This year has been one of the wettest on record. That said, I offer you a one-question quiz: What comes with rain that could cost you your life? Answer: Mosquitoes.
That’s right, these little critters can carry some of the deadliest diseases known to humankind. Just look around the world. There’s West Nile, malaria, Zika, and dengue. Thankfully, most of these are rather rare. Where I live in Great Barrington, mosquitoes can carry diseases from animals to humans. At the very least, they can make you itch like crazy. They can find any hole in a screen and plague you for hours at night. While I do not want anyone to assume that I am taking an anti-feminist position, I will tell you straight out that the female mosquito is more dangerous of the two.
Some people will go to any length to prevail over the bugs. I, for example, will use my WAMC baseball hat to combat them by spraying anti-mosquito stuff on the underside of the visor. Of course, there are any number of products that claim to protect you from the bugs. Some folks swear by Vicks VapoRub. Others use DEET or oil of eucalyptus. Since we are often treated to articles about what some preventive preparations might do to you, you might think twice before spraying stuff near your face. All too often, we end up getting bad news about preparations millions of people are using.
There are bound to be people who will write and criticize me for calling for the extermination of mosquitoes. Among other things my frequent critics will no doubt comment on is that my arrogance is showing, since mosquitoes have been here longer than humans. When I wrote about the potential danger from bears (we have them in the Berkshires) and foxes (a rabid fox that attacked a woman in our neighborhood was just captured) I got letters suggesting foxes and bears deserved to be protected from humans. I suppose that argument is valid. Nevertheless, I really don’t care, especially when it comes to mosquitoes.
There are businesses that try to sell cures they claim will protect your family. Some big, well-known companies offer lawn treatments that may or may not work. I always harbor my doubts. There are lots of pieces of advice that fall under the category of “more easily said than done.” For example, we are always told to get rid of any excess water on our property. For those with swimming pools, this is not an easy option. In a year like the deluge-ridden one just past, you had better believe that we might as well gather and yell at the top of our lungs, “Here come the mosquitoes.”
Many of us wonder why one person gets bitten more often than another person. The answer from the experts seems to be along the same lines as why we are attracted to some potential partners and not others. Included among the responses were things like the amount of carbon dioxide we exhale and whether or not we smell of one thing or another. Sometimes, they tell us, it is a matter of body temperature. Some experts suggest using yellow light bulbs. Everyone wants to know how many times you can be bitten by an individual mosquito. The answer to that one is that the biter will feast on your blood until she is full. Finally, at least for this column, vinegar, that universal cure, can be used as an anti-mosquito spray.
In the meantime, good luck. Next time you are feasting on a hamburger, think of the mosquitoes who feast on you.
