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Protection & Prevention

Common Types of Mosquito Protection

  • Repellents

  • Clothing that covers exposed skin

  • Window screens

  • Air conditioning

Repellents

Repellent Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • Eliminates and/or reduces mosquito populations

     

Chemical Protection

DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide)

  • Chemical has been in public use since 1957

  • Comes in lotion, spray, and other forms

  • Effective against mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, fleas, and ticks

  • American Academy of Pediatrics says that all family members over the age of two months can use DEET-based repellents with up to 30% concentration with confidence

  • Health concerns: minor skin and eye irritation, VERY toxic if swallowed

 

Picaridin (KBR 3023)

  • Chemical has been in public use since 1998

  • Effective alternative to DEET

  • Nearly odorless

  • Does not cause skin irritation

 

IR-3535

  • Used as an insect-repellent against mosquitoes, deer ticks, and biting flies

  • Provides pretty long-lasting protection for a non-DEET product

 

 

Natural Protection

Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus

  • Natural repellent

  • Found in eucalyptus leaves and twigs

  • PMD (p-menthane-3, 8-dlol) is the synthetic form of the chemical

  • Natural and sufficient alternative to DEET

 

Permethrin

  • Effective both as a pesticide and repellent

  • NOT for use on skin

  • Keeps potency for up to 2 weeks, even if clothing is washed

  • Can be applied clothing, tents, mosquito nets, etc.

  • Natural and sufficient alternative to DEET

 

 

 

Cons:

  • Pregnant and nursing women should minimize use of repellents

  • Use repellents containing ingredients such as diethyl phthalate, diethyl carbate; N, N-Diethyl-3-Methylbenzamide (DEET), metofluthrin, oil of lemon-eucalyptus, picaridin and ethyl hexanediol. For more than 50 years, DEET has been the gold standard in mosquito repellents

  • Cannot use repellents on wounds or irritated skin

  • Must wash repellent-treated skin after coming indoors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety Issues/Concerns (Repellents)

  • Don’t apply to eyes, lips, mouth, over cuts, wounds, or irritated skin

  • Don’t apply to skin under clothes

  • Don’t apply more often than recommended

  • For external use only

Pesticides, Larvacides, & Adulticides

What Sort of Pesticides Should I Use?

Synthetic pyrethroids have lower human health and environmental risks than organophosphates. However, both synthetic pyrethroids, such as resmethrin and permethrin, and organophosphates, such as malathion, are neurotoxins that can cause chronic health problems. Do not use Dursban™ and Sevin™; they are highly toxic. While botanical-based chemicals, including synthetic pyrethroids, are linked to breast cancer and endocrine disruptors.

Larvicides

  • Larvicides are products used to kill immature mosquitoes before they become adults.

    • Can be biological (toxin from specific bacteria that is lethal to mosquito larvae but not to other organisms) or chemical products, such as insect growth regulators, surface films, or organophosphates.

    • Applied directly to water sources that hold mosquito eggs, larvae or pupae.

       

       

Larvicide Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • Easy application

  • Applied directly to water using backpack sprayers and truck or aircraft-mounted sprayers

  • Tablet, pellet, granular, and briquet formulations of larvicides are also applied by mosquito controllers to breeding areas

  • “When used well, larvicides can help to reduce the overall mosquito burden by limiting the number of new mosquitoes that are produced.”

Cons:

  • Detrimental to the environment

  • Direct exposure to Bti was shown to cause skin and eye irritation in some animals (3). Cases of eye and skin irritation in humans have also been reported following direct exposure with some Bacillus thuringiensis products

Adulticides

  • products used to kill adult mosquitoes.

  • can be applied from hand-held sprayers, truck-mounted sprayers or using airplanes

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Adulticide Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • When used well, can have an immediate impact to reduce the number of adult mosquitoes in an area, with the goal of reducing the number of infected mosquitoes that can bite people and possibly transmit West Nile virus

  • Regulated by the EPA

Cons:

  • Potential damage to the environment

  • Adulticides pose well-documented threats to wildlife, birds, fish, shellfish, and beneficial insects such as bees, butterflies, and dragonflies, which prey on mosquitoes

Other Forms of Protection

Bug Zappers

  • Utilize ultraviolet illumination to lure bugs to the device

  • The light is enclosed by an electric cage

  • Attracted insects fly towards the light and are consequently electrocuted

  • The majority of bug zappers have a tray beneath the caged light to capture the dead mosquitoes and other bug

Bug Zapper Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • No chemicals

  • Safer to humans and environment

Cons:

  • No guarantee that mosquito is even a female, and therefore a biting mosquito, not the most effective method

  • While the UV light in these bug zappers draws a wide range of insects, mosquitoes and other biting insects are more attracted to the carbon dioxide exhaled by people and pets

  • Out of some 10,000 insects destroyed by one bug zapper during a one-night test period, only eight were mosquitoes

Spraying and Misting

  • Often contain pyrethrins and permethrin; may also contain piperonyl butoxide

    • Not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Spraying and Misting Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • Most of these pesticides last only short periods in the environment, so long-term exposure to humans is not expected. Based on its assessment, using toxicity data and exposure estimates, EPA does not expect risks of concern to humans when these chemicals are used in outdoor residential systems according to labeling specific for use in these systems

Cons:

  • No pesticide should be regarded as 100% risk free.

  • Lack of efficacy data. Other than testimonials, there is little to demonstrate that these systems actually serve to control mosquito populations even when using demonstrably toxic insecticides.

  • Promotion of insecticide resistance.

  • Risk of pesticide exposure.

  • Pesticide spraying is also harmful to ecosystems and wildlife. Pesticide spraying often kills other types of mosquito predators, too.

  • An article in the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association showed that long-range effects of pesticide spraying can actually increase the number of mosquitoes by destroying their natural predators.

  • mosquitoes that survive the spraying may become resistant, longer-lived, more aggressive, and have an increased prevalence of the virus within their bodies.

Breeding Grounds

How to Prevent/Eliminate Breeding Grounds

  • Clean rain gutters

  • Avoid accumulating piles of leaves

  • Remove wastes from flat roofs

  • Remove old tires or drill holes and allow the water to drain

  • Empty containers of water from outside

  • Throw away old toys

  • Turn over tarps that could have pockets of water

  • Pump out bilges on boats

  • Regularly change water from birdbaths

  • Brush water from plants with large leaves

  • Flush Bromeliads

Water & Mosquitoes

  • Water is an obvious element involved in mosquito breeding

    • Particular mosquito species can breed in as little as one half inch of stagnant water​

 

Breeding Ground Elimination Pros & Cons

Pro:

  • Creates public awareness

  • Eliminates mosquito population

Cons:

  • Not all breeding grounds can be eliminated, so larvicides are the next best option

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

  • Most effective method of mosquito-borne disease prevention and reduction

  • All IPM efforts should include:

    • surveillance (monitoring levels of mosquito activity, and where virus transmission is occurring),

    • reduction of mosquito breeding sites,

    • use of pesticides and biological methods to control both mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes as indicated by surveillance results, and

    • community outreach and public education.


http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/faq/mosquitocontrol.html

Information gathered by Morgan H., Paige L., Krista B., and Alyssa B.
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