papular urticaria [L, papula, pimple + urtica, nettle] , a persistent cutaneous eruption representing a hypersensitivity reaction to insect bites (e.g., mites, fleas, bedbugs, gnats, mosquitoes, animal lice), seen primarily in atopic children and characterized by crops of small urticarial papules and wheals and transitional forms of these lesions, which may become secondarily infected or lichenified as a result of rubbing and scratching. Also called lichen urticatus, strophulus.
