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Why are mosquitoes dangerous? Where do mosquitoes appear in an apartment? All methods of combating mosquitoes in an apartment: effectiveness, advantages and disadvantages. What folk methods of combating mosquitoes really do not work: expert opinion.
Why are mosquitoes dangerous?
Due to an allergic reaction to mosquito saliva, human skin becomes irritated, so the bite site becomes red and itchy. In Russia there are more than a hundred species of these insects. Some of them can carry pathogens such as tularemia, arboviruses and Plasmodium falciparum. Also, due to a mosquito bite, you can get West Nile fever and other dangerous diseases.
Where do mosquitoes come from in an apartment?
Mosquitoes need moist soil, puddles, small reservoirs or, for example, even tree hollows to breed, Valery Loktionov, candidate of biological sciences, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Entomology of the Federal Scientific Center for Biodiversity of the Far Eastern branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“In the city, mosquitoes fly from the basement, maybe from the sewers. Even in Egypt it is dry and mosquitoes eat you at night. The question is: where do they come from? It’s simple: there is a leaky sewer under your feet. “And they multiply there. They cannot multiply in an apartment, they fly there in the adult insect stage and do not live there for a long time,” said the scientist.
Mosquitoes fly because of the smell and heat of people and animals, as well as the carbon dioxide they exhale. In search of food, they penetrate the home quite easily both day and night:
• through slightly open windows,
• holes in damaged mosquito nets,
• through open doors.
If a female mosquito enters a house, she can bite a person several times until she is satisfied. During breaks, these insects hide under the sink, under furniture or in the pantry, in corners and under the ceiling. Mosquitoes can also live on houseplants that are watered too frequently.
As the CEO of one of the companies offering pest control services, Anna Mironova, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, mosquitoes can breed in the basements of apartment buildings. “Mosquitoes are rare in the basement and when there is high humidity: for example, a sewer or water supply pipe has broken. In this case, the management company eliminates excess humidity from the basement and calls the exterminators,” said the interlocutor.
According to her, mosquitoes in the basement are most often suffered by residents of the lower floors of apartment buildings.
These insects bother gardeners and residents of private homes, employees of companies and residents of new buildings located in lowlands or swampy areas. In such cases, exterminators treat the entire area and, if there are puddles and small swamps, the medicine is applied to the water surfaces where mosquitoes breed. Ponds containing fish cannot be treated. If the weather is dry, the effect of insecticide spraying lasts about a month, and if it rains, about a week, Mironova said.
Methods to control mosquitoes in an apartment.
Aerosol sprays
Sprays are considered a fairly effective means if you need to repel mosquitoes on the street. They are applied to clothing and the protection lasts up to several days. Some manufacturers provide for the use of sprays on exposed skin. In this case, the effect lasts up to several hours.
Product advantages:
• ease of application,
• the can can be taken with you into nature and the protection can be renewed as needed,
• effectively repels mosquitoes.
Disadvantages:
• will not help get rid of mosquitoes at home, it will only keep them away for a while,
• sometimes they have a pungent odor,
• some types of sprays are not recommended for children and pregnant women.
mosquito nets
They are considered the best way to protect your home from the penetration of blood-sucking flying insects. The nets create a barrier through which mosquitoes cannot penetrate. Manufacturers offer safe designs for apartments where cats live, as well as a wide range of nets: Velcro, sliding, frame and others. If there are a lot of mosquitoes in this house or area, mosquito nets are needed not only for the windows, but also for ventilation.
Advantages:
• Easy to install and maintain,
• They protect well not only from mosquitoes, but also from pollen and large dust particles that enter the apartment.
Disadvantages:
• frame-shaped grilles must be removed in winter,
• if there is a bar on your window, it is difficult to place the net,
• The nets darken the room a little and after a while they can become clogged with dust, which impairs ventilation.
Home remedies
Home remedies:
• lemon and clove slices, herbs. It is believed that mosquitoes hate the smells of lemon, cloves and various herbs: lemongrass, mint, calendula, basil, thyme and sage. You need to cut the lemon in half and place cloves in both halves, then place the slices in the corners to repel mosquitoes. Herbs can be grown on windowsills or the leaves can be crushed with your fingers and placed in containers in different parts of the house.
• tobacco smoke, pine needles, spruce and pine cones.
Plus: the odors will temporarily repel mosquitoes.
Disadvantages:
• short duration method,
• will not help combat mosquitoes in large areas and open spaces,
• will not destroy blood-sucking insects.
Fumigators: mosquito repellents in an outlet
Fumigators are one of the most popular mosquito repellents today. The heating element they contain evaporates the insecticide from a plate or container with liquid and the active substance kills or repels mosquitoes.
Advantages:
• convenient to use indoors,
• you can leave the device plugged in overnight,
• effectively affects mosquitoes.
Disadvantages:
• may cause an allergic reaction in some people when used indoors for a long time,
• Its use is not recommended in rooms where children and pregnant women live.
Pyrotechnic fumigators: spiral and plate
Spiral or pyrotechnic fumigator. It can also be in the form of plates. Such a fumigator is set on fire and the insecticide concentrate applied to the surface begins to burn. Smoke repels or kills mosquitoes.
Advantages:
• effective,
• suitable for outdoor use, for example, in the yard of a house or in a country house.
Disadvantages:
• sometimes an unpleasant smell,
• It is best not to leave a smoldering fumigator unattended.
Ultrasonic repellent
Manufacturers claim that the high-frequency sounds produced by the device repel mosquitoes and other insects. But it has not yet been reliably confirmed that these bloodsuckers react to ultrasound.
insect trap
The ultraviolet lamp it contains attracts mosquitoes and mosquitoes, which fly through the mesh and are killed by electric shock or are sucked into the fan. Charging such a device takes several hours of operation.
Advantages:
• effective,
• does not contain insecticides that can cause allergies,
• the operation of the trap is not accompanied by unpleasant odors,
• affects mosquitoes within a radius of several tens of meters.
Cons: You must be careful when exposing your skin to UV lamps for long periods of time.
High-tech gas traps
A cylinder of carbon dioxide is attached to the device and the exterminator mimics a person’s warm breath. Mosquitoes flying nearby are sucked into the airflow into the container.
Advantages:
• large coverage area: up to several thousand square meters,
• can be used outdoors,
• safe for all categories of people.
Disadvantages: high price.
vacuum cleaner
A simple mechanical way to combat insects that have flown into an apartment. Mosquitoes are sucked into the dust bag by air currents. Don’t forget to cap the vacuum tube after treatment.
Advantages: By closing windows and doors at night, you can clean your rooms or other small spaces of insects before going to bed. Most often, mosquitoes settle on the ceiling, from where it is convenient to pick them up with a vacuum cleaner.
Cons: It will not eliminate mosquitoes in large areas and in large concentrations of them.
What popular mosquito control methods really don’t work?
Loktionov doubted the effectiveness of ultrasonic repellents in the fight against mosquitoes. “I have never heard of ultrasound acting on mosquitoes. The most effective methods are obvious. The safest for health are mosquito nets for all windows, and the more or less safe are fumigators and fumigators. plates,” said the scientist.
Experts also point out that the bracelets are not effective against mosquitoes. In comparative tests, they showed an effect close to zero. The fact is that the active substances of these devices are not enough to protect the entire body from insect attacks. Especially if the bracelets contain only essential oils and not insecticides.
Mironova notes that all of the most commonly used mosquito repellents generally work within reasonable limits.
“Home remedies may not be as effective, they do not work as quickly as professional remedies, because the former have a lower concentration (of active substances – editor’s note). But there are none that don’t work at all. Home remedies may work for someone if there are one or two mosquitoes in the house. If there are a lot of insects, these methods will not work or the result will not be as noticeable, so it will seem that, for example, the smells of herbs do not scare away mosquitoes,” said Mironova.
According to her, popular fumigators add aromatic substances that repel insects and, in general, they work. “But if the same fumigator is turned on outside, for example, on the terrace of a house, it will not work, because the area of the room must be 10 to 20 square meters, and on the street it is of no use. You always have to read the instructions and use the medicines as directed, then everything works,” the expert added.
