Mostly cloudy skies. Scattered thunderstorms this evening. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..
Mostly cloudy skies. Scattered thunderstorms this evening. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Social gatherings have returned with the decline in COVID-19. It’s hard to beat a warm North Carolina day with the smell of barbecue and a patio table set to enjoy the evening outdoors with family and friends. Beans, potato salad, coleslaw and chicken are popular menu items.
Unfortunately, uninvited guests resting in nearby shrubbery may arrive on the scene in search of a different type of meal. Their high-pitched buzz as they approach the back of your neck is a warning of the pain they are about to inflict. As we move into the heart of mosquito season, it’s a good time to review mosquito biology, personal protection, and a few tips for controlling the annoying backyard pests.
Not all mosquitoes are created equal! First of all, male mosquitoes do not bite and do not require blood. Most males feed on nectar from flowers. Some females suck blood and some do not, depending on the species. As the female inserts its mouthparts to ingest a meal, it injects a small amount of saliva to prevent the victim’s blood from coagulating. The saliva is sometimes laced with microscopic organisms that cause disease. While most mosquitoes prefer to feed around sunrise or sunset, some bite only during the day and others only at night. Protein rich blood obtained during only a few seconds of feeding is needed to produce microscopic eggs, which are deposited in water and hatch into larvae. The water source can vary from salt marshes to rice fields and drainage culverts to discarded tires or cans.
For this article, I have chosen to focus on mosquitoes that develop in small containers, bite during the day, and frequently disrupt backyard cookouts.
Backyard daytime biting mosquitoes generally begin their life in small containers that collect water. A whiskey shot glass filled with water would work just fine. Larger containers, those the size of oil drums, would also provide a perfect nursery. An Olympic-sized swimming pool is probably too big. The little larvae will happily live in used tires, flower vases, infant wading pools, clogged gutters or unused barbecue grills.
When they mature, the newly minted adult mosquitoes fly out of the container, but tend to remain in the neighborhood. Some will travel up to a quarter-mile from the water that gave them life, but most don’t go that far. What’s important here is that the mosquitoes that hatched in your yard are also likely to be the ones that cause problems for you, your family and your neighbors.
Adult mosquitoes have two primary interests in their 14- to 30-day lifespan: food and reproduction. The females find us by zeroing in on the carbon dioxide we exhale before closing in as they track body odors. These odors may be too faint for you or me to notice, but female mosquitoes are super sensitive to the smells. And they like some lucky people more than others. You might get bitten more than the person next to you because your sweat has more of the “right stuff” (or, better yet, “wrong stuff”). After filling up on someone’s blood and finding a mate, the female selects that perfect water-laden container and lays 100-200 eggs, which — if all goes well for them — hatch within a week. If water is not available, females simply deposit eggs in dry containers in preparation for the next rainfall.
As you prepare for warm summer days, here are a few ways to reduce your chances of encountering small-container-breeding daytime biting mosquitoes:
n Carefully examine your yard for any containers with water or the potential to collect water; remove the containers and throw them away;
n If the container must remain, empty it after every rain or at least once a week; as an alternative, punch holes in the bottom of containers that can’t be removed so the water can drain;
n Talk to neighbors and neighborhood associations about the need to drain standing water from small containers — we are all in this together;
n When mosquitoes are active, spend more time indoors or behind screened walls;
n Wear insect repellent on your skin with 20-30 percent DEET. Other chemicals can be used but few if any offer the level of protection shown by DEET in rigorous field tests. It is best to check for skin sensitivity on a small area before applying DEET or other material to large areas of exposed skin;
n Wear pre-treated clothing containing Permethrin (store-bought items that were factory treated will remain effective against mosquitoes even after washing 25 times in a home washing machine. Do not dry clean Permethrin-treated items.);
n Wear light colored clothing if given a choice, and consider creating your own mosquito-proof wardrobe by treating your clothes with an aerosol Permethrin product (but do not treat socks and underwear and do not apply Permethrin directly to your skin. Self-treated clothes should not be worn until the pesticide spray is completely dry. Self-treated items should be retreated after about five washings.); and 10. If you suspect you have symptoms of a mosquito-borne disease, it is always prudent to seek medical attention for advice and early treatment.
One question I am often asked is, what about spraying pesticides over large areas or adding chemicals to standing water to control mosquitoes? I would suggest people exhaust the recommendations provided here before calling for aerial support. Unknown types of damage and injury can occur whenever large amounts of chemicals are applied over large areas. Honeybees, birds and other good critters can be negatively affected. Large scale control measures, such as using mosquito control trucks and aircraft to apply chemicals, are important and effective if used at the right time and under the right circumstances.
Don’t let mosquitoes spoil your plans to enjoy the summer outdoors. Reducing mosquito breeding sites and taking personal protective measures can greatly reduce your exposure to biting pests and the diseases they transmit.
Tom Lillie, Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Air Force medical entomologist. He and his wife retired to Southern Pines from the Washington, D.C,. area.
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