What is the Difference Between Mosquito and Spider Bites

The key difference between mosquito and spider bites is that mosquito bites tend to cause raised, red bumps on the skin of a person while spider bites tend to cause irregular, blotchy-looking red marks on the skin.

Insects, such as bees, ants, fleas, flies, mosquitoes, wasps, and arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scorpions may bite if people get close. Mosquito and spider bites are very common in the summer. These bites appear red in color. However, they are different in other characteristics.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Mosquito Bites
3. What are Spider Bites
4. Similarities – Mosquito and Spider Bites
5. Mosquito vs. Spider Bites in Tabular Form
6. FAQ –  Mosquito and Spider Bites
7. Summary – Mosquito vs. Spider Bites

What are Mosquito Bites?

Mosquito bites occur when they pierce the human skin using a special mouthpart called a proboscis to suck up blood. The signs and symptoms of mosquito bites may include a puffy and reddish bump appearing a few minutes after the bite, a hard, itchy, reddish-brown bump or multiple bumps appearing on the day after the bites, small blisters of hard bumps and dark spots that look like bruises. The complications of mosquito bites include infection of the bites and getting mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria.

Mosquito bites can be diagnosed through physical examination and blood tests. Moreover, mosquito bites can be treated by washing the area with soap and water, applying an ice pack for 10 minutes to reduce swelling and itching, applying a mixture of baking soda and water, which reduces the itch response, applying anti-itch cream for a mosquito bite, and using an over the counter antiitch or antihistamine cream to help relieve itching.

What are Spider Bites?

Spider bites are normally harmless. Spiders do not normally bite unless they are threatened. However, few species of spiders around the world, such as widow spiders, have bites strong enough to penetrate human skin and have venom strong enough to hurt humans. The signs and symptoms of spider bites include redness, pain, swelling, cramping, nausea, vomiting, tremors or sweating, fever, chills, body aches, a bite wound with a pale center that turns dark blue or purple with a red ring around it, and a bite wound that evolves into an open sore with surrounding skin dying. The complications of spider bites are severe wounds that leave large scars and death in small children.

Spider bites can be diagnosed through history and physical symptoms evaluation. Furthermore, treatment options for spider bites are cleaning the wound with mild soap and water, applying a cool compress over the bite for 15 minutes, taking over-the-counter pain relievers, taking antihistamines such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or cetirizine (Zyrtec) and taking antibiotics if the bite develops into an open wound or becomes infected.

What are the Similarities Between Mosquito and Spider Bites?

• Mosquito and spider bites are very common in the summer.
• They appear in red color.
• Both bites can be diagnosed through physical examination.
• They can be treated with specific oral and topical medications.

What is the Difference Between Mosquito and Spider Bites?

Mosquito bites tend to cause raised, red bumps on the skin of the person, while spider bites tend to cause irregular, blotchy-looking red marks on the skin of the person. Thus, this is the key difference between mosquito and spider bites. Furthermore, the complications of mosquito bites include infection of the bites and getting mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria. On the other hand, the complications of spider bites include severe wounds that leave large scars and death in small children.

The infographic below presents the differences between mosquito and spider bites in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

FAQ: Mosquito and Spider Bites

What can be mistaken for a spider bite?

Skin infections, other skin conditions, and bites from other bugs can be mistakenly read as spider bites.

Does a spider bite have 2 holes?

Spiders do have two venom-injecting fangs, and they usually bite using both at once. However, in smaller spiders, like those smaller than a tarantula, the entry points of the two fangs are so close together that there’s little to no visible separation.

Are spider bites itchy?

Yes. Spider bites can cause itching.

Summary – Mosquito vs. Spider Bites

Mosquito and spider bites both manifest as red areas on the skin and look very similar to each other. The key difference between mosquito and spider bites is the feeling people often get after a bite. Mosquito bites are itchy and uncomfortable, while spider bites tend to cause a bit of pain. Moreover, mosquito bites tend to cause raised, red bumps on the skin of the person. On the other hand, spider bites tend to cause irregular, blotchy-looking red marks on the skin of the person.

Reference:

1. Pietrangelo, Ann. “Mosquito Bites: Symptoms, Diseases, and Treatments.” Healthline, Healthline Media.
2.“Spider Bites.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Severe mosquito bite reaction” By Nurse90 – (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “CIMG5354” By mia! (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED) via Flickr