Then and Now: Mosquitos & Repellents
In their journals, the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition reveal that they felt that the mosquitos were
- bad
- very bad
- troublesome
- extremely troublesome
- uncommonly troublesome
- excessively troublesome
- immensely numerous and troublesome
Lewis wrote on July 15, 1806: “(Mosquitoes) continue to infest us in such a manner that we can scarecely exist ... my dog even howls with the torture he experiences from them, they are almost insupportable, they are so numerous that we frequently get them in our throats as we breath.”
Some things haven’t changed. Today, most would agree with Lewis’ assessment. While our feelings haven’t changed, our methods of dealing with mosquitoes have.
Mosquito Repellents Then
According to Ken Rogers in his 2001 Bismarck Tribune article, “The members of the expedition smeared themselves with tallow and bear grease, known as voyager grease, a crude mosquito repellent. They started the journey with mosquito netting that eventually disintegrated, leaving them vulnerable. And often, they stood in the smoke of the fire for relief from the biting insects.”
Mosquito Repellents Now
Today we have a choice of chemical mosquito repellents, ultrasonic devices, and bug zappers. Science has demonstrated that ultrasonic devices have no repellency and that in studies, less than one percent of the insects killed by bug zappers were mosquitoes. That leaves chemicals.
Chemical mosquito repellents s interfere with the mosquito's ability to find, land on and begin feeding on a host. Today’s insect repellents are derived from synthetic chemicals and plant-derived essential oils. The best known and most widely used synthetic chemical is DEET (listed on the label as N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, previously called N,N-dimethyl-m-toluamide). DEET can be found in lotions, creams, gels, pump sprays, and impregnated towelettes with concentrations ranging from 5 to 100 percent. Generally, products with 10 to 35 percent DEET provide adequate protection. Products with greater than 50 percent DEET are needed only if you are in an area where there is high biting activity, high temperature and humidity, where you expect a high loss of repellent from your skin.
To learn more than you ever knew (or thought you wanted to know about DEET and other mosquito repellents, visit this Montana State University site http://www.richland.org/extension/Horticulture/
Insects/insects.html