What to do if you get bitten by deadly mosquito making its way to UK

An invasive species of potentially deadly mosquitoes could be on the way to the UK, and they may carry debilitating diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.

Both diseases can kill if you don't seek medical attention, though a health expert who appeared on This Morning to discuss the mosquito said that in many cases you just had to ride dengue fever out as there's no specific treatment.

The new mosquito on the way is called the 'tiger mosquito', and Professor James Logan said it was so named from the stripes it had on the body.

Thanks to climate change this pest was making its way through Europe, with the professor saying that 'a swarm' emerged from a shipping container full of bamboo and they've spread from there.

He said there was 'a chance' they might get a foothold in the UK by coming over in vehicles and getting into the ecosystem from there.

They've already been spotted a few times since 2016, and there are concerns that in the decades to come they could gain a more permanent foothold.

Thanks to climate change, the Asian tiger mosquito is going to start feeling more at home in the UK. (ITV)

"We are beginning to see disease spread north again, and that's because of climate change," the expert explained on This Morning.

"These mosquitoes are in Europe, it's only a matter of time, probably, before they come over to the UK and settle here."

Professor Logan noted that the UK did have mosquitoes with malaria decades ago, but draining marshlands for agriculture had pretty much sorted that out by robbing the pests of their habitats.

He explained that there were still some isolated cases from mosquitoes which had come over and carried the disease with them.

The professor also said that your smell was the main reason why they targeted people, and that those who remained relatively unbothered smelled slightly different.

There were a number of methods to keep them away, including a plugin that contained insecticide and would kill mosquitoes that attempted to breach the home.

Then of course there was slapping on the repellent in copious doses, as Professor Logan advised to 'put it on like a suntan lotion'.

Professor James Logan told people how to keep mosquitoes away in the first place. (ITV)

What to do if you get bitten

As for what happens if the mosquito gets beyond all of your defences, the main thing to do is not to scratch your bites no matter how much they itch.

"The number one thing is don't scratch your bites," Professor Logan said.

"I know it's really hard to do, but you've got to not scratch your bites.

"You can take anti-histamines, take them before you go because it takes a wee bit of time for them to build up."

Alison Hammond suggest that this might be why mosquitos often left her alone, as she said she was on anti-histamines 'all the time'.

He said: "The best thing is to keep the bite as clean as possible, don't scratch it. It can become infected because it comes a wound and I'm not joking, some people can lose a limb because of an infection although that's rare."

It was about this time that Dermot O'Leary piped up to say that Professor Logan had finished off with a somewhat 'terrifying end' by going from mosquito bites to potential loss of limb.

Meanwhile, if you think you've become ill from a mosquito bite then you'd better go and see a doctor.