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Iceland reports the presence of mosquitoes as climate warms

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121 points sans_souse | 4 comments | 22 Oct 25 22:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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Findecanor ◴[22 Oct 25 23:37 UTC] No.45676521[source]▶
When I was a kid in the 1980's I had a classmate from Iceland who was very smug about them not having mosquitoes there.

The Nordic varieties of mosquito are not known to carry any diseases, but the sting itches. Authorities in these countries sometimes poison wetlands where mosquito populations would otherwise grow large enough to become a public nuisance in summer.

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junon ◴[23 Oct 25 00:14 UTC] No.45676768[source]▶
Curious, aside from people who are immune or whatever, does any type of mosquito bite not itch?
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1. mvid ◴[23 Oct 25 00:41 UTC] No.45676924[source]▶
Some mosquitoes just itch way less, to the point where it isn’t really noticeable
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2. abakker ◴[23 Oct 25 00:54 UTC] No.45677003[source]▶
I have no basis for this, but I think this is also based on personal genetics or similar. Most of the bites I get seem to create no bumps or itchiness at all. When i was a kid, that wasn't the same, but now in my late 30s it seems to no phase me.
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3. Moru ◴[23 Oct 25 02:45 UTC] No.45677639[source]▶
It's not completely true that the mosquitos don't carry things here. We do have something called Tularemia [1] (Harpest). Also it seems the first mosquitos for the season are more potent that later during the year.

And for personal anecdotal evidence, my wife gets more problems with mosquitos here than I do. When we visit her home country I get more problems than she does.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia

4. AuryGlenz ◴[23 Oct 25 06:46 UTC] No.45678918[source]▶
Your immune system learns not to freak out at them, I believe. Every kid I’ve known gets large bumps when they get a bite, though some certainly get worse bumps than others.