You wake up to a beautiful summer morning, the sun is shining and you’re ready to enjoy some time outdoors. You make sure to put on your sunscreen and walk outside. A few seconds later, you feel a sting on your neck and reach up — only to find a mosquito has made a delicious breakfast of you. Ahh, the often-forgotten discomfort of summer-mosquito bites.
It seems like there are always alerts, whether from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or passed along by the media, about diseases that mosquitoes carry. It’s the female mosquito that requires human blood to reproduce and has the capability of injecting her saliva into human skin. Depending on where you’re located when bitten, her saliva can harbor a virus such as Zika, dengue or chikungunya, not to mention St. Louis encephalitis, malaria or the West Nile virus. Since no vaccine is available for these illnesses, it’s important to be aware of measures that can actually prevent mosquito bites. Be prepared and pay attention to alerts about the illnesses that are going around in the places you plan to visit this summer.
[See: How to Avoid Summer Pest Risks — From West Nile to Chikungunya Virus.]
An important point to start off with is that different strains of mosquitoes can bite at different times of day, meaning the old moniker “dusk to daytime” no longer applies. It’s important to be prepared for mosquito bites at all hours of the day.
There are many options available that can help prevent mosquito bites. Those that contain products registered with the Environmental Protection Agency are the most effective. To know if the bug spray you chose is one of them, look for the EPA registration on the label. Bug sprays with DEET have been around since the 1940s and are common and easy to find. Make sure to apply bug spray after you apply sunscreen and know that its effectiveness will only last for, at most, eight hours. If you perspire, you’ll need to reapply the bug spray. Picaridin, derived from black pepper, is one of the newest members of the mosquito bite prevention team, and it’s been shown to be effective. Other products that can help ward off those pesky creatures include oil of lemon eucalyptus and IR3535. IR3535 is also known as ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate, which can be found in some commonly available over-the-counter mosquito repellents.
All products can give you protection if applied properly. Make sure you spray all exposed areas of your skin, especially around your collar, wrists and ankles, where blood-loving arthropods enjoy feeding. Apply it to your face, but don’t spray it directly on your face. Instead, spray the product in your hands and then apply it to your face, avoiding your eyes, nose and mouth. Remember that these products are not designed for children under 2 months old. You can purchase a net for your infant’s carrier to protect him or her while outside.
[See: 10 (Mostly) Natural Ways to Evade Mosquitoes.]
These mosquito sprays haven’t been shown to have any adverse risks to pregnant or breast-feeding women, so make sure everyone in your family is protected. You don’t need to spray directly on your skin, under your clothes. Permethrin, the ingredient in mosquito spray, is a product that was designed to be applied directly on your clothes and offer the protection you need. Make sure to wear long-sleeved, light-colored clothing and long pants if you’re going to be in an area particularly known for its mosquitoes.
If you’ll be visiting a place where mosquitoes are prevalent, make sure to stay somewhere with air conditioning, electric fans to keep the air circulating and screens on the windows to keep out the mosquitoes. If that’s not possible, invest in a mosquito net that you can place around your bed like a canopy.
And don’t forget the places where mosquitoes breed. They love standing water, where they can lay their eggs that will later hatch and breed more mosquitoes. Standing water is commonly found in tires used in playgrounds or gardening, empty flower pots and saucers, birdbaths, clogged gutters or drainpipes, children’s wading pools and empty buckets. Make it a point to discourage water from pooling in those locations, or periodically remove it yourself.
[See: 6 Health Hazards to Watch Out for This Summer Other Than Skin Cancer.]
What if you do get bitten by a mosquito? Don’t despair. You might see some redness and feel an itch where the mosquito saliva entered your skin. If so, clean the area with soap and water and apply a cool washcloth or ice pack. Most reactions are localized and will go away after a few days. Some people may develop a rash from the bite. An anti-itch or steroid-based cream could be helpful in that situation. If you start to experience a fever, severe joint aches, muscle aches or have trouble breathing, seek medical attention right away. These more severe reactions can occur up to 14 days after a mosquito bite, so be on the lookout for up to two weeks.
More from U.S. News
10 (Mostly) Natural Ways to Evade Mosquitoes
How to Avoid Summer Pest Risks — From West Nile to Chikungunya Virus
6 Health Hazards to Watch Out for This Summer Other Than Skin Cancer
How to Fend Off Mosquitoes This Summer originally appeared on usnews.com
