This summer, I decided enough was enough. I was no longer going to listen to myself complain about how I couldn’t prevent a bug bite during the 12 seconds it takes me to walk from my car to my front door.

今年夏天，我觉得自己受够了。我再也不想听到自己抱怨从车里出来走到家门口的这12秒时间都会有蚊子咬我的事了。

The Bug Bite Thing

蚊虫叮咬舒缓器

I stumbled upon the Bug Bite Thing in my desperate search for a mosquito bite cure and I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. I’ve only used it once so far, but it was on six different bites I managed to get while doing some yard work last weekend. The Thing is a suction tool that claims to extract the mosquito’s saliva left under the skin.

在我拼命寻找蚊虫叮咬止痒方法时，我偶然发现了蚊虫叮咬舒缓器（Bug Bite Thing），瞬间觉得自己中了大奖。到目前为止，我只用过一次，因为我上周末在院子里干活，被叮了6个包。蚊虫叮咬舒缓器是一种抽吸器，可将残留在皮肤下的蚊子唾液抽出。

A mosquito’s saliva contains proteins that are allergens to humans, says Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan, an allergist and immunologist (as well as one of the developers of Ready, Set, Food!). Our bodies create antibodies to fight off the allergens, and it’s the resulting immune reaction that causes the redness, swelling and itchiness.

蚊子的唾液含有人类过敏的蛋白质，过敏症专家及免疫学家凯蒂·马克思·科根（Katie Marks-Cogan）医生说道（他也是Ready, Set, Food!的开发者之一）。我们的身体会产生抗体对抗过敏原，而随之而来的免疫反应会导致红肿、发痒。

“The whole allergic response is stimulated by the saliva, so if there’s a mechanism to get some of that saliva out, I could see that working or at least minimizing the reaction,” Marks-Cogan says.

“唾液刺激着整个过敏反应，所以如果有一种可以将唾液排出的机制，我觉得这至少能通过减少反应起到作用，”马克思·科根说道。

Out of the six bites I tested this on, five stopped itching immediately. The sixth bite was in a tricky ankle spot and I don’t think I suctioned it well enough. It continued to bother me off and on for the next two days, although not as much as a bite normally does. I tried suctioning it a couple more times, but as the website says, the “best results are obtained when the Bug Bite Thing is used within the first two minutes of a bite or sting.”

在我使用蚊虫叮咬舒缓器的那一次经历中，止痒效果立竿见影（6个包有5个包不痒了）。第6个包叮在了脚踝上，我觉得未能止痒是抽吸不到位所致。接下来的2天中，这个包仍旧困扰着我，尽管已经比未经处理的叮咬包好多了。我又试着抽吸了几次，但正如其官网所描述的那般，“蚊虫叮咬两分钟内，使用该产品效果最佳。”

So there’s the con-you’ve got to carry one around with you and use it right away to get the most benefit. Which is why I promptly ordered two more, so I can keep one in the house, one in my purse and one in my car. The Thing is fairly small and lightweight, so this is a small price to pay.

所以弊端来了--你必须随身携带该产品，并在蚊虫叮咬后立即使用，以获得最佳效果。所以，我又立马买了两根，一根放家里、一根放钱包里、一根放车里。蚊虫叮咬舒缓器既小且轻，所以随身携带并不麻烦。