More than 700,000 people die every year! Learn these few tricks to make it retreat! Retreat! Retreat!

Expert: Zhang Qikai, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, PhD in Insect Ecology

According to international statistics, more than 700,000 people die from mosquito bites each year, and mosquitoes are the leading cause of human death among animals.

As soon as summer arrives, a new round of "concert" begins, "Buzz, buzz, buzz--" the melody of summer lingers in my ears.

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So, what are the dangers of mosquito bites? The bigger the mosquito bite, the more toxic it is? And how can we prevent mosquito bites?

Let’s learn together today...

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 experience allergic reactions on their local skin after being bitten by mosquitoes, such as redness, swelling, pain, and unbearable itching. Scratching with the hands may also lead to serious conditions such as skin ulceration and infection.

The second is the spread of deadly diseases, which are extremely lethal.

Mosquitoes top a list of the 15 animals that are deadliest to humans, killing more people each year than all other animals on the list combined.

There are three genera of mosquitoes that are closely related to human health, namely, Culex (domestic mosquito), Anopheles (malaria mosquito) and Aedes (black mosquito). There are dozens of species of each of these genera in my country.

Different types of mosquitoes can cause different diseases and clinical symptoms when they feed on human blood.

Usually, Anopheles mosquitoes mainly spread malaria, and the clinical characteristics are fever, sweating and intermittent chills; the clinical characteristics of Japanese encephalitis transmitted by Culex mosquitoes to humans through bites are unconsciousness and high fever; Aedes mosquitoes can spread a variety of diseases by sucking human blood, such as dengue fever, yellow fever and chikungunya, and the main transmission vector is Aedes mosquito.

The bigger the mosquito bite, the more toxic it is?

After being bitten by a mosquito, the size of the mosquito bites 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.

People with strong immune systems can remain unharmed after being bitten, but most people will have physical reactions, with mild manifestations such as raised mosquito bites and obvious itching. Skin lesions manifest as erythema, papules, wheals and other symptoms.

For people with weak immune systems, especially those with sensitive constitutions, a large amount of histamine and cytokines will be released after their blood is sucked, followed by the appearance of blisters, plaques, bruises, swelling and pain. Due to the intense symptoms, it takes a long time to completely relieve.

In addition, scratching with hands will increase the release of organic nitrogen-containing compounds histamine, resulting in tissue damage or inflammation, leading to local tissue edema.

When you feel itchy, you can apply peppermint ointment or floral water to relieve it instead of scratching.

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What kind of people do mosquitoes prefer to suck blood from? Is it related to blood type, sweetness of blood, etc.?

Mosquitoes are extremely sensitive to factors such as CO2, heat, and volatile chemicals. Their sense of smell can quickly detect and accurately locate these substances. The secretion of these substances is closely related to personal metabolism, such as the body's metabolic products urea, lactic acid, fatty acids, etc. Therefore, when you have high CO2 emissions, frequent sweat secretions, and active body metabolism, you are more likely to be favored by mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes mainly identify and find their blood-sucking targets through the smell in the air, so whether or not you attract mosquitoes has no direct correlation with your blood type.

Is it useful to pinch a mosquito bite in a cross shape?

Answer: Useful - psychological effect, mainly utilizing the body's pain transfer.

Imagine pinching a mosquito bite hard with your fingernails. You will subconsciously feel pain and will not care about the itchy feeling. In fact, the itchy feeling has not disappeared, it's just that the pain covers up the itchy feeling. This is completely a psychological effect of your own.

Tips for correct handling:

① When itching, you can use alkaline substances to neutralize it, such as baking soda. You can use soapy water at home, which has a very good anti-itching effect.

In addition, applying or rinsing the itchy area with salt water can soften the lumps and achieve the effect of relieving pain and itching.

② Do not scratch with your hands, especially the lumps on the skin, otherwise the tissue will be damaged and infection will occur.

Because scratching may speed up the blood flow in the capillaries, you can spray some floral water on a small area. Most floral water contains alcohol. Large-area use will cause symptoms of alcohol allergy. People with sensitive constitutions should use it with caution. Once there is tingling, stop using it immediately and seek medical attention.

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③ For mosquito bites on the skin, cold compresses can be used to relieve pain, such as wrapping a towel with frozen drinks and floating them on the affected area. Keep topical medications such as desonide cream and elocon cream at home.

④ When redness and swelling occur after a mosquito bite, apply ice first, then use topical medications according to the doctor's instructions, such as 1% menthol calamine lotion or 1% menthol cream.

⑤ When the bite shows obvious signs of infection, anti-infection drugs should be used in time, such as mupirocin ointment. If the symptoms cannot be relieved, seek medical treatment in time.

How to avoid mosquito bites outdoors?

Remember the three-word strategy of “avoid, drive away, and destroy”.

1. Avoid

For outdoor activities, try to wear thin, light-colored trousers and long sleeves, avoid bushes, tree shades, warehouses, waterside, and dark places. Also avoid wearing dark clothing, keep your skin clean and non-sticky, and apply cooling oil, wind oil, mosquito repellent, etc. to exposed parts of the body in the wild.

2——Drive

Choose floral water and mosquito repellent liquid containing DEET and Imonimin. When using mosquito repellent products, the more the better is not necessarily true. You can choose to use small amounts multiple times when doing outdoor activities.

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Mosquitoes prefer darkness and are afraid of light. If you are outdoors at night, you should bring lighting equipment to keep them away.

3. Destruction

Since mosquito eggs, larvae and pupae all live in water, and their growth and development cannot be separated from water, it is necessary to block the breeding and reproduction places of mosquitoes from the source, choose mosquito repellent containing pyrethroids, keep the ground clean and free of stagnant water, maintain good environmental hygiene, do our best to eliminate their breeding grounds, and strengthen the protection of mosquitoes' natural enemies, such as bats, swallows, dragonflies, spiders, geckos, frogs, etc., let them eliminate mosquitoes, use biological control and avoid environmental pollution.

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