Speaking ahead of her opening round match against Russian 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, the former US Open champion said recent high-profile doping cases had made her wary.
"I got really badly bitten by I don't know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I'm allergic, I guess," Raducanu said at her pre-tournament media conference.
"They flared up and swelled up really a lot. Someone was giving me this antiseptic spray, natural, to try to ease the bites. I didn't want to take it. I didn't want to spray it.
"I was just left there with my swollen ankle and hand. I was like: 'I'm just going to tough it out because I don't want to risk it.' It's obviously a concern on our mind."
Tennis was rocked last year when men's world number one Jannik Sinner tested positive for the banned substance clostebol but escaped a ban after an independent tribunal hearing found that he bore no fault or negligence.
Sinner's explanation that he had been inadvertently contaminated with the substance by his physiotherapist during a massage was accepted, although the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed against the decision.
Women's five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek also escaped a lengthy ban after a tribunal accepted that her failed doping test for the banned substance trimetazidine had been the result of a contaminated batch of sleeping drug melatonin.
Those cases will remain a hot topic in Melbourne and Raducanu said players have to be extra careful.
"We're all in the same boat. I think it's just how we manage as best as we can the controllables," she said.
"If something out of our control happens, then it's going to be a bit of a struggle to try and prove."