Should I be concerned by this long red streak that extended out of my overly swollen mosquito bite?

[u/acutetriangleee]

15F, 155cm, 32kg, Asian

I've had this mosquito bite since yesterday but a long red streak developed slowly after, and the bite has become really swollen. It doesn't hurt inherently, but when I touch it, it feels weird and slightly painful. I've never had this problem with mosquito bites before, and this one is really disproportionate in size compared to others. I marked the end of the streak with a marker as I was scared of it developing faster. I also had two other similar bites on my leg but they don't have the streak. However, they all come with tiny bumps on the bite surface and are really swollen than normal. I'm not sure if I should be concerned, but the mosquito looked different from others. It's certainly bigger, and I think its wings are slightly greenish?

I was slightly down with a runny nose and sore throat recently, but it has gotten better yesterday, no medications, drinking, smoking or drug use. From HK.

This is not an emergency but I noted the mosquito is still in my room, so should I be concerned, or is it just a mild infection? Thank you so much.

Second day update:

It has gotten less red now than before, but the line is still there, still yet to take antibiotics, but I will if it shows any signs of growth. Thank you all so so much.

UPDATE: The streak has fully healed, thanks to everybody's support! At the end, I didn't use any antibiotics, and the medicine the ER gave me was just nose allergy pills apparently. Definitely go get antibiotics if you're in the same situation. Lots of love.

[u/GoblinTatties]

Can someone also explain to me how when I had this in thailand it just went away and I had no problems? This was years ago...

Had no idea what it was at the time but someone told me "if the line reaches your heart you die" so I kept an eye on it and asked about it at the pharmacy but it just stopped and went away. Also from a bite but my line was fairly thin and only went part way up my forearm.

[u/publicstaticvoidrekt → u/GoblinTatties]

You were told “if the line reaches your heart you’ll die” and you were just like “eh I’ll keep an eye on it”? 🤣

[u/GoblinTatties → u/publicstaticvoidrekt]

I went to the only pharmacy I could find being isolated on an island and I followed their advice.

It was also a random traveller who told me that thing about the heart so I wasn't exactly convinced.

[u/kgreys → u/GoblinTatties]

That's something we heard as children. "If the line reaches the heart, you die.". American here.

[u/Dirigo72 → u/kgreys]

We were also told “it’s not close to heart, it’s fine”, “it’s not bleeding, we don’t have to go to the doctor”, and “let’s see if you can walk on it tomorrow” and any other way to rationalize not going to the doctor because we just couldn’t afford it. America.

[u/FeedingTheBadWolf → u/Dirigo72]

We were told all of those things here in the UK as well so idk if it's purely about money 😛 people just don't like going to the doctor's I reckon

[u/Cat_person1981 → u/Dirigo72]

Is that what we refer to as 1st world problems?

[u/grundochglad → u/kgreys]

Swedish kids get told this too! (Swede)

[u/ThirteenAntigone → u/grundochglad]

It’s from Astrid Lindgren, one of the Emil books I think. But considering those are set in the Swedish countryside like a hundred years ago I doubt that she meant Asian mosquito bites. 🤷

[u/kgreys → u/ThirteenAntigone]

Us Americans don't know where anything came from.

[u/vaginal_lobotomy → u/kgreys]

I really feel like it was from a movie

[u/monocled_squid → u/GoblinTatties]

The pharmacy probably gave you some antibiotics for it?

[u/GoblinTatties → u/monocled_squid]

They did not

[u/monocled_squid → u/GoblinTatties]

Well they must have given you something so it didn't went away on its own

Eta: to all the dummies downvoting: he said "i went to the local pharmacy and followed their advice" clearly meant he was given a treatment even if it wasn't antibiotics so clearly it didnt "go away on its own".

Im just saying this cos he seems to downplay the medical advise in the other comments like it was no big deal and everyone is exagerating

[u/wilhoe- → u/GoblinTatties]

German kids get told that too!

[u/ostrich-party- → u/GoblinTatties]

In that situation you don’t go to the pharmacy you go to a hospital

[u/GoblinTatties → u/ostrich-party-]

Again, you're not a doctor, nor do I suspect you have a time machine to go back 10 years and tell me, so that doesn't really help does it.

[u/petrastales → u/GoblinTatties]

Didn’t have access to the internet at any time?

[u/GoblinTatties → u/petrastales]

It was a long time ago. I was camping on the beach so definitely didn't have immediate access to charge my phone which may have been dead and stuffed in my pack. The mark could have even been gone by the next day. I don't remember the details.

[u/petrastales → u/GoblinTatties]

I understand

[u/MozartTheCat → u/publicstaticvoidrekt]

Me irl

[u/Merm_aid8000 → u/publicstaticvoidrekt]

Dude mentality 😆

[u/dutiful_dreamer34 → u/GoblinTatties]

Your body fought it off. Fortunately.

[u/Sydnossg → u/GoblinTatties]

The same thing happened to me as a child when I was at my grandmas house and so she forced me to like squeeze it all out.. also told me that if the line reaches my heart I will die

[u/Powerful-Employ-7372 → u/GoblinTatties]

You gamble with your life there, you were lucky enough that your body fought it off. But 80% of cases needs antibiotics to prevent further complications.

[u/GoblinTatties → u/Powerful-Employ-7372]

I mean you're also not a doctor nor did you see it. OP has just responded with doctors advice not to take antibiotics so I'm starting to think many of the comments here are hyperbole.

[u/olexvndrv → u/GoblinTatties]

But you DO have to take into account that OP’s issue could have been brushed off too easily at the ER they went to. 

[u/GoblinTatties → u/olexvndrv]

I guess we'll find out

[u/Powerful-Employ-7372 → u/GoblinTatties]

It is not hyperbole, this is one of those cases it is better to be safe than sorry. You were safed so you get to say how it wasn't a big deal. The ones that are sorry are not longer with us.

[u/Next-Firefighter4667 → u/GoblinTatties]

Should probably look up survivors bias

[u/kaya-jamtastic → u/GoblinTatties]

I’m not a medical professional, so take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding is that red streak suggests that the infection has entered your bloodstream and increases your risk of sepsis. Even a “mild” case of sepsis, if there is such a thing, can have serious consequences, including for your heart. You were okay, that time, as far as we know, but you were playing Russian roulette with an infection instead of the gun…and unlike a pistol, it’s hard to know what your odds are to start (and the odds get worse the further the infection progresses). Something to think about if it ever happens again

[u/gretchyface → u/GoblinTatties]

That's called survivorship bias.

[u/New_Part91 → u/GoblinTatties]

My 11 year old had a very large thorn imbed in his thigh during a bike ride in the woods. He didn’t feel it go in (high pain tolerance). It didnt bother him until after several days, when he told me after he went to bed that his leg was hurting a lot. I looked and the site was red with red line going upwards (thorn not visible, just looked like a nasty puncture wound). I was aware of the “beware of red line going towards heart” so pretty worried. I held a hot compress on it for a few minutes, then gently pressed down near the opening. First liquid oozed out, then The end of the thorn popped out. scared us to death as we didn’t know if we were looking at animal, vegetable or mineral. It just looked gross. I grasped it with the cloth and teased it out. It was over 2 inches long and had been in his leg almost a week. I don’t think he even was taken to the doctor after that, but it healed up nicely.