Mosquitoes bite, suck your blood, and leave you with itchy bumps and possibly a horrible infection. Mosquito-borne pathogens include malaria, West Nile virus, Zika virus, Chikungunya virus, and dengue.
While you might fantasize about living in a mosquito-free world, eradicating them would actually be disastrous for the environment. Adult mosquitoes are food for other insects, birds, and bats, while larval mosquitoes support aquatic ecosystems. The best we can hope for is to limit their ability to transmit disease, repel them, and kill them within the confines of our yards and homes.
Mosquitoes can transmit diverse infectious pathogens and parasites that cause diseases such as dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, West Nile fever, or malaria. Therefore, the mosquitoes are so-called disease vectors. In order to do so, though, a mosquito must bite a sick human first, thereby infecting itself with the pathogen. After some time (usually around ten days), the mosquito itself becomes infectious. However, not every mosquito can transmit every pathogen. For example, the malaria pathogen can only be transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito species, whereas tiger mosquitoes are the vectors of dengue fever. Naturally, the specialization in different hosts has an influence on the diseases that a mosquito species can transmit. For example, the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is strongly specialized in humans and their surroundings. That is why it is a highly efficient vector of various diseases affecting humans: yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika are among these.
How to eliminate mosquitoes
- Source Reduction
Many species of mosquitoes required standing water to breed, so one of the most effective methods of controlling them is to remove open containers and repair leaks. Dumping containers of standing water kills the larvae living in them before they get a chance to mature.
However, removing water may be undesirable or impractical in some cases. Further, some species don’t even need standing water to reproduce! The Aedes species, responsible for transmitting Zika and dengue, lays eggs out of water. These eggs remain viable for months, ready to hatch when sufficient water becomes available.
- Biological Methods
A better solution is to introduce predators that eat immature or adult mosquitoes or infectious agents that harm mosquitoes without affecting other wildlife.
Most ornamental fish consume mosquito larvae, including koi and minnows. Lizards, geckos, dragonfly adults and naiads, frogs, bats, spiders, and crustaceans all eat mosquitoes.
Adult mosquitoes are susceptible to infection by the fungi Metarhizium anisoplilae and Beauveria bassiana. A more practical infectious agent is the spores of the soil bacterium Bacillus thurigiensis israelensis (BTI),. Infection with BTI makes the larvae unable to eat, causing them to die. BTI pellets are readily available at home and gardening stores, easy to use (simply add them to standing water), and only affect mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats. The treated water remains safe for pets and wild animals to drink. The disadvantages of BTI are that it requires reapplication every week or two and it doesn’t kill adult mosquitos.
- Physical Methods
One example of a physical method of killing mosquitoes is swatting them with your hand, a fly-swatter, or an electric swatter. Swatting works if you’ve only got a few mosquitoes, but it’s not particularly helpful if you’re being swarmed. While bug zappers aren’t ideal outdoors because they can unnecessarily kill beneficial insects, electrocuting indoor insects isn’t generally considered objectionable. Just remember, you need to bait a bug zapper to attract mosquitoes, because they don’t care about the pretty blue light.
Because mosquitoes are not strong fliers, it’s also easy to suck them onto a screen or into a separate trap using a fan. Mosquitoes caught using a fan die from dehydration. Screen-traps may be made at home by fastening window screening fabric over the back of a fan.
- Chemical Methods
Pestman mosquito repellent essential oil is the first plant essential oil mosquito repellent product that achieves mosquito repellent effect through natural volatilization in the world. It is made of a variety of plant essential oils evenly mixed in a specific proportion, mainly lemon essential oil, osmanthus essential oil, peppermint essential oil and so on.
It emits a pleasant and fragrant smell. This smell will interfere with the mosquito’s olfactory system, making it impossible for mosquitoes to find humans. Some mosquitoes will find an exit and fly out of the room. Mosquitoes that cannot find an exit and stay in the room will also be affected by it. Starved to death due to lack of food and water. In addition to the pleasant smell, the amount is small each time, the natural volatilization effect is good, and it is also very safe for people. It is suitable for repelling mosquitoes in various indoor environments.
The method of use is very simple. Leave the bottle open and place the bottle on the ground at the innermost corner of the room. Put a bottle in each room (10-30 square meters), so that the essential oil can diffuse throughout the room. If the room is large, you need to increase the number of bottles as appropriate. Do not open doors and windows frequently in rooms where essential oils are placed. Because 1-2 ml of essential oils are volatilized every day, if you open doors and windows frequently, the essential oils will drift to other rooms or outdoors. If the concentration of essential oils indoors does not reach a certain concentration, it will not have a good mosquito repellent effect. If you need to open the window for ventilation, it is recommended to open the window for no more than 2 hours a day.
Mosquito prevention and control are complex subjects. For more information, you can visit our website or contact us, we’ll give you the best possible protection.
