In the summer, a new round of "concerts" begins to play, "Buzz, buzz—" The melody of summer lingers in your ears.
So, what are the dangers after mosquito bites? The larger the mosquito packet, the more toxic it is? And how to prevent mosquito bites?
Let's learn together today...
1
What are the dangers of mosquito bites?
There are two types of mosquito lethality:
The first is to suck blood, which is less harmful.
Many people will have allergic skin after being bitten by mosquitoes, redness, swelling and pain, itching is unbearable, and the skin will also appear ulcerated and infected after scratching with the hand.
The second is the transmission of deadly diseases, which are highly lethal.
Mosquitoes topped the list of the 15 deadliest animals to humans, and they hurt humans more each year than all the other animals in the list combined.
There are three mosquitoes that are closely related to human health, namely Culex mosquitoes (family mosquitoes), Anopheles mosquitoes (Malaria mosquitoes) and Aedes mosquitoes (black spotted mosquitoes) These three genera have dozens of species on the mainland.
When mosquitoes suck human blood, different types of mosquitoes cause different diseases and clinical features.
Usually Anopheles mosquitoes mainly transmit malaria, which is characterized by fever, sweating, and intermittent shivering; The clinical features of Japanese encephalitis transmitted by Culex mosquitoes through human bites are unconscious and high body fever; Aedes mosquitoes can transmit a variety of diseases by sucking human blood, such as dengue fever, yellow fever and chikungunya disease, the main vector of transmission is Aedes mosquitoes.
2
The larger the mosquito packet, the more toxic it is?
After being bitten by a mosquito, the size of the mosquito package on the body is closely related to the strength of the individual's immune system mechanism, and has nothing to do with the toxicity of the mosquito.
For people with strong immune systems, bites can be unscathed, but most people will have a physical reaction, mildly showing a raised mosquito bag, and there will be a pronounced itching sensation, and the lesions will manifest as erythema, papules, wheals and other symptoms.
For people with weak immune systems, especially people with sensitive constitutions, after being sucked into blood, a large amount of histamine and cytokines will be released, followed by blisters, plaques, ecchymosis, swelling and pain, etc., due to the intense response to symptoms, it takes a long time to completely alleviate.
In addition, scratching by hand increases the release of histamine, an organic nitrogen-containing compound, to the point where tissue damage or inflammation can occur, leading to local tissue edema.
When itching is felt, peppermint cream and floral water can be applied in time to relieve it, rather than choosing to scratch.
What kind of human blood do mosquitoes prefer to suck? With blood type, blood is not sweet... Relate?
Mosquitoes are extremely sensitive to CO2, heat, volatile chemicals and other factors, and their sense of smell can quickly detect and accurately locate these substances, and the secretion of these substances is closely related to the metabolism of individuals, such as the body's metabolites urea, lactate, fatty acids, etc., so when you have large CO2 emissions, frequent sweat secretion, and strong body metabolism, it is easier to get the favor of mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes, mainly through the smell in the air to identify the object of blood sucking, so whether to attract mosquitoes and blood type is not directly related.
3
Is the mosquito bag pinch cross useful?
Answer: Useful – Psychological effect, mainly using the body's pain transfer.
Just imagine, with fingernails on the mosquito bag hard pinch, the subconscious will feel pain, will not care about the feeling of itching, in fact, the feeling of itching has not disappeared, but the pain sensation overshadowed the itchy feeling, completely its own psychological effect.
Tips for handling it properly:
(1) When itching, alkaline substances can be used to neutralize, such as baking soda, and soapy water can be used at home, and the antipruritic effect is very good.
In addition, using salt water to apply or rinse the itchy area can soften the lump and achieve pain relief and itch relief.
(2) Do not scratch with your hands, especially the lumps of the skin, otherwise there will be tissue damage leading to infection.
Because tickling may speed up the blood flow in the capillaries, at this time you can spray some flower lotion water in a small area, most of the flower lotion water contains alcohol, and alcohol allergy symptoms will occur when using a large area, especially people with sensitive constitutions should use caution, once there is tingling, it should be stopped immediately and seek medical treatment.
(3) For mosquito packs on the skin, cold compresses can be used to relieve pain, such as wrapping a towel around a frozen drink floating in the affected area. Home often prepare external medications such as denonide cream, elosone cream, etc.
(4) When the mosquito bite appears red and swollen, first use ice cubes to apply cold compresses, and then use topical drugs according to the doctor's instructions, such as 1% peppermint calamine lotion or 1% peppermint cream.
(5) When the bite shows obvious infection, it is necessary to use anti-infective treatment drugs in time, such as mopirocin ointment, if it cannot be alleviated, seek medical treatment in time.
4
How can I avoid mosquito bites outdoors?
Remember the three words "avoid, drive, extinguish".
1 - Avoid
Outdoor activities as far as possible to choose light texture, light color pants, long sleeves, avoid grass, shade, warehouses, waterside, dark places, while avoid wearing dark clothing, keep the skin clean and non-sticky, in the wild when the exposed part of the body in advance to apply cool oil, wind oil essence, mosquito repellent and so on.
2 - Drive
Choosing a water containing DEET, imone ingredient flower lotion and mosquito repellent, when using mosquito repellent products, the "amount" of medicine is not as much as possible, and you can choose to use a small number of times when outdoor activities.
Mosquitoes, like dark and afraid of light, if it is outdoor activities at night, you should bring lighting equipment to avoid.
3 - Extinguish
Because mosquito eggs, larvae, pupae are living in water, their growth and development can not be separated from water, so from the source to block the breeding and reproduction of mosquitoes, the use of mosquito repellent containing pyrethroids, keep the ground clean and waterless, do a good job of environmental hygiene, try to remove their breeding places, strengthen efforts to protect the natural enemies of mosquitoes, such as bats, swallows, dragonflies, spiders, geckos, frogs, etc., let them eliminate mosquitoes, the use of biological control, to avoid environmental pollution.
Source: Science China (ID: Science_China)
Expert: Zhang Qikai, Ph.D. in Insect Ecology, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences
Producer: Mou Yanqiu Huang Linhao
Editor: Gu Peng
Proofreader: Dong Jingxue