Eco Hvar

Mosquitoes, holiday planning

Published in Forum items

A worried parent asks Eco Hvar about mosquitoes on Hvar. Is there cause for concern?

Potential visitor: email 25th August 2017: Hi, I am planning to visit Hvar Island in early September. I have a one year old baby girl and I am concerned regarding mosquitoes. How bad is the infestation this year?

Thank you. 

Eco Hvar: 25th August 2017: Many thanks for your inquiry.

Are you concerned about the possibility of mosquito-borne illnesses? If so, be reassured: I have never known of any in all my years on Hvar. And in Croatia overall there have been extremely few cases, very few in humans, and no fatalities.

You can check all this out on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, eg for Dengue Fever; and West Nile Fever. (Zika has not happened at all in Croatia.)

There is more reason to be concerned about the insecticides used to 'kill off' mosquitoes than the mosquitoes themselves. Permethrin, for instance, is used in many over-the-counter sprays against flying insects, including mosquitoes. Permethrin is even used as to impregnate materials for clothing to prevent mosquito bites. Yet Permethrin has many ill-effects, from being toxic to cats, to possibly affecting the nervous system adversely during development (ie in babies and small children: eg Shafer, T.J., et al. 2005. "Developmental neurotoxicity of pyrethroid insecticides: critical review and future research needs." Environ Health Perspect. 113(2):123-136.)

Mosquitoes are certainly a nuisance, and their bites can cause irritation. However, in my experience, an adequate Vitamin B intake reduces the effects of their bites dramatically. Citronella candles can help repel mosquitoes in the environment. These measures can certainly work for adults. For a small baby, obviously you should seek advice from a paediatric specialist, preferably one with an interest in holistic medicine.

How bad is the infestation? The answer may sound odd. Friends who live away from the main roads report that there are very few this year. Those of us who live close to the roads which were sprayed with insecticides in the routine 'fogging' are experiencing an influx of mosquitoes, as indeed happens each time.

The truth is that mosquitoes in this area of Dalmatia have not caused any epidemic of dangerous diseases. Mosquitoes are endemic in the Mediterranean, and attempts to eradicate them through poisons only make the situation worse. Mosquitoes are arguably much less dangerous than the poisons used to suppress them.

I hope all this information lessens your concern. September is usually the perfect month for visiting Dalmatia!

Potential visitor, 26th August 2017: 

Thank you for your reply. This was very helpful. We are planning to go ahead with the visit.
xeenaa13(a)gmail.com

Izvor: http://www.biovrt.com/kontakt

More in this category: « Mosquitoes and more
back to top
You are here: Home forum items Mosquitoes, holiday planning

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Blair’s fossil fuel ideas ‘bizarre’ in face of energy and climate crises, experts say

    Energy specialists say abandoning net zero and increasing oil and gas drilling would cause more instability for Britons

    Abandoning net zero and drilling for more oil and gas in the North Sea would be a massive setback for the UK and would not help the economy, leading experts have said in response to claims by the former prime minister Tony Blair.

    “This is a bizarre intervention to make during the worst May heatwave on record and when the Iran crisis is providing yet more evidence of the enormous costs of oil and gas,” said Ed Matthew, the UK programme director at the E3G thinktank. “Clean energy is cheaper energy – it protects our bills from prices skyrocketing, its running costs are virtually zero, and it doesn’t cause climate change which threatens economic collapse... The government should ignore Blair’s ideological nonsense and focus on what works.”

    Continue reading...

  • Should I get air conditioning in the UK – and can it be green?

    As summers get hotter, air conditioner sales are booming. If you’re looking to invest, here’s what to consider

    When a heatwave struck the UK this week, Jon Connorton, a software developer, began monitoring temperatures inside his east Hampshire terrace house. With some rooms reaching close to 40C, it was time to deploy the air conditioner. “We just wheel it out in emergencies,” he said. “We were having trouble sleeping.”

    Connorton and his wife have a portable air conditioner. These plug-in devices cool interior air by removing heat from it and blowing that heat outside, typically via a large hose slung from a window or door.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says

    Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests

    Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report.

    Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined, according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6%.

    Continue reading...

  • Britain ‘sleepwalking into a food crisis’ without urgent action, experts say

    Industry figures warn of national security risk and call for ministers to address impact of extreme weather, inflation and Iran war

    Britain is “sleepwalking into a food crisis” caused by extreme weather, inflation and the impacts of the Iran war – and the government is failing to take the threat seriously, food experts have said.

    Farmers are facing severe strain from the current heatwave following a dry spring, with many crops likely to yield less as temperatures rise beyond their tolerance. Livestock are also suffering heat stress and there is a rising risk of wildfires. Economic losses are likely to be measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

    Continue reading...

  • World almost certain to endure record hot year by 2030, UN warns

    Global temperature record could be broken as soon as 2027, with El Niño expected later this year

    A record-breaking hot year is almost certain by 2030 as the climate crisis intensifies, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has warned.

    With an El Niño event expected later this year, the global temperature record could fall as soon as 2027.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Saaz is our gold’: the Czech scientists breeding hops that can survive a hotter Europe

    Researchers are working to create new drought-resistant varieties of the ingredient that gives Czech pilsner its character

    It is the country that drinks more beer per capita than any other but in the last few years Czechia has been hit by droughts and heatwaves, which make it harder to grow the Saaz hops, one of the key ingredients that goes into the country’s world famous beer.

    At the Hop Research Institute, however, scientists are working to create new, climate-resilient hop varieties that have shown promise in overcoming Czechia’s heat and its strict traditionalism.

    Continue reading...

  • Cigarette butts for free food? How one group is asking people to rethink litter

    The WasteBar food truck hopes the eye-catching deal will change people’s attitude to waste in the Netherlands

    Using cigarette butts to buy buttery Dutch pancakes? That is the deal one food truck is offering at festivals in the Netherlands as a way to get people thinking about litter.

    Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic waste in the world, with more than 4.5tn butts produced every year. In the Netherlands the estimated figure is in the hundreds of millions.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Flavour is under siege in this country’: how food in America lost its taste

    In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food – but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it back

    Bill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can’t help himself. “I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually,” he says softly. “Really quite amazing.”

    Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US’s leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country.

    Continue reading...

  • The race for oil: will Jamaica be the next country to drill and what does that mean for its green pledges?

    With early tests suggesting the presence of crude oil, the Caribbean island has begun to debate whether it could justify becoming a producer

    Jamaica is closer than ever to drilling for oil. Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island’s south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons, which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground.

    Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (£1.1bn-1.5bn) annually, depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘It’s like Dunkirk for the construction industry!’ The small team rescuing London’s precious building materials

    Joel de Mowbray’s salvage scheme began as a small milk float converted into a logging vehicle – now he’s part of Tipping Point East, a massive site designed to divert valuable waste materials to builders that need it

    Joel de Mowbray reached breaking point with UK construction in south London in 2020. He was working on a lovely building project, part of Lambeth council’s scheme to make streets more pedestrian-friendly. De Mowbray was installing a public wooden seating area in an underused stretch of street.

    “The council were doing treeworks the entire time we were building, felling trees right next to us,” he says. “But we had to go to Ashdown Forest for our supplies. That felt bonkers to me: they were creating the exact material we needed next to our site.”

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.