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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffMosquito bites are caused by the bite of a female mosquito. The female mosquito feeds off your blood by piercing your skin with her mouth (proboscis). While sucking your blood, she also deposits some of her saliva into your skin. This saliva contains proteins that remain in your skin. Your immune system may then react to those proteins, resulting in the characteristic itching and bump.
- Castells MC. Insect bites. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 12, 2010.
- Whitehorn C. Mosquito vectors of infectious disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 12, 2010.
- Hsia RY. Mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases: Pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of mosquito bites (Part I: Mosquitoes). In: Auerbach RS. Wilderness Medicine. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/192842131-3/0/1483/377.html?tocnode=54236352&fromURL=377.html. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Beware of bug bites and stings. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048022.htm. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Hsia RY. Mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases: Pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of mosquito bites (Part II: Diseases). In: Auerbach RS. Wilderness Medicine. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/192894961-2/0/1483/378.html?tocnode=54236358&fromURL=378.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-03228-5..50047-1--cesec11_2157. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- West Nile virus facts. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/ptb/pest/wnv_facts.htm. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Mosquito control and West Nile virus. National Biological Information Infrastructure. http://westnilevirus.nbii.gov/mosquitoes.html. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Mosquitoes. In: Habif TB. Clinical Dermatology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00024-9--s0845&uniq=192842131&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9&sid=977693082. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Active ingredients found in insect repellants. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/mosquitoes/ai_insectrp.htm. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Hsia RY. Mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases: Pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of mosquito bites (Part III: Mosquito control). In: Auerbach RS. Wilderness Medicine. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/192894961-2/0/1483/379.html?tocnode=54236406&fromURL=379.html. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- West Nile virus — QA: Insect repellent use and safety. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/insect_repellent.htm. Accessed April 3, 2010.
- Steckelberg JM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 13, 2010.
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