...to wish mosquitos would just die?

[acatcalledjohn]

I'm really an animal lover: I don't kill spiders as much as I hate the big black sprinting fuckers, I will feed bees sugar water when they are tired, I help May bugs turn back on to their feet...

But today half my hand (well, the back of) is hot, red and swollen from a perfectly common mozzie bite, despite having drenched the bite in anthisan repeatedly from within minutes of the bite happening. I took some piriton on the advice of a pharmacy worker (which I have never taken before) 4 hours ago and it appears to have done sweet fuck all. Can't risk taking another one yet because I have to drive at midnight.

To me mozzies don't serve any real purpose, other than infecting people with viruses and causing allergic reactions.

So AIBU to want to obliterate these pointless monster bugs from the ecosystem?

Urgh, OP, hope it gets better soon.

I hate them too. I was outraged to be bitten in my own bed last year. Surely mosquitoes are for holidays, not rainy old England?!

Worst I've ever had was in Grenada in july, so the rainy season (although we only had 1 day of rain in 2 weeks!). They were vicious. I got bitten through trainers, socks and jeans - and they all turned into massive itchy white lumps!

"Surely mosquitoes are for holidays, not rainy old England?"

I was wondering as well. We don't get mosquitoes where we live, just midges. Are you sure it isn't a horsefly bite? They can be nasty.

Take the extra piriton. Apply heat to reduce the itch, cold to reduce the swelling. I have scars from bites all over me. 1 antihistamine won't do anything for me at all.

Can't speak for OP, but mine was definitely a mosquito !

I have to carry antihistamine tablets with me because of my body over-reacting to insect bites. Sadly, I suspect DS2 will be the same. He had a single insect bite on his leg this week and it became a red swollen area 4 inches wide.

OH has to as well TheSecond. He has strong ones on prescription from the GP. It has ruined a few holidays for him because he can't drink while taking them.

He even ended up in hospital after a bite started off cellulitis. He just massively over reacts to bites.
He has to cover every part of exposed skin in industrial strength insect repellent when he goes out as well. If he misses one square cm of skin he will get bitten there. And all the woo insect repellents don't work for him.

We don't waste money on citronella candles, Avon Skin So Soft etc. He would be afraid to try something like Incognito because it probably wouldn't work for him.

Hydrocortisone 1% ointment. Available over the counter from the chemist. Spread it thinly over the affected area as soon as you are aware of the bite then reapply morning and night for a couple of days This will minimise the reaction. I will react like you op and also get the golf ball sized blisters if I don't do this.

Slowly puts down breakfast.

zoflorabore I'd be worried that was bedbugs...they typically bite in lines of three.

If I get a reaction, it doesn't itch but is throbbingly painful.

Three horse fly bites on my foot a couple of summers ago and I could barely walk on it for three days, not that my foot would have fitted into a shoe anyway.

Thankfully, I have never had cellulitis.

Have walked down to the urgent care centre and am waiting to be seen. The second piriton I took last night has done sweet fuck all, it's slightly outside the line I drew on, and definitely feels tighter.

Zoflora and strummer, mozzies commonly bite me in lines of three too, especially on my leg.

Definitely a mozzie, I was watering the garden.

I have worked out failsafe ways of avoiding being bitten

Tell us, tell us-Westray! Am always on the hunt for tips!

Also, what's the difference between a mosquito and a midge??

I have terrible reactions to insect bites-normally I just swell up massively but I have had cellulitis needing antibiotics a few times where it's gone beyond 'normal swelling'!

The best thing I've found to prevent bites is a 50% Deet spray. I think it's called Mountains Trek or something now but I'm fairly sure it has changed name?!

I didn't think there were Mosquitos here.

I thought of them being a south East Asian thing where I automatically think malaria and dengue fever which are life threatening.

Zoflora I'm heading to turkey in July, now I'm worried. I didn't think mosquitoes were about in hot weather. Were there many of them?

Good, OP! I'm glad you're having it looked at. If it is infected, the sooner you get antibiotics the better to stop any nasty spreading of infection through the body.

P.s.: Enjoy I am both repulsed and ABSOLUTELY AMAZED by that beauty!!

I did half think this might be appropriate in sporners corner

Iamastonished, I found the below on the mozzie Wikipedia page:

In the sense of the entire family Culicidae, mosquitoes are cosmopolitann^; in every land region except for Antarctica[61] and a few islands, mainly in polar or subpolar climatess^, at least some species of mosquito will be present. Icelandd^ is such an island, being essentially free of mosquitoes.

They are described as a 'midge-like fly.

I just heard on the radio that they've started some new studies, to see if the world would fall over if there were NO mosquitoes at all.Are they crucial to the food chain. It appears not. Main purpose of mossier? Bat snacks!! Sodding snacks for bats. Can you imagine if they could genuinely eradicate all of them?

Cat, I hope you're ok, I just recovered from cellulitis, nasty stuff.

Nurse said cellulitis. I have a penicillin based antibiotic, and am to continue with the piriton. So yes, I'm glad I went this morning.

I'm sure bats will be able to find a new snack. Wasps, preferably.

Good job you went today. I hope you make a speedy recovery.

We got water features put into our garden when it was landscaped last autumn. This had made it mosquito heaven and after sitting out on the patio on Tuesday night I got 15 bites on my left foot and ankle and 13 on my right. All itched like buggery and I absolutely could not stop myself from scratching my skin off - so I now have 28 scabs!

I hope that the antibiotics sort you out acatcalledjohn

Glad you got some antibiotics OP.

I live in a tropical climate and get attacked by midges and mosquitos if I walk outside for even a minute. I have to put insect repellent on to go and get the paper in the morning.

Mosquitos bite me and itch straight away. Lasts a few hours.

Midges though are brutal. So small you can't see them biting you. And no itch until about 6 hours later. That constant itch lasts 5 days. Day and night. It's unrelenting. The bite will swell and spread. I have a steroid cream from my GP but it does nothing. I am looking for anything that will help this! (I have tried something similar to Zap-it mentioned above and that unfortunately didn't help).

Good, OP! I thought it was cellulitis from the photo, which definitely needs antibiotics. Hopefully, they will stop the infection in its tracks and you'll see that area of inflammation reducing quickly.

Fingers crossed! It has spread across the entire back of my hand now.

@HmmmHashtag, what would tracking look like?

@acatcalledjohn *disclaimer - neither of these are my arms

Thanks! None of that so hopefully it will stay that way.