lana Burgess (and reviewed by Jill Seladi-Schulman, PhD). The article also describes prevention and treatment of mosquito bites.

Actually, and we learn this in the Medical News Today story, some lucky people don’t have an itching and swelling reaction to mosquito bites – and some develop a sort of tolerance for mosquito saliva which manifests in little to no itching or swelling when bitten.

As government agencies and media outlets have been responsibly and valuably reporting recently, identified in 2019 in Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Long Island, NY; and New Jersey are mosquitoes carrying two diseases – both which mosquitoes can transmit to humans, and both which can make people sick:  West Nile virus, the disease borne by mosquitoes that most commonly makes people sick in the continental United States; and eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), which few people become infected with across America every year, but which is a far more serious and deadly disease than West Nile.

Give us a call at ohDEER to schedule a spraying of our ALL NATURAL Tick & Mosquito repellant that is safe for kids, pets and nature! It is our goal for you to be able to spend more time outside! 

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