Summer and insect bites

[elswyth]

Last year was my first summer in NZ, and I got some pretty bad insect bites over the summer. I read up and tried everything - bed bug precautions, hot steaming the carpet, washing my clothes with hot water, etc. Nothing worked except for... the end of summer. As autumn came around, I was all good again.

This year it's repeating itself. All over my body again, I can't see any insects around. This is a new house but the rental agency claimed that everything was professionally cleaned, and I've not had any problems til summer started. I rarely go into the outdoors much, and when I do I wear long trousers and have my whole body covered. So the problem is probably in my house. But why only in the summer? If I had bed bugs or dust mites or lice around they would not disappear after summer ended, right?

[JandM]

Have you asked a doctor to look at the marks you have? I'm wondering if these are not bites, but an allergic reaction to some plant which gives off pollen at this season of the year.

Then, many people (including my OH, which is how I come to know this) get a big reaction to NZ mosquitoes and midges, which they didn't to their home country ones. These insects are so small, they're easy to overlook indoors, and often sit in the curtains or blinds just inside a window that's been open in the daytime. You can try insect repellent that you put on your skin, and there are ultra-violet insect zapper lamps that you can have plugged in in your rooms (available from DIY stores).

[elswyth]

Hmm, I think they are bites, because I can see the hole in the middle as opposed to allergy.

Interesting, my home country has a tonne of mosquitos, but you can rarely miss them because they are incredibly noisy and always fly past your eyes/ears. I have yet to see one indoors in the city here though. Are the NZ ones really that quiet and small?

[mikeandcaroline]

I suffered a bad reaction to a mozzie bite in NZ early last year and OH had a bad reaction to a bite a few years ago. When we were there again last Christmas we were really careful and used the plug in insect repellents indoors and used Avon bug guard spray when we went out, and happily no reactions to anything.

- http://www.avon.co.nz/PRSuite/productdetails.page - Personal Care - Sun and Outdoor protection - Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Mosquito Repellent Moisturising Spray

[JandM]

My OH was covered in red itchy lumps the morning after our arrival in Titirangi, and we hadn't noticed any insects in the room with us. The chemist, selling some repellent, reckoned they were mosquito bites, and when we invested in one of the UV lamps, we straight away collected six mosquitoes in the base when it had only been on in the bedroom for a couple of hours.

(The chemist said, 'English, eh? They like the taste of you English.')

[ChristineW]

for natural mosquito repellent here in Thailand we use lemongrass spray or patch ... the smell is quite strong though... and I don't know if they're available in NZ
allergies are quite tricky....
test results are not 100% guaranteed to be accurate, the triggers can change with time and the manifestation can change too with time
my eldest had bad episodes of hives/ urticaria too until he's about 4 y.o. and we still don't know the reason even after he took a blood test, luckily as he grows big it disappears
you may like to google about hives or urticaria

[kiwieagle]

You don't say where you live but I have found that mozzies are smaller in more populated areas here. The mozzies that buzz your ears while tramping and camping are much bigger than the little dudes that fly around by my house. Sometimes they are easily missed and if you leave a window open at dusk it doesn't take many of the little guys to get you. Personally, mozzies don't bother me so much. It's the sandflies that really get me. Where I live, sandflies are really limited to the beach, rivers, and parks. However, I spent Christmas Eve, Day, and Boxing Day in Wairarapa and even in the various town centres I was in, I got bit to death. They are quite small (except in Milford ) and I have a very different reaction to them than I do mozzies. Perhaps you have sandflies in your area? I know people don't like bug spray but one sandfly bite is so painful and gets so gross and inflamed that it's not really a question for me. My sister-in-law was wearing an insect repellent scarf from Kathmandu and she didn't get bit at all. Perhaps something like that in your bed might help.

[kiwieagle]

Forgot to say, calamine lotion can help soothe bad reactions. It helps keep you from scratching it and making it worse.

[Dell]

Guessing it is mozzies. Try a repellant. I've got temporary accommodation in a house in Devonport for a week. I have only seen one mozzie but I got a lot of nasty bites the first day (before I started using OFF repellant). You really don't hear them unless they're close to your ear. I'm really looking forward to moving into my house in a couple of weeks - it has window screens! You can have window screens made for about $100 a window, but guess this won't help if you are renting.

After living in the U.S. for so long, I'm used to window screens and will never understand why they're not commonly used here.

[dharder]

(The chemist said, 'English, eh? They like the taste of you English.')

He didn't precede this with a heartily rendered 'fee fi fo fum', did he? In which case I think you should count yourself lucky you go out alive

Daniela