Nothing ruins a good time outdoors more than mosquitoes. Whether you are doing a five day hike or just barbequing, the buzzing and biting is just too much. Heck, even trying to sleep when you can hear one buzzing around in your bedroom is the stuff of nightmares. As if the buzzing and itchy bites were not enough, mosquitoes also happen to carry some of the nastiest diseases around.
Mosquito bites are somewhat misunderstood, particularly how disease is transferred in the process. First off, a mosquito doesn't really bit you. It injects a needle like protrusion into your skin. It then injects you with anti-coagulants to let the blood flow. It is this during this step that disease can be transferred to you. Following this, the mosquito then sucks out the blood and then flies away.
First and foremost, it is important to note that mosquitoes do not transmit one disease that is at the top of many peoples? list of scary things. In this case, we are talking about the human immunodeficiency virus. Simply put, a mosquito cannot give you AIDS. Unfortunately, they can give you other nasty things.
First and foremost, mosquitoes are known for transmitting malaria. The disease is primarily found in third world countries, but pops up here and there from time to time. Malaria kills over five million people a year, mostly children. In adults, a healthy person will suffer severe chills, sweating, aching and other fun effects. If you are traveling abroad or into remote areas, make sure you keep this in mind.
Less well known is the fact mosquitoes also carry a parasite known as filariasis. This bug causes encephalitis like symptoms and is very nasty. The symptoms present as significant swelling to various body parts, often grotesquely so. While you may not hear much about this, over 40 million people suffer from it across the world. As if that isn't bad enough, mosquitoes are also known to carry and transmit dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus and other dangerous health risks.
If you are traveling abroad or just in an area where there are mosquitoes, it makes absolute sense to protect yourself with an insect repellant. Fail to take this basic step and you could rue the day for the rest of your life.
