Itchy mosquito bite

Itchy mosquito bite

"Ouch, That hurts" is what P said when she scratched her hand. I turned around to check what made her say that. Understanding why I was looking at her she said "Mom, that was a mosquito bite".  I told her that was not the Mosquito bite , but her body releasing a chemical called 'histamine' when a mosquito bites.

Since, she continued to have the puzzled look I sat down with her to explain what was really happening.

A female mosquito sticks her beak into your skin to suck blood. She uses the energy to produce eggs. After sucking the blood, she leaves the traces of her saliva on the wound. Most humans are allergic to this saliva and our body releases a chemical "histamine" which causes the skin to be itchy and red.

The itch prompts us to scratch which helps to remove the top most layer of the dead skin cells and some of the irritating substances in that place. It is better not to scratch deeply, because that will damage the skin badly causing  infection.

I told her to apply some soothing lotion and later she felt better.

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