What causes bumps that feel like mosquito bites?

The bumps that resemble mosquito bites are likely caused by acute urticaria. These bumps and lumps are accompanied by severe itching, which makes people unable to resist scratching and even scratching the skin to bleed. This acute symptom may be caused by allergens stimulating the human body and is a typical acute allergic symptom.

Allergic urticaria

Allergic urticaria is mostly caused by allergic mechanisms. The allergens in food (mostly foreign proteins) stimulate the human body to produce specific antibodies IgE (immunoglobulin E). This IgE antibody attaches to mast cells or alkaliphilic leukocytes in the body. When this food is eaten again, the IgE antibody combines with the allergens in the food, causing the mast cells and alkaliphilic leukocytes to release histamine. Histamine acts on blood vessels, causing them to dilate and increase permeability, resulting in large amounts of protein and fluid extravasating into the skin tissue, causing urticaria, which is a typical allergic reaction.

Classification of allergic urticaria

Acute urticaria

The onset is often acute, with sudden itching of the skin and the appearance of bright red wheals of varying sizes soon after. They are round, oval or irregular in shape, mostly isolated and scattered, but may also merge into patches. However, if the serum in the microvessels leaks rapidly and compresses the wall of the vessels, the wheal may appear pale and the surface pores may be obvious like orange peel. Within a few hours, the edema is reduced, the wheals turn into erythema and gradually disappear, but new wheals continue to occur, one after another, and may occur multiple times within a day. Severe cases may cause anaphylactic shock symptoms such as palpitations, irritability, nausea, vomiting, and even low blood pressure. In some patients, the gastrointestinal tract may be affected, causing mucosal edema. At the same time as the wheal occurs, abdominal pain occurs, which is sometimes very severe and resembles acute abdomen; diarrhea may also occur, accompanied by tenesmus and loose mucus in the stool. If the laryngeal mucosa is affected, breathing difficulties or even suffocation may occur. If accompanied by systemic poisoning symptoms such as high fever, chills, and rapid pulse, you should be particularly alert to the possibility of serious infection such as sepsis.

Routine blood examination often shows increased eosinophilia. In case of severe Staphylococcus aureus infection, the total white blood cell count often increases, or the cell count is normal but the percentage of neutrophils increases, or toxic granules are present at the same time.

Chronic urticaria

The systemic symptoms are generally mild, with wheals occurring repeatedly and often lasting for several months or years. Some are time-related, such as getting worse in the morning or before going to bed, while others have no definite pattern. For most patients, the cause of the disease cannot be found and the disease is stubborn and difficult to cure.

Allergic urticaria treatment

The best treatment for urticaria is to find the allergen and gradually use desensitization therapy to achieve the goal of curing allergic wheals. Currently, many hospitals have started skin allergy tests using different foods, drugs, animals and plants, or skin patch tests using different cosmetics and contact materials to find allergenic factors. If conditions permit, patients with allergic urticaria should first go to the hospital to find out the causative factors so as to eliminate or avoid contact with these factors. There are many causes of urticaria, most of which are caused by allergies, so urticaria is also an allergic skin disease. There are many causes of urticaria, most of which are caused by allergies, so urticaria is also an allergic skin disease. [1]

Precautions

Pay attention to your diet and avoid triggers

The onset of urticaria has a certain relationship with diet, and certain foods may be triggers. For example, fish, shrimp, seafood, spicy food, canned food, pickled food, beverages containing artificial additives such as artificial colors, preservatives, yeast, bamboo shoots (fried), etc. can induce urticaria. In addition, irritating foods such as overly sour and spicy foods will also reduce the digestive function of the gastrointestinal tract, causing food residues to stay in the intestines for too long, thereby producing peptones and polypeptides, increasing the chance of human allergies.

Pay attention to hygiene and avoid adverse stimulation

People with a history of urticaria should pay attention to keeping indoor and outdoor areas clean and hygienic, and keep fewer pets such as cats and dogs at home. Avoid inhaling pollen, dust, etc. Stay away from wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, fire, insects and poisons. The rules of life are adapted to the changes in the external environment. Drinking, heat, emotional excitement, exertion, etc. will aggravate the dilation of blood vessels in the skin, triggering or aggravating urticaria. Rubber gloves, hair dyes, perfumed soaps and detergents, chemical fiber and wool clothing, etc. may become adverse irritations for people with allergies or urticaria and should be avoided. People suffering from cold urticaria should not go to the beach or take cold baths, and should keep warm in winter.