Can we ever run away from mosquitoes ?

Mosquitoes are a common nuisance to the human population. In the night when we sleep the mosquito is at work, not only does it wake you up by the noise it makes as it fly’s around the room but also from the pain and itching from the bite it just inflicted on your body. On the other hand during the day, there are those annoying mosquitoes which bite you in the legs under the desk, or in all places hidden from your view like the calf muscles of the legs, the back of your neck and so on. The bite is not only itchy but painful as well. If you took a closer look, or if you are very observant, you will notice that the mosquito that bites during the day is different from the mosquito that bites during the night. The day mosquito is usually black with white dots, while the mosquito which bites during the night is usually brown or plain black.

The interesting thing is that mosquitoes have always evolved to live closer to where they can find their food/nutrition.  Male mosquitoes feed on nectar while the female mosquito of several species, feed on blood, in order to lay eggs and perpetuate the existence of the species. As part of their evolution to associate more with their source of food (humans and other mammals for the blood feeders), mosquitoes have adapted to breed in areas where you would least expect them to. In order to breed, mosquitoes need stagnant water, and shady environments where they can lay their eggs and the eggs can hatch allowing the formation of the mosquito intermediate stages the larvae and nymph in the water which later develop into the adult mosquitoes.

Many are the times that we have allowed mosquitoes to breed in our backyard, literally.  Mosquitoes can breed in water collected in old tyres, unused utensils and items lying about the compound which can collect water, e.g. broken pottery, old dog feeding plates, old plastic containers, gutters, those old things we stack on the roof which are hollow (old pairs of shoes, old basins, pails) and you can add on to the list. Mosquitoes also breed in water collected under flower pot containers, in fountains, in leaf nodes on plants, and sometimes in broken septic tanks.

So what can we do to get rid of mosquitoes? Apart from buying coils and using mosquito repellents and nets to avoid mosquito bites, one of the most important things to do is to destroy the source of the problem, in this case the stagnant water. When we drain these mosquito breeding grounds, we destroy the eggs, larvae and nymph which could develop into adult mosquitoes.  If we can spend some time to sensitize people in our household and together spend time looking for places where water can easily collect, and draining these places dry, we will be able to reduce if not destroy the mosquito population around our homes.

As I said mosquitoes are clever, they have devised clever ways to survive, their eggs can still survive even in the dry conditions without water, therefore it is important to drain stagnant water not only once, but not to allow that water to come back. This can be done by putting sand or soil in hollow places around our homes where water usually collects, but also to turn upside down all utensils around the home where water can easily collect. This will ensure that you do not nurture your “killer”. Mosquitoes carry microorganisms such as viruses, parasites and worms which cause serious diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya just to mention a few. And these diseases are a cause of many deaths around the world.

Please let us start by making our surrounding mosquito free by destroying their breeding grounds.