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Beating the bug bites: chemicals or botanical oils or neither?


When mosquitoes buzz around your ear, is it better to apply repellent for prevention, or hope you don’t get bitten? Or is better to feel the bite and scratch it? Or is rubbing the itch better than scratching, so that the bites don’t become infected?  And do insects bite or sting?

A bite is from the insects’s mouth parts and stings are usually from a sharp protruding part of the insect or animal piercing a person’s skin, such as a barb. Mosquitoes, fleas, bed bugs and mites bite, but scorpions, bees, and wasps sting. A bite usually causes itching, but stings cause pain.

The saliva, excretions, secretions and venom from the mouth parts of insects can cause a range of symptoms and condtions. Apart from itchiness, insect bites can cause lumps, redness, hypersensitivity and allergies, diseases, shock, and even death. Some bites don’t produce symptoms until days later.

So it’s better not to get bitten in the first place, right? But insect repellents contain chemicals and these are harmful too. Bug zappers, candles, creams, lotions and aerosol sprays contain toxic ingredients and can trigger skin allergies or respiratory problems. There’s no completely safe repellent, says USA Today (August 20, 2013). But some repellents can be effective with less harmful chemicals and low toxicity, especially if instructions are heeded, says the American Environmental Working Group (EWG).

A World Health Organization (WHO) report by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in America identifies four active ingredients that can provide safe and effective protection from insect bites: Picaridin, DEET, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus.

Picaridin is not as smelly as other insect repellent chemicals and it provides all-day protection from mosquitoes, although it is not as effective as the most common repellent, DEET. Reports have said that DEET causes neurological damage, seizures and eye infections, but the EWG says that concentrations of 20%-30% DEET is just as effective as stronger doses. EWG says DEET is a “reasonable” choice for the prevention of more exotic insect-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus. IR3535 is also a chemical and can cause eye irritations, as well as damaging plastic and fabric, if concentrations are over 20%.

The most effective non-chemical botanical ingredient for addressing mosquito bites is lemon eucalyptus oil. It can provide up to 6 hours protection from insect bites at 30% concentration. But because it can irritate lungs, the EWG recommends not using it on chidren under 3 years of age. For most people, higher concentrations protect the person for longer, not better.

For those who don’t want to use chemicals or botanical oils, precautions are best. Cover exposed skin with trousers, long sleeves, socks, and shoes; use mosquito netting; and remove pools of stagnant and still water from inside and around the home (because that’s where mosquitoes breed).


http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/769067-overview

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