Well, okay, the mosquitoes never really went away. But they’ve been particularly awful recently, at least in my Road Town apartment.
So I’ve decided to fight back.
Freeman Rogers
Every morning I get out of bed and grab one of those electric tennis rackets. Then I sit in my living room and cackle with glee as I take revenge on the insects whose buzzing tormented me throughout night.
But that ritual is a little sick. And, anyway, I’ve swung my electric tennis racket so often I’ve developed tennis elbow.
So I thought very hard and developed an ingenious plan. Or so I thought.
During the days after I came to the Virgin Islands, I remembered, I seemed to lose several pints of blood to mosquitoes every night. Then, after a couple weeks, I noticed fewer and fewer bites.
When I explained this to other residents, they said, “Oh, yeah, the mosquitoes here like fresh meat. They like to bite new people.” I’ve heard this theory several times since.
If it were true, I realised, I could offer my living room couch to tourists for free. Then, all the mosquitoes would bite them and leave me alone.
Since this seemed like a pretty big commitment — you can’t always trust a freeloading tourist — I decided to be sure.
‘Fresh meat’ theory
So I called Dr. Dave Chadee, a senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies, who has been studying mosquitoes for more than 27 years.
When I asked him about the “fresh meat” theory, he laughed. The Trinidad-based scientist had another explanation.
“I think foreigners that arrive to the islands generally do not take much precaution,” he said.
After they’ve been here for a few days, though, they begin to exhibit “learnt behaviour,” such as wearing long pants, applying insect repellent and staying indoors, the scientist said.
Dr. Chadee also had another theory to explain the “fresh meat” phenomenon: Over time, people react less to the histamine that mosquitoes inject to keep human blood from clotting.
“As the tourists stay on longer and longer, they become less sensitive to the bites,” he said. “It’s not that you have immunity, it’s that you become less sensitive.”
Failed plan
In other words, mosquitoes don’t give a hoot about “fresh meat.”
My plan to use tourists as mosquito bait was starting to look like a waste of time.
But then Dr. Chadee briefly restored my hope. Some people, he said, seem to naturally attract mosquitoes. Even science doesn’t know why.
“Whether it is human odour, whether it is the type of clothing,…or that they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
This fact briefly made me reconsider my original plan.
But then I wondered how I would advertise my couch: “Free accommodation for someone who is particularly prone to mosquito bites”?
I didn’t think I would have many takers.
Other plans
With my tourist-bait plan out the window, I asked Dr. Chadee about some other wisdom I’d heard.
“It is true that eating bananas will keep mosquitoes away?” I said.
Again, Dr. Chadee laughed.
“I’ve heard people talking about garlic and other things,” he said. “I don’t know of any foods that can be eaten to really give off the odour that will deter mosquitoes from biting you. A lot of people have gone and taken Vitamin C, and some have taken garlic and stuff like that, but I don’t think there is much scientific evidence to support the use of that.”
Another plan ruined by science.
Then Dr. Chadee’s tone became very serious and he started explaining the real danger of mosquitoes: Namely, they can transmit nasty diseases.
Here, as most residents know, dengue is the most common threat from the insects. But Caribbean countries also have to be wary of other diseases they might have forgotten about, the lecturer said.
Malaria, for example, was eradicated from most of the region in the 1960s and 1970s, but, since then, many health officials have relaxed their vigilance.
As a result, the disease has returned to some countries, including Jamaica.
I hung up the phone feeling afraid, with the realisation that my mosquito problem was worse than I had feared.
VI fight
So I called Minchington Israel, the programme manager for the Virgin Islands’ Vector Control Programme.
To my relief, Mr. Israel assured me that his department’s 10 inspectors are on top of the situation. They spend their time collecting data on where the next mosquito outbreak might occur and trying to pre-empt it.
Now, for example, they’re anticipating a problem between Beef Island and Paraquita Bay, and they’re planning to fog the area soon.¹
Currently, most of the programme’s resources are put toward fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries dengue, Mr. Israel said. And, though the VI doesn’t have a history of malaria, officials could institute a similar programme to fight mosquitoes that carry that disease, too, if necessary, he added.
But the real soldiers in the mosquito war, according to the programme manager, are you and me.
Laying eggs
Because Aedes mosquitoes like to lay their eggs in clean water, most of them reproduce in or around homes — in cisterns or in pools that collect around buildings and yards.
This means that residents need to clean up any potential breeding areas around their homes. And, if their cisterns are infested, they can get free guppies from the programme: The tiny fish eat mosquito larvae without fouling drinking water, Mr. Israel said.
“There’s no question that only householders can win the battle against Aedes aegypti,” he added, making me feel truly noble in my own quest.
After listening carefully to Mr. Israel, I’ve patrolled my apartment for standing water, and I’m considering ordering some free guppies. I feel like a true soldier in the war against mosquitoes.
But I’m not sure if that’s enough.
So, if you have any friends who happen to be particularly attractive to mosquitoes, please give them my name: I think I know of a great place for them to vacation.
¹The Beef Island to Paraquita Bay areas were fogged ending Thursday, November 05, 2009 with more work still to be done.
According to the National Biological Information Infrastructure the West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in the Western Hemisphere in 1999 and has since rapidly spread across the North American continent into all 48 continental states, seven Canadian provinces, and throughout Mexico. In addition, WNV activity has been detected in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guadeloupe and El Salvador. (Source: http://www.mommypr.com/?p=8450)
