Have you noticed the rise in mosquitoes lately?
Any time we have a hurricane come through, it increases standing water, which increases mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes run the gamut from annoying to dangerous.
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“They definitely are annoying, but they also carry disease,” explained Dr. Linda Yancey from Memorial Hermann in Katy.
Dr. Yancey said at her hospital she sees several patients every summer with West Nile. While recently, the CDC warned, Texas has also had cases of dengue.
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“We have been waiting for dengue to hit us for a while. It is definitely coming. We have cases in south Texas. We have cases in the south of Florida. As the climate warms, it is going to move north towards us. So, while we don’t have dengue yet, we know it is coming,” Dr. Yancey said.
Symptoms will show up in vulnerable people, while others may not get that sick.
“The vast majority of people who get West Nile don’t know that they have West Nile,” Yancey said. “People who are going to be symptomatic, the first symptom tends to be a high fever and a headache; and here is where you’re going to have to rely on your family, because someone with a severe case of West Nile is going to become confused. They’re not the ones who bring themselves into the hospital to be evaluated. It’s their friends and family who bring them in out of concern.”
Remove standing buckets of water, kiddie pools, hubcaps, bird feeders. That will prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your area.
Insect repellants Yancey recommends:
Picaridin
“This is not terribly strong. It does not repel ticks, but it has some real advantages. Number one, it doesn’t smell like Deet. It’s got actually a really pleasant smell, and it doesn’t have that oily feeling on the skin. So, this is a very useful agent to use on children who do not tend to stand still for Deet,” Yancey said.
DEET
Deet is a very powerful insect repellent. If you get it above a 20% concentration, it also repels ticks. It is actually really highly effective,” she said.
Permethrin
“Permethrin doesn’t go on your skin. It actually goes on your clothing. What you do is you spray down your clothing, set it up to dry overnight and then when you put on your clothing, your clothing itself will repel that,” she said. “That protection will actually last through a couple of laundry cycles.”
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