Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Healthy You
    • Job listings
    • Q&As
    • Special sections
  • Multimedia
    • Quiz
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • FAQs
    • Advertising
    • Subscriptions
    • For APHA members
    • Internships
    • Change of address
  • About
    • About The Nation's Health
    • Submissions
    • Permissions
    • Purchase articles
    • Join APHA
  • Contact us
    • Feedback
  • APHA
    • AJPH
    • NPHW

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The Nation's Health
  • APHA
    • AJPH
    • NPHW
  • My alerts
The Nation's Health

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Healthy You
    • Job listings
    • Q&As
    • Special sections
  • Multimedia
    • Quiz
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • FAQs
    • Advertising
    • Subscriptions
    • For APHA members
    • Internships
    • Change of address
  • About
    • About The Nation's Health
    • Submissions
    • Permissions
    • Purchase articles
    • Join APHA
  • Contact us
    • Feedback
  • Follow The Nation's Health on Twitter
  • Follow APHA on Twitter
  • Visit APHA on Facebook
  • Follow APHA on Youtube
  • Follow APHA on Instagram
  • Follow The Nation's Health RSS feeds
NewsHealthy You

Mosquitoes: Tiny but terrible — and more than just an itch

Teddi Nicolaus
The Nation's Health August 2022, 52 (6) 16;
Teddi Nicolaus
  • Search for this author on this site
Figure

For more on mosquito repellents, visit www.epa.gov/insect-repellents

Photo by RealPeopleGroup, courtesy iStockphoto

They crash our backyard barbecues, horn in on our hikes and pester us at picnics. They’re often seen as a summertime nuisance that can leave us with itchy welts, but mosquitoes are actually the most dangerous creature in the world.

Humans share the planet with more than 3,500 types of mosquitoes. Not all of them bite or carry diseases, but we do know that mosquitoes can be dangerous.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mosquitoes kill more people than any other critter because they spread diseases like malaria, dengue and Zika.

Nearly half the world’s population is at risk for malaria, which kills about half a million people globally each year, most of them young children. The U.S. is home to about 200 types of mosquitoes, but only a dozen or so make us sick. West Nile virus is the most common mosquito-borne disease in the U.S.

In the mosquito world, it’s the females who bite. They do it because they need the protein in our blood to develop their eggs. Luckily, most types of mosquitoes don’t spread disease. There’s some evidence that mosquitoes serve as pollinators and provide a food source for frogs, fish, bats and birds. But make no mistake: These long-legged flying creatures are public enemy No. 1 when it comes to spreading disease.

Tips to help fight the bite

Personal protective measures are the most important thing you can do to stay off a mosquito’s dinner menu, says vector ecologist Daniel Markowski, PhD, technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association. Protecting yourself and your family means dressing for protection, such as wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants to prevent mosquitoes from getting to your skin.

“That’s kind of a misnomer when you’re talking about August, but the idea is to cover up, especially in the evening, because generally it’s in the evening when mosquitoes are most active,” Markowski says. “The other thing you can do is use repellents.”

Products labeled as repellents are designed to keep mosquitoes away. They include lanterns, torches, diffusers and candles. Many of us have placed a citronella candle on the picnic table, thinking it will keep mosquitoes at bay, but they really don’t.

“Citronella candles look pretty, but they’re not very effective at all,” Markowski says, noting that the candle’s range of protection is very limited and won’t protect you if you’re a few feet away at the end of the table.

Experts agree that the most effective repellents are the ones applied to your skin, which work by making you less attractive to insects. DEET — shorthand for a long chemical name — is the active ingredient in many repellents and is considered the gold standard, Markowski says.

DEET is effective against all species of mosquitoes for adults and is considered safe for people ages 2 months and older, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women. Another effective repellent is picaridin, which was first approved for use in the U.S. in 2005.

If you prefer to use a natural bug spray, look for repellents containing oil of lemon eucalyptus, which is made from the oil produced by a specific variety of eucalyptus tree and deemed safe and effective by CDC for children 3 and older. However, its protection only lasts about two hours, so you’ll have to apply it more frequently than synthetic repellents like DEET and picaridin.

But whatever you choose, make sure the repellent’s active ingredients are registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. When used as directed, EPA-registered insect repellents are proven safe and effective if you follow the directions on the label. If you’re also using sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.

Other ways to prevent mosquito bites include using window screens, keeping your doors closed — mosquitoes love to come inside when they’re cold — and eliminating any standing water.

“Whether it’s a dish under a flower pot, a bucket or a trash can, anything that collects water and sits for a week or more can start breeding mosquitoes,” Markowski says. “And they don’t fly very far, so they’re going to stay within 50 to 100 feet of that water source, of that bucket, of that flower pot, and they’re going to find you immediately and start biting you.”

If you do get a bite, use a topical anti-itch cream. Talk to your doctor if symptoms seem severe.

Have a heart: Protect your pets

If you have a furry friend, you’re probably familiar with heartworm disease, which is spread through mosquito bites and can lead to severe lung disease, heart failure, other organ damage and death.

“Just like with humans, mosquitoes can transmit dangerous diseases to our pets,” says José Arce, DVM, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Heartworm disease can infect dogs, cats and ferrets. Thankfully, the disease is preventable.

“Because cases of heartworm have been reported in all 50 states, it is important for all pet owners to talk to their veterinarians about parasite prevention and mosquito repellents that are safe to use in pets,” Arce says.

  • Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Nation's Health: 52 (6)
The Nation's Health
Vol. 52, Issue 6
August 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Complete Issue (PDF)

Healthy You

Healthy You

Print
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article
We do not capture any email addresses.
Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Mosquitoes: Tiny but terrible — and more than just an itch
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The Nation's Health
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this item on The Nation's Health website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Mosquitoes: Tiny but terrible — and more than just an itch
Teddi Nicolaus
The Nation's Health August 2022, 52 (6) 16;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Mosquitoes: Tiny but terrible — and more than just an itch
Teddi Nicolaus
The Nation's Health August 2022, 52 (6) 16;
del.icio.us logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
Tweet Widget Facebook Like LinkedIn logo

Jump to section

  • Top
  • Tips to help fight the bite
  • Have a heart: Protect your pets

More in this TOC Section

  • Playing it safe with fumes from gas stoves
  • Making connections can be the cure for loneliness
  • Using and storing your medications safely
Show more Healthy You

Popular features

  • Healthy You
  • Special sections
  • Q&As
  • Quiz
  • Podcasts

FAQs

  • Advertising
  • Subscriptions
  • For APHA members
  • Submissions
  • Change of address

APHA

  • Join APHA
  • Annual Meeting
  • NPHW
  • AJPH
  • Get Ready
  • Contact APHA
  • Privacy policy

© 2025 The Nation's Health

Powered by HighWire