More about mozzies (skeeters)

Thanks for the tips on my previous post, however, I need to expand on the situation with mozzies here:

Mosquitoes are active between dusk and dawn, although they can be spotted during the day. They don’t bother Danny but are a nuisance to me between 7pm and bedtime.

I generally stay covered in trousers, long sleeves and socks during the evenings, but they usually find a way to bite me—up my sleeves, through my socks, up my trouser legs. I am a mozzie magnet and always have been.

Sometimes I apply Deet – the only effective protection against them. But I really don’t want to use it daily. I am guilty of scratching until I bleed and have many battle scars on my legs, feet and arms. Benadryl antihistamine cream sometimes stops the itching if I apply it as soon as I’m bitten, but it is much less effective against Ugandan mozzies than it is against Scottish midges. Wary of infections from my scratches I keep lots of Dettol or Savlon on hand to wash my injuries.

There are nooks and crannies in the house where they hide during the day and become active at night. They also get into the house through ill-fitting doors and windows.

One reason the mozzies are so bad on our campus is due to its location. It’s out in the countryside where the population is sparse. Most of the people who live in the villages don’t have electricity. So in the midst of darkness, our campus burns like a beacon for mozzies for miles around.

We faithfully take Mefloquine, an anti-malarial drug. We also sleep under a Permethrin-coated mozzie net at night. However, if we do happen to get bitten by an anopheles mosquito which is carrying malaria, we will likely feel like we’ve got the flu for about a week--if we get malaraia at all. It is rare for people taking Mefloquine to get malaria..

When we are going to gone from the house for a few hours we spray with DOOM, an insecticide. The amount of mosquitoes seems to be less for a day or two, but that is all.

Only solution: mosquito electrocutors!