Insect bites

• Check and clean every day.
• Wash the bite with cool water.
• Keep your child’s nails short and clean.
• Do things to stop the itching like soaking in a cool bath, or putting calamine lotion or aloe vera on the bites.
• Treat pets for fleas.
• Put mosquito nets around beds, put insect screens on windows and close windows at night.
• Wear close-fitting cotton sleeves or pyjamas.
• Use insect repellent.
• Go to the doctor if the insect bite is near the eye.
• Your child can go to kura or school if they feel well.

Go to the doctor if any of these things happen:

• the bites last more than two weeks
• the red, swollen area keeps getting bigger or more painful
• there is pus in the bite.

This could be a serious skin infection such as cellulitis.