Mosquito bite reactions getting worse!?

[whitesockss]

Have always been very popular with mosquitoes- as a child I was always covered in them on family holidays (one holiday I remember we counted them all and found around 40 all at once). They always just looked like normal mosquito bites, small red itchy bump.

But in the last few years, I seem to be getting worse reactions to them. A couple of years ago I got bitten on my ankle and it swelled up so much I could barely walk, and it was very painful, and had another on my face which swelled to a similar size.

Just got back from a short trip in an eastern european city somewhere not renowned for mozzies and I have 3 huge bites, all swollen and blistered on top, leaking fluid. Managed to squash the culprit the morning we left but the damage has already been done!

I know some people do react badly to bites, and I must have become one of those, but was wondering if anyone knows what causes worsening allergic reactions or know if this is common?!?

Sadly I believe it's the repeated bites themselves, that somehow mean the reaction becomes more severe. I am in the same club, always get a disproportionate huge red swollen reaction that can take weeks to properly go down. Antihistamine and paracetamol don't make much difference. This year the GP also suggested using a cool pack and I have to say I think that has made them recover faster. Hope you feel better soon!

It's probably a different type of mosquito rather than a different type of reaction to a familar European mosquito.

Apparently there has been a big influx of African mosquitos to Europe due to climate change, mass migration and refugee movement.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-insect-bites-to-watch-out-for-on-holiday-0v276tt3f

Travelling to Spain or Greece this summer? You might expect a couple of mosquito bites, but nothing a dab of calamine wouldn’t cure. However, largely thanks to global warming, hitherto tropical diseases such as dengue fever and West Nile virus (transmitted by the aedes and the culex species of mosquito respectively) are spreading, including to parts of Europe. So do we now have more to fret about than stray luggage and sunburn?

It’s true that these viruses are becoming more common in places such as Italy, Spain, Greece, southern France and Croatia. Dr Mike Brown, of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases at University College London Hospital, says: “Over the past few years, as a consequence of climate change, the spread of mosquitoes has increased north. There have been a number of outbreaks of viruses that were previously only really seen in the Tropics.”

That's really interesting to know about the influx of mosquitoes. I do get a bad reaction and I can't take antihistamines. I usually try and cool the area down, either in a pool or the sea. Then I apply Sudocrem, fabulous stuff, rubbing it in alleviates the itching and as it has antiseptic properties it helps to soothe the infection

A freind of a friend had a very bad sepsis reaction to a mosquito bite and was told it was likely to be due to "foreign bacteria" introduced by the mosquito.
I think if I was going to Spain Greece or far East/Southern Europe I'd be applying deet as if I was going to African. There have been some bad reactions and infections from what I hear.