How to Soothe and Heal Infected Mosquito Bites

As young children, we always got bad irritations, infections, and itchy scabs from mosquito bites until my great Aunt taught my Mother an old time remedy to soothe and heal a bad or infected bite. This has worked nearly every time we used it and will surely help you and your kids today.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Manzanita brush
• Pan and water
• Stove or campfire
• clean rag or towel
• knife

1. Mature Manzanita Find a mature Manzanita bush or tree.
2. Peel off the bark in as big of strips as possible and gather into a pile.
3. Boil water in pan on stove or over campfire and place strips of green bark in pan to boil and steep until water is medium or dark brown.
4. Let oily water cool and submerge clean rags into the water.
5. Place youngster into bathtub and gently sponge dampened rag over affected areas. Repeat as necessary until symptoms subside. Let oil dry onto skin.

Tips & Warnings

• Better to use mature bushes that are as high as your head or as big around as a car, as these tend to be more concentrated in oils. If these bushes cannot be found use what you can manage.
• If your bite is super infected and has red lines around the perimeter or is lifted and very hot, it may be too late to use the oil of the bark and you may need to see a doctor to get an antibiotic. This remedy is not meant to be medicinal if you are very ill.