Check CDC and use mosquito repellent on trips

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Calson

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I was surprised that the rates of dengue fever has increased dramatically in the past year in the Americas and in Africa. Chikungunya virus is also increasingly prevalent and being spread to new areas by travelers. This are more mosquito transmitted diseases to consider in addition to yellow fever and malaria. There is a vaccination for yellow fever and one in the works for the Chikungunya virus but avoiding mosquito bites with repellents on clothes, mosquito nets, and skin are going to be increasingly important for travelers.

With global warming the ranges for mosquitoes and diseases is spreading rapidly to new areas. Be aware that most doctors are not able to accurately diagnose the source of an illness and delays in treatment or using the wrong medications can have long lasting results.
 
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A few years ago when I was there, there were warnings about Dengue fever on Hawaii's big Island in the areas south of Kona, so not all that remote for
some of us.
A thought that came to mind when reading your post is the possibility of repellents containing solvents etc that can damage some of the materials in photo equipment.
A search will bring up info and warnings usually connected with repellents containing DEET.
Apparently the DEET itself may not be the culprit but the carrying liquids and lotions etc, can do damage.

Might be worth a look.
 
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I roam the globe and take preventive disease control pretty serious. Vaccination against tetanus, typhoid, Yellow Fever, Meningitis, Hep A+B, Covid, encephalitis, … are all done and boosted when needed.
I take the anti malaria tablets when needed and use indeed a mosquito repellant in the areas where nasty parasites are transmitted.
DEET is indeed powerful stuff and known to affect plastics (making them softer) and is it therefore advised to apply them on your body and wait like 10’ before you put on your glasses, handle electronics, gadgets, …
Depending on the area I travel to do I use a repellent without DEET and then go for 20-30 or even 50% DEET repellent depending on the region.
 
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Dengue is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito. They are quite different than the common mosquito in appearance and behavior. They are more active in the daytime and are often found indoors lurking around where humans spend time. Years ago while living and teaching in Thailand, my fellow teachers and I frequented a local internet cafe. The buggers were always lurking under the desks! There were three of us at the school, the other two both contracted Dengue, one quite seriously and was hospitalized for a week.
 
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My first potential exposure to malaria was with my underwater dive trips and the preventative medications can often induce a mental episode that would be deadly when 100 or more feet under the water. With my trips to Latin America malaria was my only concern but with travel to Brazil I added yellow fever vaccinations. Now I would be investigating dengue and chikungunya virus vaccinations and getting them when available.

There is value in doing everything possible to avoid mosquito bites which are in themselves a minor nuisance but as spreaders of disease it is increasingly important to be proactive. I use permethrin on our outer clothing and mosquito netting (50% more effective than untreated netting) and picaridin on our exposed skin. I also take a short roll of duct tape as often there are cracks in window frames that allow free passage for insects.

There are places like the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite where ticks can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever along with other diseases. A friend of my mother contracted it at age 12 and as a result spent the rest of her life in a wheel chair. She was the daughter of a Yosemite Park ranger and was in the park year round. Where I live in California the ticks can carry 27 different diseases that they spread with their bites including Lyme disease.
 
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Dengue fever is becoming more common in the south and in the USA and no vaccination available for adults at this time. In my area the ticks carry up to 27 different diseases that they can transmit to people.

A recent study found that light colored clothing would greatly increase the number of ticks picked up by walkers in an area and another study showed a 93% reduction in bites with permethrin treated clothing. I buy the 37% concentrated solution and dilute it with water and use a small $5 garden sprayer to apply it to our clothes.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Detecting ticks on light versus dark clothing - PubMed

It is a common belief that ticks are more visible and easier to detect on light clothing in comparison with dark clothing. We studied which of the clothing, light or dark, had the least attractive effect on Ixodes ricinus, thus minimizing exposure and thereby in theory helping to prevent...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Pilot study assessing the effectiveness of long-lasting permethrin-impregnated clothing for the prevention of tick bites - PubMed

This study provides preliminary evidence that long-lasting permethrin-impregnated clothing may be highly effective against tick bites.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov


I do not recommend buying chemicals like this from Amazon and there are many small companies from which to choose.
 
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Calson said:
My first potential exposure to malaria was with my underwater dive trips and the preventative medications can often induce a mental episode that would be deadly when 100 or more feet under the water. With my trips to Latin America malaria was my only concern but with travel to Brazil I added yellow fever vaccinations. Now I would be investigating dengue and chikungunya virus vaccinations and getting them when available.

There is value in doing everything possible to avoid mosquito bites which are in themselves a minor nuisance but as spreaders of disease it is increasingly important to be proactive. I use permethrin on our outer clothing and mosquito netting (50% more effective than untreated netting) and picaridin on our exposed skin. I also take a short roll of duct tape as often there are cracks in window frames that allow free passage for insects.

There are places like the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite where ticks can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever along with other diseases. A friend of my mother contracted it at age 12 and as a result spent the rest of her life in a wheel chair. She was the daughter of a Yosemite Park ranger and was in the park year round. Where I live in California the ticks can carry 27 different diseases that they spread with their bites including Lyme disease.
Click to expand...
You are correct that Larium (an anti-malarial) can have adverse side effects like depression and psychotic episodes, but Malarone does not, nor does doxycycline. Doxycycline causes sun sensitivity which is not ideal in tropical locations. In both Africa and on dive trips in the indo-pacific, I frequently use Malarone.
 
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Never travel to mossie habitats without a lightweight compact mosquito net. Too often the fitted net in a lodge room or safari tent has holes or worse.

I travel to known malarial zones with at least 1 treatment of Coartem (artemether-lumefantrine), which is the first line treatment for resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The latter have become widespread. And in bad malaria areas, eg Angola, Congo, I add a bottle of good ol' quinine tablets.

Chloroquine is/ was an excellent drug in its day - about 4 decades ago IME, when I and several others had breakthrough malaria on the prophylactic. The dapsone based prophylaxis is also obsolete. Quinine clobbered all my cases of resistant malaria, in the late 1980s/early 1990s. This was before we had Coartem, which is a great treatment.

If you are prescribed mefloquin aka Larium, throw it away well out of harm's way ie flush or burn the tablets. It's a potent neurotoxin, and a useless prophylactic in central Africa. I speak from experience, as my last attack in early 2007 was a breakthrough despite the prescribed Larium prophylactic - contracted in swamps along the upper Zambezi river.

Fortunately, there's atovaquone-proguanil aka Malerone, which is a reliable prophylactic. Nevertheless, one should to the old colonial dictum of mosquito control, bite avoidance. And in my experience, most medical professionals outside of areas seeing malaria are too often clueless about prophylaxis, let alone diagnosis. With experience, one knows the first symptoms and a presenting victim has that jizz about them.
 
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Calson said:
A recent study found that light colored clothing would greatly increase the number of ticks picked up by walkers in an area and another study showed a 93% reduction in bites with permethrin treated clothing.
Click to expand...
And dark clothing, in particular blue, attracts tsetse flies.

Neutral/khaki seems the best all round answer.
www.acsh.org

Do Dark Colors Really Attract Tsetse Flies?

When going on safari, travelers are told to avoid wearing blue and black because it's thought that colored clothing attracts the tsetse fly -- the vector of African Sleeping Sickness. Is that advice to take seriously, or a rumor spread by "Big Khaki"? We delve into one study, making this...
www.acsh.org www.acsh.org
 
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Timely reminder for those of us who travel. Thanks for posting. The little biters seem to love getting a piece of me! :cry: So I try to avoid them as much as possible.
 
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I have had problems in the past with DEET based repellents damaging my camera gear (it wipes off the lettering on the camera body and lens). I use Off Defense with Picardin. It costs about ten bucks for a 5 oz (150ml) spray can on Amazon. Whatever brand you use make sure it is at least 20% Picardin. I don't know if it's as effective as DEET, but I am willing to take the risk, since I don't want to ruin my gear.
 
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