MOSQUITOES
Facts for the Outdoors Enthusiast

Mosquitoes are insects that have been around for over 30 million years. And it seems that, during those millions of years, mosquitoes have been honing their skills so that they are now experts at finding people to bite. A mosquito has a battery of sensors designed to track their prey, including:

• Chemical sensors -- mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to 100 feet away. Just about any mammal or bird gives off these gases as part of its normal breathing. Certain chemicals in sweat also seem to attract mosquitoes (people who don't sweat don't get nearly as many mosquito bites).
• Visual sensors -- if you are wearing clothing that contrasts with the background, and especially if you move while wearing that clothing, mosquitoes can see you and zero in on you. It's a good bet that anything moving is "alive", and therefore full of blood, so this is a good strategy.
• Heat sensors -- Mosquitoes can detect heat, so they can find warm-blooded mammals and birds very easily once they get close enough.

Something with this many sensors sounds more like a military aircraft than an insect. That's why mosquitoes are so good at finding and biting you!

• Only female mosquitoes bite, they are attracted by several things, including heat (infrared), light, perspiration, body odor, lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
• The female lands on your skin and sticks her proboscis into you (the proboscis is very sharp and thin, so you may not feel it going in). Her saliva contains proteins (anticoagulants) that prevent your blood from clotting. She sucks your blood into her abdomen. If she is disturbed, she will fly away. Otherwise, she will remain until she has a full abdomen.
• If you were to cut the sensory nerve to her abdomen, she would keep sucking until she burst. After she has bitten you, some saliva remains in the wound. The proteins from the saliva evoke an immune response from your body. The area swells (the bump around the bite area is called a ³wheal²), and you itch, a response provoked by the saliva.
• Eventually, the swelling goes away, but the itch remains until your immune cells break down the saliva proteins.
• To treat mosquito bites, you should wash them with mild soap and water.
• Try to avoid scratching, even though it itches. Some anti-itch medicines such as Calamine lotion or over-the-counter cortisone creams may relieve the itching. Typically, you do not need to seek medical attention (unless you feel dizzy or nauseated, which may indicate a severe allergic reaction to the bite).

Things you can to do to help deter mosquito bites in the outdoors:

• First, wear clothing that tends to provide cover to most of your body, if temperatures permit wear long sleeve shirts, tuck pant legs into boots. Wear a protective head net when and if mosquitoes swarm.
• Second, One of the only ways to stop mosquitoes from finding you is to confuse their chemical receptors. Use a mosquito repellant that contains NN-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) at a concentration level of anywhere from 7.5 percent to 100 percent.
• Third, protect yourself at dusk and at night when mosquitoes are most active. Use high quality special netting over your sleeping area when camping outdoors. Permethrin is an effective pesticide that confuses the mosquitoes¹ sensors; NOTE: it is for use on clothing or on high quality mosquito netting only.
• Fourth, make sure your nightly occupied outdoor area is free from standing water, marshy land, damp clumps of grasses or weeds or anywhere where mosquitoes can breed.
• Fifth, with West Nile Virus now always a possibility, seek immediate professional medical help should you feel dizzy after a while or your stomach gets upset.