Kark.com – Apparent mosquito bites are leaving people in Oklahoma with odd symptoms, including swollen hands and intense pain.
Among those affected were a youth soccer coach and her team who said they experienced intense symptoms after being bitten by mosquitoes at an Oklahoma City park.
Coach Laney Singleton said her hand was heavily swollen for several days after she says a mosquito bit her. She said the pain felt more like what she’d expect from a bee sting rather than a mosquito.
Medical experts say the symptoms aren’t normal, and some doctors aren’t sure what to think of it.
“It doesn’t look like your typical mosquito bite,” Dr. Melinda Cail said of Singleton’s symptoms. “Usually people will get a little bit of swelling and maybe some redness.
But if people are consistently having a big reaction to it, it makes me think that it’s probably something else… or maybe some different strain of mosquito.
“It leaves a feeling of almost like a flu shot after you get a flu shot,” she said.
The bites reportedly have resulted in swelling, burning, itching and slight pain. Some symptoms even last hours, with others lasting days.
“I freaked out,” said Tara Morgan, whose daughter had a bad reaction to a mosquito bite. “My biggest fear was it’s swelling to the point where it could have problems with her arteries or closing her throat up or causing breathing issues because it was huge — very, very big.”
Morgan contacted Nexstar’s KFOR after seeing a previous report on similar bites.
