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Treating Mosquito bites
and
Bee Sting First Aid

Learn how to treat insect bites such as treating mosquito bites and bee sting first aid.

Some people are more reactive to insect bites. I, unlike many other people I know, do not get welts or red marks from mosquitos. I have seen some people with such large reactions to mosquitos that we thought that they had something serious wrong with them. Not just a few mosquito bites! Plus, I’ve seen someone react severely to a bee sting, even though they’d never had problems in the past.

Deet Insect Repellent – Natural Bug Repellents – Mosquito Info –Tick Info and Removal - Identify Biting Insects

Treating Mosquito Bites

1) DO NOT SCRATCH

2) Wash area with soap and water.

Or use Tea-tree oil

Use undiluted Tea tree oil when treating mosquito bites - it is an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, and non-irritating. (test a section of skin first). If it irritates the skin, dilute it with jojoba or almond oil (1 part tea tree oil, 5 parts jojoba or almond oil).

Or use Peppermint essential oil

- menthol increases the circulation and this will disperse the anti-coagulant from the mosquito.

3) To reduce itching, use any of the following methods.

If one doesn’t work when treating mosquito bites, wash away and try another. One is bound to work for you!

- Apply Ice packs and cold compresses to the bite

- Lavender essential oil – if rubbed on bite right away.

- Calamine lotion – rub on bite to calm itching.

- Cortisone cream – will help your body stop reacting to the mosquito bite.

- Vinegar – apply to bite

- Apply paste of baking soda and water

- Apply antihistamine cream to area to reduce itching and swelling

- Place a cold green tea bag on the bite.

- Aloe Vera gel and honey may also help.

4) If the itching is unbearable: Apply anaesthetic cream such as PrameGel and Caladryl.

5) If the swelling is severe, an anti-histamine such as Benadryl may need to be taken orally, and your camper may need to go to the hospital to get steroid creams.

6) If the red mark is growing in size, with pen, draw around it and keep track if the red area is growing in size. Go to a hospital or doctor to see if it is something more severe than a mosquito bite.

7) If you have difficulty breathing, nausea or dizziness, you may be having an allergic reaction. Go to a hospital.

Bee Sting First Aid

Honey bees will leave their stinger, while hornets, wasps and yellow jackets do not leave a stinger.

1) Get out of the area. There may be more bees in the area, and the bee will release a smell to let other bees know that they have an enemy to come and sting you too!

2) Remove stinger - very important with bee sting first aid!The sooner you get the stinger removed, the more severe the reaction. A good way to remove it is scraping the stinger out with a credit card. The faster you can get the stinger out is more important than the method of removal.

3) Keep watch for breathing difficulties. Even if someone has been stung by a bee and not reacted, they can react severely to a sting at another time. The bee sting first aid for severe reactions is an Epi-pen. This will allow the person to breathe for 30 minutes while you get them to the hospital. This is a life threatening condition. Other symptoms of severe anaphylactic reactions are: itching, redness, hives and shortness of breath. If you do not have any Epi-pen, anti histamines such as Benadryl will help slow the reaction.

4) Bee sting first aid for normal reactors is to apply an icepack to reduce swelling. Apply calamine lotion to reduce itching.

5) If anyone is stung more than 10 times, take them to the hospital.

Although biting insects are annoying (no one loves them). You can still enjoy camping by avoiding them as best you can.

Some articles that you might be interested in:

Identify all the biting creepy crawlers

Natural Insect Repellents and recipes

Deet Insect Repellent – pros and cons to this neurotoxin

Information on diseases mosquitos carry and mosquito spray

Tick Removal and information on ticks

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