Tip of the Day: How to deal with a severe mosquito season

With rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, mosquitoes that carry malaria and the West Nile virus have spread northward and to higher elevations. (Global warming might also make poison ivy more prevalent.)

And heavy rains in the Northeast and an abundant supply of unsold homes—those properties can become mosquito havens—have sparked predictions of a worse-than-usual mosquito season. Get your local mosquito-activity forecast on Weather.com.

Read this recent post on our Health blog for details on how to avoid and deal with mosquito bites. For maximum protection, use an insect repellent. Our report on insect repellents found that the top-rated products will protect you for up to 12 hours from mosquitoes and deer ticks (ratings are available to subscribers). We haven't tested it yet, but the new Off! Clip-On Mosquito Repellent, which uses a battery-powered fan to circulate the repellent, promises to keep insects away for up to 12 hours.

To stop mosquitoes from shacking up at your home, keep your gutters clean and turn over or drill drain holes in the bottom of buckets and any other item that can hold standing water. If you have one, empty your kiddie pool when it's not in use, and cover your rainwater-collection barrel(s). If properties near you have sources of standing water, make your local health authority aware of the problem.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Find out more ways to control runaway rainwater and pests in five home repairs you shouldn't ignore.

Comments

[Outdoor Adventurist]

Mosquitoes are definitely a concern with increased outdoor activity in the summer months. It is important to use mosquito replants so that you can enjoy outdoor activities more thoroughly. Thanks!

[Dominick Libonati]

I'm going to Los Cabos, Baja in October. Mosquitos are pretty bad that time of year. Is there any chance you will be testing the Clip on Off Repellent? Thanks. Dominick

[Florida resident]

I have been considering a mosquito trap for a few years. Lots of woods around mean many tiny pockets of standing water that we just can't control. A local organic blueberry farm used a few successfully and it was great. I am just a little skeptical and don't want to get taken. I always check with consumer reports before paying that kind of $$ and I would really like to see some ratings.

Oh, and the off clip-on is interesting. I'd like to see some tests of it with and without the repellent. Fans alone discourage mosquitos.

[Anthony]

Should would be nice if there were some insect control ratings somewhere on the site (i.e. bug zappers, mosquito traps, etc.).

[blue]

If you are traveling outside the USA and you know that you are going to a place that has mosquito problems, URGENT that you take mosquito repellent with you and really double and triple check that you use it all the time , always.

Mosquitos outside the USA are different and there are different health hazards with those mosquitos. I.e. You can get bot worms or bot flies inside your skin from a mosquito , (That has happened in the USA but most times it happens outside the usa).

Watch the films on youtube.com to see what I am talking about . These are parasites that will live inside your skin and inside your head -not a pretty sight.

BRING mosquito and or insect repellent with you when traveling outside the USA

[TropicsGuy]

I agree with Florida resident, posted 10 Aug 09.

We live in a pole home designed to catch the sea breezes, which it does well - nicely cooling on sweltering hot summer evenings. But the breezes, alas, also bring squadrons of mosquitoes that gorge on my wife and me, our daughter, AND our two Labs, poor things. It's very tempting to scratch a mosquito bite that can then quickly turn septic. With our two labs, they scratch and chew on a bite which then rapidly transforms into a hot spot that one can almost see growing before one's eyes.

Screening every window and open door is completely impractical. We all sleep naked because it's the only way one can stay cool enough without air con, which we only have in one room in the house.

It's all very well CR recommending one uses DEET, which we do of course when we are out and about. But it leaves a horrible, sticky feeling on the skin - it's almost completely unsuitable when sleeping naked because one has to cover one's whole body with it from head to toe.

My wife is adamant that the smoke from coils, which are quite effective, give her a migraine. They also produce a lot of black tar - makes one wonder what the long term effects of breathing in this tar laden smoke will be.

So far, plug-ins have proved the most effective and pleasant option. But they work best when plugged in and left on 24/7. They are non refillable, of course, and over a month cost a small fortune.

I have been dallying with buying a propane powered unit to leave going on the back deck. There are various models available, and the makers all claim that THEIR devices work brilliantly - as one would expect the makers to claim.

But I don't want to fork out on such an expensive option without an independent review. This is where CR comes in - or should come in.

Where is the long overdue report by CR on such mosquito killers?

[TropicsGuy]

PS Should perhaps have added that we can't use nets over the beds because they would get caught up in the ceiling fans that we have to have running, often at full blast, in order to stay cool.

And in any case, nets over our beds wouldn't stop our Labs from getting constantly bitten. I don't like using DEET on our Labs either, because I'm worried about them sucking and licking it off.

With all due respect, more insight and imagination by the CR editors is needed to address this important human health and veterinarian issue in a much fuller and more comprehensive fashion than it has bothered to do to date.