Blog

Mosquito bites and summer go hand in hand. While summer conjures up happy thoughts, mosquito bites do not.

What are these bites from mosquitoes? The truth is, they aren’t really mosquito bites at all – they are ‘stab wounds’.

What is this stabbing concept?

Mosquitoes have a long mouth piece called a proboscis that will actually saw (with a back and forth motion) into your skin.

Once you are adequately stabbed, then some mosquito saliva is spat into your skin to prevent blood clotting. Now, this insect goes about mining for blood – moving that long proboscis in and out, to the right and left, up and down, searching for the perfect vein to suck from & fill her belly.

Only female mosquitoes suck blood as they need the protein to procreate and make millions of more blood suckers to torment you.

If a vein is struck, she sucks to her content and flies away fat with human blood, and happy. If not and the multiple attempts sawing in and out of your skin offer no reward, she goes away empty-handed.

But, the gift was still left behind as she spat just as much saliva in you whether she received nothing or the mother lode.

What’s up with the saliva?

Not only does the thought of another creature spitting into your skin sound repulsive but here is the real kicker – that saliva is what you have an allergic reaction to. The saliva injected into your body is what causes the mosquito ‘bite’.

It isn’t a bite at all – it is a puncture wound where a female mosquito has spit into you. So if the thought of mosquitoes didn’t really bother you before, it certainly will now.

If you have 6 itchy, irritating mosquito bites right now, then 6 females have violated your skin.

Maybe they were fed off of your blood supply, maybe not but their calling card is the same – an itchy, annoying welt to remind you of how nasty parasites can be.

So, what can you do to avoid this nightmarish scene?

It is summer and mosquitoes are here with a vengeance – ample rainfall, perfect temperatures, a lot of new diseases to spread around which brings us to the obvious point of why you want to avoid mosquitoes.

West Nile Virus is common, and so is the Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

And, we always have spinal meningitis to worry about but now we also have Malaria, Dengue Fever and even the Sleeping Sickness infiltrating the United States, so beware.

To prevent having mosquitoes get rid of standing water so they can’t breed.

Second, use a mosquito repellent that is safe and effective. Use a product that is natural, food-grade safe and has good customer service behind it.

Third, pest control for mosquitoes proves to be a great help. Many homeowners and companies have benefitted from evaluating their areas ridden with mosquitoes and eliminating them safely and effectively so.

This way you avoid these torturous human-stabbing creatures and can actually enjoy the summer. And that is a happy thought.