Pick on someone your own size!

There's something about the mosquitoes in Michigan the past few years. This picture is that of my son's swollen eye caused by a single mosquito bite last year. It was pretty nasty. Both of my son's have had this kind of reaction the past several years to mosquitoes. A single bite will cause their whole hand to swell up almost to the point of them not being able to form a fist. Or a bite on the leg will form a welt as large and puffy as if someone slit open the skin and stuffed an errant golf ball under their skin before closing the wound. It's kind of freaky. Thankfully, nothing life-threatening so far, but freaky nonetheless. In the picture, less than 24 hours after the bite, my son was unable to open his left eye.

Based on anecdotal evidence and conversations with friends and neighbors, I think this is really getting worse. Many others have stated that they too are getting more and more allergic to being bitten. There's a actual condition called Skeeter Syndrome that involves the extreme swelling like my sons are experiencing, but it also involves a fever. I don't recall any of that.

It's interesting that neither my daughter, my wife, nor I get this much extreme swelling, but with my oldest son's allergy to peanuts, that might be some evidence of a slighted immune system that might allow this kinds of condition. My younger son has no diagnosed allergies at this point. With his body reacting so aggressively toward a little mosquito bite...maybe we'll have to get him tested further.

Did I already say that it's just the female mosquito that does the biting? Apparently the males are content to snack on the nectar of juicy fruit... Go figure.