# Stop calling 911 for Mosquito Bites! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515 "2012-08-24T18:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/1 "2012-08-24T18:59:45Z")
Medical Emergency! I got a Mosquito Bite! Help Me! Tens of thousands get bit every day. The chances you’ll be unlucky and get West Nile Virus are slim. Nothing 911 can do anyhow. Get sick, you go to the hospital. > **[CBS Texas - Breaking Local News, First Alert Weather & I-Team Investigations](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/)** > > Latest breaking news from CBS11 KTVT-TV | KTXA-TV. > [@](#): > > With hundreds of human cases of the West Nile Virus being reported across Texas and more than a dozen related deaths in North Texas it seems some people are overreacting and calling 911 when they’re bitten by a mosquito. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/2 "2012-08-24T19:10:05Z")
Sounds legit. I’ll make sure to call 911 next time I get a sunburn, because skin cancer is right around the corner. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/3 "2012-08-24T19:12:09Z")
Er… I think I’d better come clean with you about this… it’s… um it’s not a mosquito, I’m afraid. You see, a mosquito is what we doctors call very very small. So small it could not possibly have made off with a whole leg. What we’re looking for here is I think, and this is no more than an educated guess, I’d like to make that clear, is some multi-cellular life form with stripes, huge razor-sharp teeth, about eleven foot long and of the genu _felis horribilis_. What we doctors, in fact, call a tiger. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/4 "2012-08-24T19:49:51Z")
Tiger?! In Africa!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/5 "2012-08-24T19:53:40Z")
Where do you think it got the West Nile virus? ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/6 "2012-08-24T20:16:58Z")
I’m just agog that tigers get to be 11 feet long! Wait…tail. It’s gotta be the tail, right? Maybe with the tongue stretched out… ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-calling-911-for-mosquito-bites/632515/7 "2012-08-24T20:19:00Z")
Yeah, don’t call 9-1-1. But DO call your mayor’s office. At least here in Indy, if your area starts getting thick with mosquitos, enough complaints will bump your neighborhood up the priority list to get fogged.