Yes There Are Mosquitos in Las Vegas — Here’s Help

YES! We DO have mosquitos in Las Vegas - and the two we have always seem to bite me!  Anywhere I go I get bit! Time to pull out the mosquito repellent.

For the most part mosquitoes just leave bothersome, itchy bites on your skin. But they can also pose a serious and sometimes deadly risk to your health. When a mosquito bites you, it may transmit harmful pathogens that cause dangerous diseases like malaria, Dengue fever, Zika and West Nile.

Female mosquitos bite to get vital nutrients from our blood. They use these nutrients to make their eggs. One single bite can breed about 100 mosquitos!

There are several ways to avoid bites. Wearing long, loose clothing, limiting time outside, placing screens over your windows and getting rid of standing water that mosquitoes seem to love.

Still, one of the best ways to protect yourself from hungry mosquitoes is by using mosquito repellents. There are a lot of them out there, so here’s what you need to know to protect yourself this summer

The use of mosquito repellents goes far back in time. Some of the oldest records of the use of mosquito repellents date back to early Egyptian and Roman history. Back then, the popular repellent was smoke smudge from fires.

Today, we have more options than our ancestors when it comes to choosing what type of mosquito repellent to use – sprays and lotions, candles, coils and vaporizers, to name some.

These repellents actually interfere with a mosquito’s sense of smell, taste or both. Didn't know their noses or tongues were that sensitive. The repellent either blocks or overstimulates these senses, but it's still unknown exactly how. Who cares, right? As long as they work!

For some products, testing was as simple as putting a volunteer’s treated arm into a cage with 25 mosquitoes and waiting for the first mosquito bite. If they didn't - it worked!

For others, like citronella candles, a candle or device was put between a person and a cage of mosquitoes. Depending on the repellent efficacy of the device, mosquitoes either flew toward the person or away -easy enough. However when I'm around, mosquitos LOVE citronella!

Bracelets don’t work. Department stores and pharmacy chains sell hundreds of different varieties of bracelets. They are marketed as “mosquito repellent” bands, wristbands and watches. They vary from plastic to leather. Even if they're loaded with repellents, they can’t protect your whole body from mosquito bites.

Ultrasonic repellent devices have failed as well. There are electrical plug-ins, free-standing  variations that claim to emit a high-frequency sound that deters mosquitoes by mimicking bats. but, in scientific studies, ultrasonic repellent devices fail to repel the buggers. In fact, one lab found a slight increase in mosquito attraction to the wearer.

Dietary supplements like vitamin B, garlic and so on - also a no go! No scientific evidence points to these working.

Light-based repellents? Nope!  Thought colored light bulbs do work well on moths, beetles and stinkbugs, but not on mosquitoes.

Here is a ranking of mosquito repellents that DO work.

DEET. Chemical name, N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, was developed in the 1950s by the U.S. Army and is a well-established mosquito repellent with a long history of use. The higher the percentage, the longer the protection time is – up to six hours.

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This is a synthetic repellent that can protect for up to six hours at a 20% concentration. It is a promising alternative for DEET.

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OLE works with the active ingredient, and is a plant-based alternative to DEET and picaridin. Its repellent properties can last for up to six hours.

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Some work well, some not so much. A study tried 20 different essential oils in a 10% essential oil lotion mixture. Clove oil, Cinnamon oil, Geraniol all worked for 60 to 90 minutes. Citronella oil worked for only about 30 minutes.

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I mean, if you're going to cover up, you might as well do it in style.

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