Written by Shannon Dueck on Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Don’t be afraid to lather up with a lot of mosquito spray if need be this summer. That’s the word from Steinbach Doctor Myron Thiessen who says when it comes to applying mosquito spray, there’s no such thing as too much for adults. “Generally speaking there isn’t much evidence that the DEET, which is the active ingredient in mosquito sprays is of any harm to adults especially,” he says. “Unless of course you get it in your eyes. At which point it would be irritating or it tastes awful I’ve noticed.”
The same can’t be said for children. “For children we suggest a lower dose exposure,” notes Dr. Thiessen. “And that’s why you can get the special formulations for kids.”
Dr. Thiessen says if mosquito populations are high this year, West Nile Virus will likely be a risk again. “There isn’t any foresight into the fact that we’re going to be rid of that problem any time soon.,” he says. That’s why he suggests taking necessary safeguards and applying mosquito spray. “I think it is important, especially in the event that we have a lot of mosquitoes at dawn and dusk. The risk is for carrying some viruses that can have some pretty serious effects and so you want to reduce your risk of exposure to mosquito bites.”
Dr. Thiessen says sprays with DEET is really your best option. “They do to some extent help to repel pretty much any kind of insect,” he notes. Furthermore, Dr. Thiessen says a lot of research has been done to test the effectiveness of citronella based repellents. “It’s being found that really for personal repellents that there really isn’t much out there that works as well as DEET does unfortunately.”