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What Makes Mosquito Bites So Itchy?

Posted by Mosquito Squad
What Makes Mosquito Bites So Itchy?

June 7, 2021

A mosquito bites you in your backyard and causes that itchy bump that can last for days sometimes. What exactly causes that? Millions of people get bitten by mosquitoes every year. Some have severe reactions to the bite itself. While others hardly bothered at all. Most of us are somewhere in the middle with a small itchy bump left behind.

First, lets look at the anatomy of the female mosquito. The female mosquito is the one that bites you. She is looking for a blood meal or protein meal that is necessary for her to lay her eggs. The males just feed off the vegetation and do not bite. Because of this, the females have some body parts that the males do not have so she can draw blood from a host.

Both males and females have antennae, but they are different. The males have fine hairs an their antennae that help them hear better. The primary target of the better hearing is the female mosquito flying. The male is always fine tuned for the noise that the female make when flying so it can go mate with it. The female mosquito has odor receptors on their antennae so it can pick up the odors of mammals. They small these mammals and hunt them down so they can get their blood meal.

The biggest difference between male and female mosquitoes is there mouth parts. Mosquitoes do not have much in the way of teeth that "bite" you. The female has a long proboscis that has serrated edges designed for piercing the skin of its host to draw blood. The long proboscis acts like a straw to suck the blood into its thorax. The female has a larger thorax or abdomen area where the blood is stored for egg laying.

This gets us to the why a mosquito bite is itchy. When the mosquito pierces the skin with its proboscis, it immediately releases saliva. The mosquito saliva contains proteins and anticoagulants. The anticoagulants keeps your blood from thickening and makes it easier for the mosquito to suck it out. The protein is also in your body and your body and your body immediately senses it. The body quickly releases a compound called histamine to the bitten area so that whit blood cells can go there to attack these foreign substances. It is the histamine that cause the skin to itch and get that red welt that appears at the site of the bite. Some people release more histamine causing a more itchy reaction. For others, scratching that itchy area causes it to become more irritated and itchy and can also lead to infection.

Mosquito Squad can help you have many less itchy bites to worry about in your backyard this mosquito season. Our barrier treatment is 90% effective at eliminating the mosquitoes in your yard. We back this with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Call or email us today and we can provide you a quote for service preventing these types of itchy bites in your backyard.