Natural Remedies for Mosquitoes




















First the good news: only half the mosquito population sucks human
blood. The males of the species do quite well on nectar alone. Females,
however, need the protein from a good meal of blood to develop and lay
their eggs. If they don't get it, the only way they can lay viable eggs is to
consume their own wing muscles.
The female half of the mosquito population has been responsible for
some of the most dreaded and deadly diseases known to humankind. Before
the twentieth century, one of every two deaths may have been due
to diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. In the Spanish-American War, for
instance, 400 Americans were killed in battle, while 4,000 were killed
by yellow fever - called yellow jack - carried by mosquitoes.
Although we have succeeded in freeing ourselves from the constant
companionship of fleas and body lice, the battle against mosquitoes is
far from over. More deadly than sharks, snakes, and grizzly bears, they
cause millions of fatalities a year. In 1996, the World Health Organization
declared them to be "the greatest menace" of all disease-transmitting
insects. They spread malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and encephalitis,
all of which are on the rise. Every year, 300 million cases of
malaria, mostly in Africa, result in as many as 3 million deaths. Although
once eradicated in this country, malaria has recently reappeared.
More than 3,400 mosquito species exist in the world. The word "mosquito"
comes from the Spanish for "little fly." A mosquito is so adept, it can fly through a rain shower dodging
individual raindrops, and so light, it can stand on water without getting
wet. It can alight on your skin without arousing a tactile response.
Mosquitoes may have a light touch, but it's a cruel one. The female
mosquito punctures your skin and steals blood by using a piercing sucking
mouthpart (proboscis) with six stylets, four of which cut the skin,
while the remaining two form a tube that draws up the blood. A duct in
the tube secretes saliva as she sucks, increasing the blood flow and keeping
it from clotting, thus allowing her to extract blood as quickly as possible.
Her saliva causes an allergic reaction on the skin and the subsequent
torments of itching. It also transmits viruses and germs from person
to person.
After sucking up three or four times her weight in blood, the female
goes to find water on which to lay her eggs. Different species prefer different
bodies of water: tidal marshes, ponds, tree boles or holes, swamps,
or irrigation ditches. For some species, any small undisturbed body of
water (preferably stagnant) will do - a hoofprint with a little water in it,
a pothole, an empty snail shell, or an old tin can. In fact, old tires do
so well that the millions of used ones piled up all over the world are
major mosquito breeding grounds. Our throwaway lifestyle has been
a great boon to this minuscule enemy of ours.
In the water, mosquito eggs hatch in just a few days.