oh wow look at that they just went
straight for my wrist oh it is go time
[Applause]
we recognize the scream of their
attacking buzz
we squirm at the thoughts of their
blood-sucking bite
there are more than 3 000 mosquito
species worldwide
and every year
more than 1 million people die from
mosquito-borne disease
what are the odds you
will be next oh actually the one right
in the center of my hand i can really
feel
getting bitten by a single mosquito is a
discomfort we are all accustomed to
getting bitten by hundreds of them at
the same time is an experiment best
performed under the guidance of experts
catherine prizinski is a mosquito expert
and in her lab she has grown a nightmare
scenario for us to educate and of course
entertain you
now catherine here we are and there they
are are these the mosquitoes that are
going to be eating me they sure are this
is the yellow fever mosquito it is also
known as the 80s egyptian mosquito okay
and you say the yellow fever mosquito
that sounds
dangerous sounds potentially deadly
these are one of the most deadliest
mosquitoes is there any chance that
these mosquitoes have yellow fever no no
these are lab colony mosquitoes these
guys have never been outside so you grew
these mosquitoes just for me yep
absolutely how many would you guess are
inside of this container because it
looks like a lot to me we hatched out
about a thousand mosquitoes for you
today oh geez
okay so not necessarily a thousand
chances to be bitten because some could
be male some could be female correct the
males will not be biting the females
will very true and the goal here is for
me to be bitten as many times as
possible now am i going to just crawl
into this unit you're going to let them
out i'm going to get swarmed no no we're
going to take these guys over to the
next lab all right well i'll let you
lead the way let's grab our box of
blood drinkers oh this is going to get a
little crazy
oh boy eating live by mosquitoes the
moment you guys wanted is about to
happen right now
warning
never attempt the following experiment
unless under the supervision of trained
professionals
mosquito bites can transmit harmful
diseases that are considered fatal
here i am
there they are 1 000 blood thirsty
mosquitoes
now my arm is going into the box
there's a good chance that hundreds of
them are going to be biting my hand my
wrist and my forearm of course i'm going
to take off this leather bracelet
because we wouldn't want to protect any
of the good blood flowing spots
and actually to make this even more
interesting i shaved my entire arm in
hand so that we can see the results
of all these bites
without further ado it's time for coyote
peterson to be eaten alive by mosquitoes
they're hungry they have not eaten
in over 48 hours
hand is going in
i want to make sure oh wow look at that
they just went straight for my wrist
oh it is go time
oh goodness man they are wasting no time
going to town
on my hand oh yeah i can feel a little
bit of something there
and when it comes to mosquitoes the
process of being bitten is very
interesting remember this is a bite and
not a sting mosquitoes want to do their
best when they land on a victim to not
be detected obviously the mosquito
itself is very lightweight but the way
that the female's proboscis works which
is the front little suction cup straw
apparatus is they land and then they
slowly begin to unsheath that proboscis
the proboscis has essentially six
needles two of which have these little
saw like tips
and i'm definitely feeling something
happening at this point
those two outer needles begin to saw
through my tissue
the other two right to the side of those
spread the tissue apart and then it's
the center needle that begins to probe
around looking for a delicious blood
cell which it can suck out the blood
now
they say you can't feel anything when
you're bitten by a mosquito i definitely
feel something going on right now but
for mosquitoes to drink more blood they
use an anticoagulant that they insert
into your blood oh my hands begin to
shake a little bit so that the blood has
better flow and they can get a meal
quicker
oh actually the one right in the center
of my hand
i can really feel
i turn this way
look at that
all over the top of my hand there must
be close to
150 if not more mosquitoes currently on
me
start to sweat a little bit and that's
primarily because i really want to swat
them off of my hand and my arm the
itching is beginning to give its onset
and that's my body's natural reaction to
their saliva going into my skin forms
histamines which basically is my body
saying ah foreign substance get it out
of here swell up make a lump
put liquids in that area so that their
saliva doesn't get any deeper
ah and it's really the mosquitoes in
between my fingers right now
that are the most uncomfortable
now when it comes to mosquitoes finding
a feast
they are drawn to humans based on a
couple of different elements the heat
coming off your body the chemicals in
your skin and primarily the carbon
dioxide that comes out of your breath
that draws these blood suckers in so
watch this if i blow hot air into this
box
that's gonna further agitate them and
say hey guys blood buffet line is open
and ready for business and that blood is
actually really important the females
drink the blood because they require it
to help in the laying of their eggs
ah it's becoming rather unbearable at
this point
oh
i think they're getting pretty full
well it looks like most of them have
decided to land on the back screening i
can see that most of them are off of my
arm what do you guys think we have
enough shots at this point oh yeah
great
i love hearing when i can actually take
my hand out of the mosquito box and take
a look at how bad these bites truly are
when it comes to mosquito bites whether
a single sampling or an onslaught of
proboscis invasions the results are
almost always the same
itching
swelling and an uncomfortable annoyance
the level of agony
is best described
as the itch you can't scratch my arm has
been out of the box of mosquitoes for
about 10 minutes now and you can clearly
see that the welts are beginning to form
i have counted as we were setting up for
the cameras nearly 250 bytes that's not
to say that there aren't bites on top of
bites so i'm just going to round up a
little bit and say i got 300 bites in
that matter of time the top of my arm
the underside of my arm and in between
my fingers is the absolute worst now to
combat the unbearable itching that i'm
going through right now we're going to
test out chigrex this product has been
around for more than 50 years this is
the original specifically designed for
antique bites but also all other
types of bugs and mosquitoes as you can
see from the cool mosquito picture on
top of the lid now this is armed with
benzocaine which is the active
ingredient it's also got aloe and
chamomile for a soothing effect now i
read that there is no oily residue that
comes from chiggerx so what i'm going to
do
is gently begin to apply this onto the
bites and let's see how soothing will it
really be from the get-go here we go
it's cool to the touch
oh that's actually really really nice
okay
wow actually
pretty much immediate the second that it
begins to work into your skin
holy cow yeah for real the
lack of itching happening here on the
front part of my wrist versus here
immediately noticeable all right i'm
going in for another
swab
of chigrex and i'm just going to go
ahead and coat my entire arm at this
point now in most bite scenarios one or
two bites you're just going to use a
tiny dab of chigrex i'm going over the
top because my arm is in so much itching
agony right now
that was so rewarding to get chiggarex
spread all over the hundreds of bites
that are coating my arm and i would say
at this point chigrax with two times the
power works immediately
well how about that everything you
needed to know about mosquitoes why they
bite how they bite what happens after
they bite and of course
a surefire solution to the uncomfortable
itch that comes from these pesky blood
suckers i'm coyote peterson be brave
stay wild we'll see on the next
adventure oh man
things i do for science entertainment
for more information on chiggerx and
where to get it make sure to visit their
website and if you find yourself under
the attack of blood-hungry aliens this
summer trust me this is one product you
want in your first aid kit