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You are here: Backpacker Resources > Healthy Living > Part 52 - Avoiding Insect Bites

Part 52 - Avoiding Insect Bites

The inspiration for this month’s column came from a small adventure of mine in the south of France. During a training course for fitness instructors in a small Provencal village where the local gym looks out over the Mediterranean (sounds awful I know) I was met by an impressive number of devilish mosquitoes. I’m sorry to tell you this my friends ‐ but insect bite season is once again upon us. In the heat, we sweat and when we sweat, they swarm.

Deterrents

For those of you who have travelled in groups, you may have noticed the curious insect bite phenomenon whereby there’s always at least one person who escapes untouched and at least one other who is awake and scratching until sunrise. For those of you in the latter category, let’s take a look at what the causes are and what you can do to keep the little beggars away. The modern response is simply to apply insect repellent and then plod on as usual. However the main active ingredient in many deterrents is DEET (N,N‐Diethyl‐meta‐toluamide) which can be a potential skin irritant ‐ especially when you apply it to damaged or sun burnt skin. You might therefore want to use a more natural solution such as whick ‐ which can be just as effective.

What Attracts Mosquitoes to Humans?

Well you may be surprised to hear that it’s only the females that target us. The males are in fact happy to draw their nutrients from plant sources but the females require extra nutrients in order to produce their eggs and what better way to get them, than from blood. Yes these tiny beasts are equipped to pierce animal skin and for certain species of mosquito, human blood is seen as haute cuisine. Human skin secretions, namely sweat, are therefore a sign that food is nearby. Depending upon the chemical composition of your sweat, you may be a more or less preferred target. This is the main reason why some of us are bigger targets than others. Other signals that alert mosquitoes a human is nearby include the carbon dioxide in our breath ‐ which Little Miss Mosquito can actually smell. Our body heat, bright colours and movements that are otherwise unnatural to mosquitoes are also revealing. So what can we do blend in?

Avoiding Detection

We can’t avoid moving but we can be more discrete bout it. Slower, smoother movements will certainly make you less of a target and the less you move, the lower your carbon dioxide output will be. Also try to keep towards the outside of a large group or towards the front of a line, which will move you away from the centre of body heat. Also wear longer, looser fitting clothes in more neutral, natural colours ‐ providing camouflage as well as restricting access to the skin itself. Sprinting through the jungle in bright red hot pants should be left to the less mozzie conscious.

As for your sweat ‐ the composition comes down to a mix of genetics and lifestyle. But one of my favourite natural remedies (favourite in the amusing sense, given the Dracula connotations) is raw garlic. Even though it may also keep other humans away ‐ if you eat one clove of raw garlic and just let it flow from your pores, it will put them off. Local foods, spices and teas also act as a sweat camouflage. Furthermore avoid a high sugar intake as this will most certainly attract.

Mosquitoes Hate Oil

Finally remember that mosquitoes hate oily surfaces and they are not strong flyers. Rubbing natural aromas and oils onto the skin is therefore a deterrent. Garlic, citrus peel and local herbs are all great for this, and their aromas carry when we sweat ‐ so if you know you’re going to be active then get rubbing! Sweet perfumes and toiletries have the opposite effect so if you’re trekking, go dirty and trust me ‐ after a few minutes of jungle hiking you’ll learn to live with it! If you stop moving and they start flying, find a windy spot or create some air movement. Combine this with some sun to dry out and they’ll most likely go and find someone else. So there you go ‐ vampires do exist. Well sort of. They suck your blood and are repulsed by garlic, but I doubt you’ll find a wooden stake small enough to deal with this variety.

‐ David Haw