MYSTERIOUS bug bites have left several soccer players with baseball-sized swelling, sore joints, and headaches.
Doctors are searching for answers to the mosquito-like bites that devolved into painful symptoms.
For weeks, community soccer teams have been playing at Lightning Creek Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, without any issues.
But at the beginning of October, after practice, coach Laney Singleton noticed a searing pain in her hand and watched in horror as a softball-sized welt ballooned out.
A jaw-dropping picture of the bite shows her right hand deeply reddened and burning with bee-sting-like pain.
“It leaves a feeling of almost like a flu shot after you get a flu shot,” she told NBC affiliate KFOR.
She later learned that girls on her team went home with similar bites across their bodies that swelled to the size of golf balls or baseballs.
Some girls had headaches after the stings, Singleton said.
The coach and her team are all from Oklahoma, so they’re used to being outside with the mosquitos.
This left them wondering why they suddenly started having such an intense reaction.
Dr. Melinda Cail, a physician in Oklahoma City, looked at the picture of the swollen sores and said they didn’t look at all like mosquito bites.
“Usually, people will get a little bit of swelling and maybe some redness,” she told KFOR.
“But if people are consistently having a big reaction to it, it makes me think it’s probably something else.”
Dr. Cail speculated that a new strain of mosquito could have surfaced but figured if that were the case, then there would be more bites throughout the community.
BUG MYSTERY
Only one other person has reported having suffered a similar bite – an employee of KFOR.
Their hand was also massively swollen and red throughout, but he didn’t get bit near Lightning Creek Park.
Dr. Cail said if many people are being left with the sores, then mosquitos might not be the answer.
However, Singleton wonders if a drainage ditch near the field has acted as a breeding ground for the bugs and wants the city to intervene.
The dangers of mosquitoes
Mosquitoes can carry viruses which cause certain diseases like West Nile virus and the viruses that cause malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever.
The mosquito gets a virus or parasite by biting an infected person or animal, then transferring it to the next person through its saliva.
Mosquitos bite during both day and night, and they can live indoors.
There were more than 600,000 deaths from malaria in 2022, according to the World Health Organisation.
Malaria is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes, when they bite people to feed on their blood.
When the mosquitoes bite, they transfer the malarial parasites into the person’s bloodstream, causing them to become ill.
Only the female mosquito feeds on human blood, however.
In exceptionally rare circumstances the disease can also be spread by blood transfusions.
You can take several steps to protect yourself from mosquito bites, including wearing protective clothing, taking preventative medicines and vaccinations, and using insect repellent.
Source: Mayo Clinic
“I’m hoping maybe the city can come out and just treat the fields,” Singleton said.
“We’re really just hoping that our kids can come out and practice in a safe environment.”
While mosquito bites are common, they should be taken seriously.
Mosquitos can carry viruses that cause diseases like malaria and yellow fever.
To avoid bites, people should use bug spray, avoid standing water, and wear protective clothing.
Mosquitos can carry viruses that develop into dangerous diseases[/caption]
