Mosquitos also carry malaria

I recently talked about malaria (August 11 and 13) because it’s an old disease that still causes illness in many parts of the world. However, the CDC records an average of 1500 cases of malaria in America every year. Malaria is carried by the Anopheles mosquito (a different breed mosquito from the Culex which carries West Nile virus). 

We have drugs which travelers can take to prevent malaria. Information about these drugs can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/travelers/drugs.html However, we don’t routinely take anti-malarial drugs while at home in the USA. So how do we protect ourselves from mosquito bites and malaria?  The same prevention techniques for West Nile Virus will protect us from malaria:  mosquito repellents such as DEET, Picaridin, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus or IR3535 which the CDC recommends on our skin. If you want to wear repellent on your clothing, an insect repellent containing permethrin is recommended.  Other prevention methods include wearing long sleeves and long pants while outside, and avoiding being outside when the mosquitos are most likely feeding (between dusk and dawn).  Next time I will share safe ways to use insect repellents.