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Mosquito bites!

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robofski

robofski

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I'm currently nursing 3 bites acquired yesterday! This got me to doing a bit of reading after a discussion with the OH and I was quite surprised to read that one of the main things the female mosquito (yes it's just the females that go after blood!) gets from blood is the sugar, so I was wondering if having higher BG as diabetics makes us more of a target, how does everyone else fair?
 
robofski said:
I'm currently nursing 3 bites acquired yesterday! This got me to doing a bit of reading after a discussion with the OH and I was quite surprised to read that one of the main things the female mosquito (yes it's just the females that go after blood!) gets from blood is the sugar, so I was wondering if having higher BG as diabetics makes us more of a target, how does everyone else fair?
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I always get bitten but hubby (also t2) very rarely does so not sure what that does to you theory 🙂 lol...
 
I also got three bites last week whilst gardening - I wonder if 3 is significant? Maybe there is something in it, given that dogs can detect hypers and hypos, so maybe a high level does attract them more?

Took all my willpower not to scratch them, and thankfully they are now healing nicely - beware of getting any infections! 🙂
 
Where did you read this? The main thing mosquitos get from blood is the proteins required for egg development - sugar is a nice byproduct but not the main reason for a mozzie bite.

Mozzies pick people based on the aroma of their sweat, depending on the proportion of their CO2 and a few other compounds (of which glucose is not one). The one thing you can definitely say about mozzie bites is everyone who gets bitten by mosquitos always says that mosquitos love them in particular.
 
Northerner said:
Took all my willpower not to scratch them, and thankfully they are now healing nicely - beware of getting any infections! 🙂
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I'm not so good at the not scratching!! I always react quite badly and get large hard lumps at the bite site which on occasions get infected, take several days to go down :(

DeusXM said:
Where did you read this? The main thing mosquitos get from blood is the proteins required for egg development - sugar is a nice byproduct but not the main reason for a mozzie bite.
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From the font of all knowledge DuesXM, wikipedia 🙂

Both plant materials and blood are useful sources of energy in the form of sugars

I'm aware it's the proteins that they are really after and the whole CO2 and octenol being the real attraction, I was just interested if other diabetics were as unlucky as me (I don't intend to publish my results in Nature 🙂 )
 
cherrypie said:
An interesting article here.

Why do mosquitos bite some people more than others?


http://scienceline.org/2007/09/ask-knight-mosquitoes/
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Interesting article, my OH is in the school of thought that blood type has something to do with it, but unfortunately she wouldn't agree with the article as she's an O and never gets bit, I'm A+ and am always suffering!! One of my Daughters is A+ and get's bitten quite a bit too, have never found out what blood type the other daughter is but she's never bitten!!
 
I got 17 bites last week - sat on my decking in the evening with black leggings on - I cant begin to tell you where they managed to bite - but it was painful to sit. I didnt realise they can bite through leggings!😱

I did read vanilla extract helps keep them away?
 
robofski said:
Interesting article, my OH is in the school of thought that blood type has something to do with it, but unfortunately she wouldn't agree with the article as she's an O and never gets bit, I'm A+ and am always suffering!! One of my Daughters is A+ and get's bitten quite a bit too, have never found out what blood type the other daughter is but she's never bitten!!
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My blood type is B+, and I don't get bitten a lot, but when I do it seems to be several times on one day. I was out gardening all day in the hot weather the other week but only got bitten on the last really hot day.
 
lucy123 said:
I got 17 bites last week - sat on my decking in the evening with black leggings on - I cant begin to tell you where they managed to bite - but it was painful to sit. I didnt realise they can bite through leggings!😱

I did read vanilla extract helps keep them away?
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Ouch, 17 sounds pretty painful!
 
I take garlic tablets and I reckon they help to keep the little blighters at bay.🙂
 
lucy123 said:
I did read vanilla extract helps keep them away?
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I think you mean citronella.

Since I spend 3-4 months a year in the tropics, I've had a mozzie bite or two. As well as the chemical attractants that DeusXM refers to, the little blighters are also attracted to strong contrasting colors. My OH has dark hair and seems to get far more bites than baldy me. Also avoid wearing black or white, especially together.

We've installed mozzie traps at our house overseas, and those seem to work very well. They use a combination of chemical attractants and black & white colours to bring the blighters in and then there's a fan to suck them in.

Our local friends say the the one certain way to avoid bites is to sit next to a tourist.
 
Jill said:
I heard that eating Marmite keeps them at bay.
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I think I'd quite happily smother myself in Marmite, picked up another 3 bites on the weekend, itching like crazy!!!
 
robofski said:
I think I'd quite happily smother myself in Marmite, picked up another 3 bites on the weekend, itching like crazy!!!
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Oh dear - sorry to hear that. Are you taking antihistamine to help stop the itching?
 
Tried some cream which hasn't help at all :(
 
robofski said:
Tried some cream which hasn't help at all :(
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Take some antihistamines 🙂
I had some nasty bites a few weeks ago. The ones I had on my ankle, filled with liquid the size of a 10p and a 5p, despite oozing out. I also had 3 bites on my arm. They didn't fill quite as badly as the ankle ones, but they itched like mad. The normal antihistamines did absolutely nothing for me, so I went to the GP who prescribed me stronger ones. They worked.
 
i had 85 bites the other day, some flea bites some mosquitos, i know thats horrible aha! bloody animals.
 
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