Advice For Avoiding Mosquito Bites
So, you have got some time off work, university or school and you want to sit outdoors and relax. Possibly even go on holiday somewhere.
What a great idea! However what happens after you arrive at where you are going? The mosquitoes come out to get you.
If it were not so commonplace, it would sound like Freddy Kruger and Nightmare on Elm Street. The female mosquitoes need blood to produce eggs and they seek it out as voraciously as any vampire in a horror movie, whereas the males go slurping nectar from flowers like bees.
Well, that is the nightmare scenario, but it is not that far from the truth either. For many nations in the world it is also a genuine life and death issue. Millions of people die every year from malaria and loads more from dengue too.
However both of these illnesses are curable as are most of the other mosquito-borne diseases like Yellow Fever, Japanese Jungle Encephalopathy and West Nile fever.
The first thing to understand is that typically these diseases can be injected against, particularly if you are going on holiday. The next thing to keep in mind - it may help - is that not all mosquitoes are the same.
For example, in Thailand, the dengue-bearing mosquito (often known as the 'Egyptian' mosquito) comes out at dawn and dusk and so bites then too. Between around an hour before and after dawn and an hour before and after dusk, whereas the malaria-carrying mosquito, the Anopheles, is a night time huntress.
I am not suggesting that you can slacken your guard during the day, although lots of people take for granted that they can. Nobody wants dengue fever either.
So, what can you do? Before you go anywhere, read up on the district or check with medical specialists. That bit is not difficult, particularly, if you know how to search the Internet.
Then prepare yourself with inoculations if the risk is significant enough in your opinion or a medical expert's judgment. In my estimation, that is the minimum that a conscientious person ought to be expected to do to protect him or herself, the family and the community at large.
Then there are a couple of other things you can do. For example, wear voluminous clothes, but long sleeves and long trousers. If you are thin on top by choice or not, put on a hat or cap.
Wear socks or stockings in the evening to safeguard your feet. Buy a good-quality mosquito repellent and rub it on your exposed skin, as often as recommended by the manufacturer, which is typically every four or five hours.
You could rationally stop at that point, but I like to go a bit further, if the circumstance calls for it. If I am outdoors in the garden at home or in a hotel, I like to have one of those tennis racquet style electric bug zappers with me. They are fantastic for zapping the odd mosquito that irritates you.
They are good for clearing the bedroom before retiring too and lastly, if I am renting, walking, camping or caravaning, I may find space for a rechargeable lantern-style bug zapper too.
If the little so-and-sos are going to give me a fever, they are going to have to work very hard to do it.
What a great idea! However what happens after you arrive at where you are going? The mosquitoes come out to get you.
If it were not so commonplace, it would sound like Freddy Kruger and Nightmare on Elm Street. The female mosquitoes need blood to produce eggs and they seek it out as voraciously as any vampire in a horror movie, whereas the males go slurping nectar from flowers like bees.
Well, that is the nightmare scenario, but it is not that far from the truth either. For many nations in the world it is also a genuine life and death issue. Millions of people die every year from malaria and loads more from dengue too.
However both of these illnesses are curable as are most of the other mosquito-borne diseases like Yellow Fever, Japanese Jungle Encephalopathy and West Nile fever.
The first thing to understand is that typically these diseases can be injected against, particularly if you are going on holiday. The next thing to keep in mind - it may help - is that not all mosquitoes are the same.
For example, in Thailand, the dengue-bearing mosquito (often known as the 'Egyptian' mosquito) comes out at dawn and dusk and so bites then too. Between around an hour before and after dawn and an hour before and after dusk, whereas the malaria-carrying mosquito, the Anopheles, is a night time huntress.
I am not suggesting that you can slacken your guard during the day, although lots of people take for granted that they can. Nobody wants dengue fever either.
So, what can you do? Before you go anywhere, read up on the district or check with medical specialists. That bit is not difficult, particularly, if you know how to search the Internet.
Then prepare yourself with inoculations if the risk is significant enough in your opinion or a medical expert's judgment. In my estimation, that is the minimum that a conscientious person ought to be expected to do to protect him or herself, the family and the community at large.
Then there are a couple of other things you can do. For example, wear voluminous clothes, but long sleeves and long trousers. If you are thin on top by choice or not, put on a hat or cap.
Wear socks or stockings in the evening to safeguard your feet. Buy a good-quality mosquito repellent and rub it on your exposed skin, as often as recommended by the manufacturer, which is typically every four or five hours.
You could rationally stop at that point, but I like to go a bit further, if the circumstance calls for it. If I am outdoors in the garden at home or in a hotel, I like to have one of those tennis racquet style electric bug zappers with me. They are fantastic for zapping the odd mosquito that irritates you.
They are good for clearing the bedroom before retiring too and lastly, if I am renting, walking, camping or caravaning, I may find space for a rechargeable lantern-style bug zapper too.
If the little so-and-sos are going to give me a fever, they are going to have to work very hard to do it.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently concerned with Insect Exterminator problems. If you would like to know more, visit our website at Bugs Infestation.