Mosquito bite allergy

Common card · No. 279420

Mosquito bite allergies, also termed hypersensitivity to mosquito bites, are excessive reactions of varying severity to mosquito bites. They are allergic hypersensitivity reactions caused by the non-toxic allergenic proteins contained in the saliva injected by a female mosquito (male mosquitos do not take blood-meals) at the time it takes its blood meal, and are not caused by any toxin or pathogen. By general agreement, mosquito bite allergies do not include the ordinary wheal and flare responses to these bites although these reactions are also allergic in nature. Ordinary mosquito bite allergies are nonetheless detailed here because they are the best understood reactions to mosquito bites and provide a basis for describing what is understood about them. Mosquito bite allergies are informally classified as 1) the skeeter syndrome, i.e., severe local skin reactions sometimes associated with low-grade fever; 2) systemic reactions that range from high-grade fever, lymphadenopathy, abdominal...

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