Best bug spray for west nile virus

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Aerial Spraying. Minus Related Pages. Is aerial spraying safe for people with asthma? When aerial spraying is done correctly, it does not cause asthma attacks. When applied according to label instructions, EPA-registered insecticides do not pose a risk to human health or the environment.

If people prefer to stay inside when spraying takes place they can, but it is not necessary. Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.

Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website. We like the clear bottle, but the spray can be a little spitty. But its wetter spray puddles on the skin, and its floral scent sticks around once it dries.

There were times when it just shot out a little stream of liquid with almost no spray cloud at all. Same picaridin, same protection.

It comes in an aerosol can that delivers a heavy load of repellent and is prone to overspraying. This picaridin spray also works. We find aerosol sprays generally harder to apply than pump sprays, but their tendency to overspray can work well for treating shoes. Also available in a pump spray. It has a light floral odor which dissipates over time and is available in a 5-oz aerosol or a 4-ounce pump spray.

This means it has the same repellency strength, but the effective duration is not as long—up to 10 hours instead of up to 12 hours. It works, but for less time. Its locking cap is a design improvement many aerosol sprays lack. Like the other permethrin sprays we looked at, each application of this one provides about six washings or six weeks, whichever comes first of protection.

A ounce size is also available. We have more tick advice including what to do if you find one on you here. While researching this guide, we spoke with Joe Conlon, then the technical adviser of the American Mosquito Control Association.

Prior to his retirement in , Conlon had been a medical entomologist since , and in that time he has published dozens of articles and presented more than invited papers to various universities, public health associations, and mosquito control groups.

He has conducted mosquito control operations or on-site consultations in 34 countries. We also spoke with the Environmental Protection Agency to learn more about its extensive approval process for repellent chemicals. This process is so thorough that nearly every word on a can or bottle of repellent is under the purview of the EPA.

We then develop a label that tracks with the data conclusions and the safety standards in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The NPIC is a treasure trove of fully referenced repellent information, with comprehensive directories for each chemical and extensive links out to relevant EPA documents and peer-reviewed studies. The Environmental Working Group , a non-profit research and advocacy organization focused on environmental and health issues, also offers detailed, well-supported research on repellent chemicals, which we reviewed.

We also talked to Travis Avery, sales and marketing director of Sawyer Products. Avery talked with us about DEET and plastic, in addition to answering some general questions about picaridin and the EPA approval process. Mosquitoes and ticks are not only annoying, but a single bite can cause some serious problems.

I live in New Hampshire, and in the past 15 years, I have been treated for Lyme five times. I was lucky to spot it by the telltale bullseye rash not everyone does. And on two of the occasions, I had to undertake the four-week course of the antibiotic treatment doxycycline, which is awful in its own right.

I also have family members who have been deeply affected by Lyme. This map of West Nile incidence in shows cases in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Because these findings rely on a person seeking care and the medical provider actually reporting the case, the prevalence of bug-borne disease is likely worse than even the CDC says. The fact that mosquitoes can, indeed, transmit a number of pathogens is extraordinary. Instead, Conlon told us, the coronavirus is actually digested by the mosquito.

This is in no way unique: Ebola, HIV, rabies, and other viruses are not transmitted by mosquitoes. But even though mosquitoes and ticks are not direct vectors of the coronavirus, they can play a role in its severity. The heart of any bottle of bug spray is the repellent chemical, so we started there before digging into specific products. To cut to the chase, our research led us to picaridin, a repellent chemical endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

But we began our search considering all options, using expert guidance to determine what mattered most when seeking a formula to recommend. To meet EPA approval, a chemical must undergo extensive testing and evaluation for efficacy, safety, and the potential for environmental hazards. Because these chemicals are classified as pesticides, the EPA not only approves each repellent chemical for use but also each specific product that includes that chemical.

This approval extends all the way to the specific labeling on the bottle, including efficacy times, application procedures, and storage and handling.

Store shelves are loaded with repellents that are not approved by the EPA. Most of these are based on essential oils, including cedar oil, lemongrass oil, peppermint oil, and citronella oil. The fact is, essential oils make terrible bug repellents. Conlon told us that many of these have some effectiveness, but that it lasts for a very limited time.

Yes, it is. Is it a good repellent? But like DEET, picaridin does have a proven track record of safety. It appears that after a certain concentration, a maximum effectiveness is reached and additional concentration only leads to a longer protection time.