Summer holidays come with their share of good news… but also bad. With the good weather, the mosquitoes are back and their dreaded bites too. But how can such small pimples cause such unpleasant itching?
You are in your bed, the hot summer nights encourage you to open your windows. But now, an incessant humming noise breaks the silence of your room. A terrible mosquito comes to ruin your night, impossible to sleep as long as the threat of the bite is in the room. What are the reasons for this unbearable itch? And how do you best protect yourself?
Females attack humans
Most of the time, mosquitoes are pollinators, they feed on the nectar of flowers. But females attack humans because they need nutrients in the blood to produce eggs. They therefore have the ability to pierce the skin of humans, like animals, to be able to feed on their blood. It’s ectoparasitism.
In order to be able to suck up our blood without too much difficulty, the female mosquito releases saliva which has an anticoagulant function. And, when our body receives this saliva, it perceives an attack from a foreign body. To defend against this unwanted invader it causes redness and swelling as well as itching.
How to guard against it?
The best way is still not to scratch, because in reality it only makes the situation worse. The more you scratch, the more the itch increases, because histamines (a molecule involved in allergies, among other things) are released and a small dermatological infection is created.
If ever it becomes too difficult to resist, you can calm the itching with ice, the cold acts as an anesthetic on the nerve endings. Put a soothing cream in the freezer. You will thus have a double effect, that of the cold and that of the cream.
The solution can also be a steroid cream which helps constrict your blood vessels and will destroy the swelling that is causing the itch.