Personal protective measures against bugs

Getting bitten by insects is no fun. Bites itch, they hurt and they may transmit diseases, some of which may be deadly. Not all diseases are curable with medications, nor are they all preventable with vaccinations. You can have a healthier, more enjoyable trip by avoiding troublesome bites in the first place.

Many of the most serious diseases acquired from traveling are due to bugs, especially mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies and “no-see-ums.” Some of the diseases you can get from mosquitoes are malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and plenty more. Ticks can carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, lyme disease, typhus, tick-bite fever and others. Flies can transmit sleeping sickness, dysentery and other parasites. There are several simple steps to reduce the chance of being bitten by bugs.

Begin your defense by properly wearing clothing. While travelers like to go around in tanktops and shorts, there are three good reasons to cover your skin:

1. You don’t offend the local populace.
2. You get less sunburn.
3. You get fewer bites; the clothing acts as a barrier.

To cope with heat, wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing. It is most important to cover your legs, moreso than the arms, as we tend to ignore our legs and not feel a mosquito feeding down there. If you don’t feel it, you won’t swat it! When walking through brush or jungle, as on nature hikes, wear long sleeves in addition to long pants.

The next step is to use repellent. For your skin, the most effective ones contain DEET, in varying concentrations. 20%-50% DEET is usually quite adequate and safe, although DEET in high concentration can damage synthetic fibers such as polyesters, plastics and nylons.

“Natural” repellents, such as Citronella and Avon’s Skin so Soft, may also help but tend to wear off quickly, within an hour or so, so are not very practical for travelers. Neem, from a type of tree grown in India, is probably the best of the natural repellents. Still, none of them are as good as DEET.

Another great weapon in the battle against bugs is Permethrin, which is applied to clothing and mosquito nets (but not to skin) to repel mosquitoes and ticks and can last two to six weeks when sprayed onto fabric and three to six months when soaked into it.

Sleep in air-conditioned rooms or screened-in areas or under a mosquito net whenever you travel in areas that have mosquitoes. Nets should be impregnated with permethrin, which substantially lowers the risk of contracting malaria.

Insect incense coils work well, but don’t use them if you have asthma or other lung problems. Make sure you have ventilation when you burn them.

Avoid insects during their peak biting periods. For malaria, the mosquitoes bite mainly between dusk and dawn. For dengue, it is during daylight hours.

Wear long sleeves and long pants, especially when walking through brush or jungle, and check yourself for ticks at the end of each day. If you have a tick (often it is tiny, like the head of a pin), you want to remove it. Grasp it from the bottom with tick pliers or tweezers and pull up. Don’t burn the tick; this can drive it deeper into your skin and increase your chance of getting disease.

Avoid perfumes and colognes, as they can attract bugs as much as romance.

Garlic and vitamin B have not been proven to work. Sorry!

Healthy travels!

—Travel & Health is written by Alan M. Spira, M.D., DTM&H, FRSTM