One Mosquito Bite Can Change Lives Forever. Summer Is Over But The Danger Is Not.

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This post is brought to you by the American Mosquito Control Association and Central Life Sciences. Please note that, as always, any personal opinions reflected in this post are my own and have not been influenced by the sponsor or compensation received in any way.

Summer is over and it’s officially fall. Yet, you might or might not know that based upon the weather. Today here in New Jersey it was about 40 degrees this morning. We had thunder, lightning, rain and even hail! This afternoon it rose to 70. We’ve had a number of nice days lately. Most people are happy about that. I actually heard it announced on the news yesterday that 2014 is tracking to be the hottest year on record. That’s good news for many people. It’s also good news for the mosquitoes, which can be very bad news for us.
Over the weekend we had one day that was just beautiful, so much so that I went outside, where I got not one, but two, mosquito bites. I have no doubt that you’ve been bitten by a mosquito at some point just like me. We all know that’s not fun, it itches! What all people don’t realize is that mosquito bites can be deadly. There are currently over 3,000 known species of mosquitoes in the world. Some of those mosquitoes are capable of transmitting diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis [St. Louis encephalitis (SLE), Western Equine encephalitis (WEE), LaCrosse encephalitis (LAC), Japanese encephalitis (JE), Eastern Equine encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile virus (WNV)] to humans and animals.
There are currently no vaccines or treatment available for many of these diseases so awareness is critical. Symptoms are generally mild or flu-like and can pass through the system undetected. As the disease progresses, infection can rapidly advance and result in life-long neurological damage, muscle weakness, memory loss or worse. One mosquito bite can change lives forever.

While we’re all enjoying what’s left of the nice weather, do everything you can to keep yourself and your family safe. Before you continue on with doing yard work, planting, decorating, or just playing in the leaves, make sure you get your yard in order first. Remove any standing pools of water. This can actually be lots of places including garbage cans, bird baths, swimming pools, rain gutters, and outdoor toys. Have a canoe? Turn it over. Mosquitoes breed in standing water, so be sure to check you entire yard. While you’re outside check that the window screens on your home aren’t ripped or torn. Be sure to drill small holes in the bottom of your garbage and recycling cans. Not only will it make them lighter but it will help prevent mosquitoes from breeding in there. And finally, while outdoors you can do two things. First, wear light clothing, as it’s been determined that dark clothing attracts some mosquitoes more then light clothing. Second, always use an EPA-approved mosquito repellent. Don’t wait for a bite to get out the repellent.
It’s important everyone do what they can to help prevent mosquitoes from breeding. You can learn more about the American Mosquito Control Association’s I’m One Program at http://www.mosquito.org/im-one-program.
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American Mosquito Control Associatoon website – American Mosquito Control Association on Facebook
Have you ever taken steps to “mosquito-proof” your yard?