Jun 29, 09 | Posted by: Sharyl Paley, M.D.

Those pesty mosquitoes

Well, it is official, summer has hit Wisconsin.  Summer in Wisconsin brings mosquitoes, lots of them.  Already this morning- in less then an hour, I have seen three kids with mosquito bites.  For some reason those bugs love the toddlers and early school age kids.  They usually tend to leave the infants alone.

Mosquito bites on kids can become very swollen and red.  We call this a large local reaction.  It is not an allergy to the mosquitoes.  You can help your child with a few simple tools.  If they are scratching a lot, a cool washcloth on the bite helps settle it down.  The more they scratch and the warmer they are, the larger and more inflamed the bites look.  Also, use over the counter anti-itch cream.  There are many out there including cortizone, calamine, and others.  I caution against use of the topical -dryl lotions such as caladryl.  If the itching becomes so much I will use an oral benadryl and if they have topical -dryl on, this is too much of this medicine.

If I have a child that always seems to get large reactions, them I may have them use Zyrtec which is over the counter.  I don’t use this because it is an allergy, but rather the antihistamine settles down the reaction.

If the bite continues to enlarge, becomes very warm to touch or tender, it might becoming infected.  Bring this into your doctor so they can look at it. 

Finally, don’t be alarmed by the bites near the eye.  They can be very swollen and the eye can appear to close.  This is an area where fluid accumulates easily and so becomes more swollen.  If it looks bad in the morning, then give a dose of benadryl, sit them upright and put a cool wash cloth on it.  If the swelling doesn’t come down or gets worse, or it is more red then pink, then bring them in.

Unfortunately we need to live with our mosquitoes.  So try to enjoy the summer and ignore the pests.

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