Preventing Mosquito Bites

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care. 

Mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit truly are not much of a threat currently in the United States, even in more tropical locations.  Air-conditioning, functioning sanitation systems, and municipal spraying programs for killing mosquitoes have kept mosquito populations in check.

When things take a turn for the worse in our society, however, those niceties will slowly disappear.  Swimming pools, if not maintained, become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.  More time spent outdoors means more mosquito bites.  For most of us for most of our lives, mosquito bites have been an annoyance to be avoided if possible, but not something deadly, and the truth is that for most of us in the US, that will continue.  Mosquito bites will merely be an annoyance, especially as long as the cooler temperatures last.

But you never know.  An awful lot of people got stressed with the Zika hysteria just a few years ago.  We've been blessed to be spared from deadly mosquito-borne diseases.  That may not always be the case, however.  One-hundred-fifty years ago, the Deep South of the United States experienced a  particularly lethal strain of yellow fever.  In fact, Memphis was host to six major yellow fever epidemics throughout the 1800s.  In her book The American Plague, Molly Caldwell Crosby shares a particularly fascinating account of one of the deadliest epidemics in American history, the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, which killed over 30% of the population in Memphis alone.

In a grid-down scenario or economic collapse, could this bit of history repeat?

There are dozens of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes; most are found only in third-world tropical countries.  And the illnesses are managed quite differently, so each will have to be addressed in other articles.  Today's focus will be on preventing bites, and most of us are already familiar with that.  However, read on.  I'm willing to bet there is something for everyone to learn, and the two minutes it takes to read this post will be worth it even if it only prevents one bite.


TIPS FOR PREVENTING BITES

• Use mosquito repellents.  In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency advises using only EPA-approved repellents.  EPA-approved repellents display an EPA registration number.  No number=not approved.  Listed below are the EPA-approved mosquito repellents.  If your repellent does not have at least one of these ingredients, it's not approved.  And the higher the percentage, the longer-lasting each application and the more effective.  Supposedly.  
• DEET
• Picaridin
• oil of lemon eucalyptus (not for children under 3 years)
• IR3535
• 2-undecanone
• para-methane-diol
• Apply repellents properly.  If using sunscreen and mosquito repellent, apply the sunscreen first.   Also, mosquito repellent should only be applied to exposed skin, not under clothing.  Do not use on babies younger than two months.  Instead, cover babies well with clothing and protect them with mosquito netting over their cribs and strollers.
• Experiment now.  If you're going to use natural or DIY repellents, try them out now to determine whether they are effective for you--whether they will actually repel the mosquitoes in your area.  Some natural repellents may be species-specific in their efficacy.
• Treat clothing and gear with permethrin or buy permethrin-treated clothing.  The permethrin treatment, even if you DIY it, lasts through several washings.  Do not apply permethrin to the skin.  
• Wear light-colored clothing and cover the skin as much as possible.  Also, clothing with a tight weave, especially those made with synthetic fibers and anything with an SPF rating, can prevent mosquitoes from biting through your clothing. 
• Mosquito-proof your home.  
• Mosquitoes generally stay within 1-3 miles from where they hatched.  
• Remove standing water from around your home and any debris where they can lodge.
• Inside your home, keep a few fans running.  Have you ever noticed that mosquitoes disappear when the wind comes up?  Mosquitoes can't fly well in the wind.  So use a fan to your advantage and bring that wind indoors.  
• Repair all window and door screens. 

Some people are just genetically prone to attract mosquitoes, and there's nothing that can be done to change that.  My husband and two of my children are mosquito magnets, whereas mosquitoes usually totally ignore me.  However, taking the above steps will go a long way towards preventing bites and the resulting discomfort.  And if we can prevent bites now when they're only an annoyance, we'll be better prepared to prevent them when they could be transmitting disease.

Links to related posts:
Lice  
Scabies
Bedbugs
Permethrin
Ticks
Yellow Fever  

For further information:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/outdoor/mosquito-borne/default.html
https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/mosquitoborne/diseases.html
https://deteroutdoor.com/blog/5-dangerous-diseases-transmitted-mosquitoes/
https://portal.ct.gov/Mosquito/Diseases/Mosquito-Transmitted-Diseases
http://npic.orst.edu/pest/mosquito/index.html
http://npic.orst.edu/faq/mosqtrvl.html
https://www.cdc.gov/westnile/prevention/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fwestnile%2Ffaq%2Frepellent.html
https://www.cdc.gov/features/StopMosquitoes/
https://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/pdfs/fs_mosquito_bite_prevention_us.pdf
https://www.prevention.com/health/g20513318/stop-mosquito-bites/

 3 february 2020