Infected Insect Bites: When a Bite Needs Treatment

Most bites are not infected

A normal insect bite is red, itchy and swollen for a few days. That is the body reacting, not an infection, and antihistamines plus a mild steroid cream usually handle it.

Infection is different: the redness spreads outward, the area becomes hot and increasingly painful rather than itchy, pus may appear, and it typically worsens after two or three days instead of settling.

What the pharmacist checks

We look at the bite, ask when it happened, whether the redness is spreading and whether you feel unwell in yourself. Marking the edge of the redness with a pen is genuinely useful — it shows whether it is advancing.

Under Pharmacy First, an infected bite can be treated at the pharmacy in adults and children aged one and over.

Signs that need urgent care

Rapidly spreading redness, fever, feeling very unwell, or a bite near the eye should be seen urgently rather than at a pharmacy counter. Any difficulty breathing, facial swelling or dizziness after a sting is an emergency — call 999.

Open late all week

Bites tend to flare in the evening. We are open until 9pm Monday to Saturday and 8pm Sunday at 1095–1097 Warwick Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham B27 6QT.