Whether you’re headed to the beach or going camping, mosquitoes are an unfortunate annoyance in warm climates. The constant buzzing and bites can be aggravating, but the risk is far greater than that. Mosquitoes can carry life-threatening diseases like malaria, dengue, and chikungunya. Knowing this, it’s important do everything you can to ward off these little bloodsuckers. Here’s how.
Warding Off Mosquitoes Indoors
These tips can be especially useful in a hotel room, but they can reduce mosquito issues almost anywhere indoors.
- Book a room on a higher floor – Mosquitoes don’t like to venture too far from their breeding grounds, so you can reduce the number of them trying to enter your room if you’re on the fourth floor or higher.
- Turn on the fan – A ceiling fan on a high setting impedes the flying ability of mosquitoes, and it helps disperse the body odors that attract them in the first place.
- Turn on the AC – Air conditioning obviously lowers the room temperature, but it also lowers the humidity. Both things reduce mosquito activity and make them stop biting.
- Take a shower – Mosquitoes are attracted by sweat and body odor. If you keep yourself clean, you’re less likely to interest them.
- Check your screens – Any open window or door should have a screen with no gaps. For extra protection, get a mosquito net for your bed.
- Use spatial repellents – These can come in the form of clip-on devices, oils, plug-in vaporizers, coils, and special candles.
Avoiding Mosquitoes Outdoors
Although it’s impossible to completely avoid mosquitoes when you vacation where they live and breed, you can reduce the bites and annoyance if you follow these steps:
- Use topical repellents – Follow the instructions, and regularly apply spray-on repellents to your skin and your clothing.
- Wear light-colored clothing – Dark colors absorb and radiate more heat, which only serves to attract heat-loving mosquitoes. Make sure the clothing fits loose, as mosquitoes can bite through taught clothing near your skin.
- Lay off perfume and cologne – As much as you like your favorite scent, so do mosquitoes. Avoid wearing anything that smells sweet or flowery.
- Avoid shaded areas – These are the areas where swarms of mosquitoes are most likely to congregate on a sunny day.
- Don’t go out near dusk or dawn – These are the natural feeding times for mosquitoes, so you’re much more likely to have issues with them than in the middle of the day.
How Travel Insurance Can Help
Although you’re unlikely to get sick from a mosquito bite if you have all of the appropriate vaccines for the country you’re visiting, it is still possible. And there are plenty of other health risks you can run into abroad, just as you would at home.
For international trips to any location outside the United States, travel medical insurance is recommended. Many tropical vacation spots don’t have the highest standard of public healthcare available. The only viable option for treatment if you get sick or injured could be a private facility. The trouble is, these facilities are expensive, and your domestic health insurance is unlikely to be accepted. To avoid getting stuck with a medical bill that costs more than you can afford to pay, you’ll need to have travel medical insurance.
If you’re traveling to the United States from another country, be sure to get visitors medical insurance. Though the USA has excellent doctors and hospitals, medical treatment here is extremely expensive. If you do not have insurance coverage that’s valid in the US, you could get stuck with a bill that exceeds your savings. Visitors medical insurance is designed specifically for foreign visitors traveling outside their home country, and can help you access and pay for necessary American healthcare.