Wham: Reduce Itching, Pain from Mosquito Bites

It's summertime already in Arizona. Today we have our evaporative coolers on full blast . . . it was 96 degrees yesterday in Sedona. But, as much as I love summer, that's our season for annoying bugs and pests. One of the worst is the mosquito, which in the last couple of years has been bringing along the threat of West Nile virus. I got my first bite last night on a walk around the neighborhood.

Mosquito bites seem to come with summer. It’s best to think ahead and apply an insect repellent – some even are combined with sunscreen to give double protection from summer hazards – before going out. But if you forgot and get an itchy welt, Ken Haller, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University, suggests this treatment.

"Dab a bit of roll-on antiperspirant directly on the bug bite and the itching will stop. The aluminum salts in the antiperspirant help the body to reabsorb the fluid in the bug bite. The swelling goes down and the itching goes away," he says.

Dave