If you wake up in the morning and see bite marks all over your body, your first hunch would be that from a mosquito.
But what if the marks still appear after applying a mosquito repellent and spraying anti-mosquito insecticide? For sure, those are not mosquito bites! Observe the time when you get bitten.
Is it at night when you are lying in bed or on a piece of furniture? If this is the case, those could be bedbug bites.
The bedbug is an insect that lives by feeding on the blood of humans and warm-blooded hosts.
Its name came from its usual habitat which is the mattress or sofa.
It isn't nocturnal although bedbugs bite during the night.
A bedbug bite can either be flat or raised.
It can be pinkish or red.
What differentiates it from that of the mosquito bite is that it has a pattern.
For example, you may see 3 or more bites in a row.
This pattern may be caused by disruption while the bedbug is feeding.
And it moves a bit farther before resuming feeding.
People react differently with a bedbug bite.
Some may feel itchy while others don't feel a thing.
And in some rare cases, an allergic reaction to a bedbug bite may cause nausea.
Generally, bedbug bites are harmless because these do not cause any disease.
But if the bitten person feels anxious and is getting very itchy, certain methods can be done to treat the bedbug bite.
Systemic corticosteroids can treat the itching and burning but the lesions are not responsive to this treatment.
Same happens with antihistamines.
Topical corticosteroids can effectively treat the lesions and decrease the itching as well.
A bedbug bite can take a few days to a few weeks to go away.
While the bites are still there and you still feel itchy, refrain from scratching.