7 Comments
Jan 1, 2023Liked by Melanie Newfield

Great writing, thank you

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Thank you so much.

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Jan 1, 2023Liked by Melanie Newfield

Super interesting, thank you!! I lived in the tropics - in Townsville, we had to try to avoid Ross River and Dengue fever. Anyone who caught both had a tough chance of surviving. Either often led to CFS and Dengue seems to rear its ugly head again every few years after the initial infection.

In PNG, it was Malaria - though I was warned against taking Doxycycline or Lariam as they could mask the exact symptoms which would help local doctors identify the type of Malaria (which affected treatment) - not to mention other terrible side effects like getting super sensitive to sunlight or becoming an axe murderer!

I was lucky to have avoided getting any of these deadly and debilitating diseases by trying to avoid getting bitten at dusk - now I know why!

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Thanks so much, I really appreciate it. The tropics definitely are more challenging in terms of mosquito-borne disease, and you're right that some of the preventatives for malaria are pretty nasty too. I'm lucky that my times in the tropics have been in areas where malaria is minimal.

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Really interesting! We have Asian Tiger mosquitoes here in the southern US, but it wasn't until reading your article that I realized the ones around our house have likely laid their eggs on the ground near our springs that periodically bubble up from the ground -- we will go for months with dry ground, then after a hard rain puddles will form and stay in that area for weeks. Now I realize we may have a mosquito breeding ground there. I need to figure out the best way to treat that area without negatively impacting the ground water or other plants/insects in the area. Did you find anything about the best ways to get rid of mosquitos responsibly?

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Hi Heather. Sorry for my delay in replying. I didn't specifically look into mosquito control, but I do have some information. To my knowledge, one of the safest products to use in the kind of situation you describe is Bti. This is a pesticide made from bacteria which are fairly specific to mosquitoes and a few related groups of insects. It's not completely innocuous, because it is harmful to midges and gnats, but it's worth considering in situations where you have mosquito habitat close to your home. Here is some information from the US EPA and CDC.

https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/bti-mosquito-control

https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/pdfs/bti-508.pdf

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Thanks - I'll check it out!

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