Mosquitoes ... those scummy little bastards

Sometimes I think I'm allergic to this stupid town - first it was nosebleeds, then headaches, then insomnia, and now it's mosquito bites that look like a poison ivy rash. I know that mosquito bites are usually unpleasant for everyone - red bumps that stay itchy for days after the bite itself goes away, but for me, these sorts of things always end up being much bigger and better. You only need to ask one of the travellers on my South America trip and they will likely agree with you. I currently have about 6 bites on the back of one leg, and for one of them (in my "knee pit") the surrounding area is reddish orange and about the size of a CD. It went from itchy to just plain painful in a couple days, and while I am not a doctor, I sense this may not be normal. The question is: West Nile virus? Infected bug bite? Allergic to mosquitoes? Or allergic to this city in general? A similar thing happened to my leg when I was in Peru, and I sort of thought that was because bugs are more exciting (and dirty) there, but now I'm thinking that me and big bites really don't jive. Here's a thought: maybe the friendly pigeons in my building can eat all the mosquitoes in the city, then the pigeons can either be swallowed up by the tornado that we may have this summer, or just run over by one of the drunken idiots driving a pickup truck along the major street outside my house.