Mosquitoes, worst ever

Published in Forum items

Despite the local authorities' attempts to control mosquitoes with pesticides, many have complained that the mosquitoes on the island are more virulent than ever.

 A few examples from communications with Eco Hvar:

"We have been visiting the island on a regular basis for the last ten years and have just returned to England after three weeks in Jelsa.
This has been by far the worst visit in terms of mosquito bites. The incidence seems to be rising year on year. I understand that before our visit the streets were sprayed twice with a strong mixture of poisons in the space of just over a month. Whatever is being done, clearly isn’t working and it is, in fact, having the opposite effect from what is needed." Lynne, UK, e-mail 20th August 2014.

"Some friends who visited Pitve have told me that the mosquitoes were a real problem. Their ten-year-old daughter was so badly bitten on her face that she wanted to go back to Vienna immediately." S., Vienna, e-mail August 2014.

"A young child in our family was so badly bitten by mopsquitoes that we called in the pest control firm to spray our house, but after the spraying the mosquito problem was just as bad!" Verbal communication, Hvar Town, August 2023.

Eco Hvar. There are other, more promising approaches to the mosquito problem:

Some countries are studying the problem with care and choosing ecologically sound solutions. Brazil, which was following on from experiments in Australia, released tens of thousands of mosquitoes infected with a bacterium (called Wolbachiapipientis) which acts as a vaccine against dengue fever in a preventive programme, which started in 2012. The aim was to reduce the number of mosquitoes carrying the dengue fever virus, which in Brazil affected some 3.2 million people, with 800 deaths between 2009 and 2014. The programme in Australia was proven to be effective in reducing the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Another approach, pioneered by British biotechnology firm Oxitec, has been to breed genetically modified mutant male mosquitoes whose offspring die before adulthood, therefore reducing the numbers of disease-carrying mosquitoes. Experimental release of millions of these insects was done in secrecy in various countries, starting on Grand Cayman Island,a nd later in India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Panama among others. In places where mosquito-borne diseases are not a particular threat, the policy of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes has come under question. In early 2015, plans were under discussion to release millions of genetically modified mosquitoes three times a week in Florida as a preventive measure. There was particular concern about the possible effects if a human should be bitten by one of these mosquitoes, although Oxitec claimed it would do its utmost to release only male mosquitoes, which do not bite humans.

An updated approach to controlling insects has been taken up in Croatia to use against mosquitoes in recent years.. In July 2022, the Croatian National Institute for Health announced a pilot project to introduce sterile male mosquitoes into the environment in the village of Premantura (Medulin Municipality), in association with the Teaching Institute for Public Health (Istria County) and the Biology Department of the J.J.Strossmayer University, Osijek. The concept is known as 'Sterile Insect Technique'. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which helped to finance the project, describes the technique as "an environmentally-friendly insect pest control method involving the mass-rearing and sterilization, using radiation, of a target pest, followed by the systematic area-wide release of the sterile males by air over defined areas, where they mate with wild females resulting in no offspring and a declining pest population." In June 2023, Zagreb announced it was releasing 100,000 sterile mosquitoes into the environment, with an accompanying video showing the release operation. The mosquitoes were released in the Cvjetno naselje, near the River Sava . In Pula, 1,200,000 sterile mosquitoes were to be released over a three-month period. The plan in June 2023 was for Pula to set up its own factory producing sterile mosquitoes, after two years of importing them from Bologna in Italy (report in Croatian).

Still experimental: Although the Sterile Insect Technique has been in use on different targets since the 1950s, the details for targeting each type of insect are not the same. Sterilization of mosquitoes is done by gamma-ray or X-ray irradiation. According to research being done in the United States, the sterilization techniques were still being improved in 2023 (Entomology Today, July 2023; article in the Journal of Medical Entomology, published 21 June 2023).

Personal preventive measures

A strong immune system is vital defence against mosquito-borne diseases as al other infecetions. So a healthy diet, combined with regular exercise and adequate rest are mandatory. One should avoid, or at least minimize debilitating factors such as processed foods and drinks, refined sugar and flour, caffeine and alcohol. Personal hygiene, especially frequent hand washing, is an essential part of infection prevention.

More articles about mosquitoes, how to deal with them - and how not to deal with them:

Mosquitoes: friends and foes?

Poisoning paradise, a wake-up call!

God save our bees!

About the insect suppression programme

You are here: Home poisons be aware Forum items Mosquitoes, worst ever

Eco Environment News feeds

  • The 1,274-hectare Bradford Pennine Gateway links eight nature sites and includes landscape that inspired sisters

    The sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Brontë sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England’s biggest nature reserves.

    A huge new national nature reserve, to be called the Bradford Pennine Gateway, is being announced by the government on Tuesday. It will give Bradford, one of Britain’s largest and most nature-deprived cities, easier and more protected access to green space

    Continue reading...

  • It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my life

    There was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.

    It broke my heart. From that moment on, I became obsessed with seals and protecting them from the dangers of plastic flying rings.

    Continue reading...

  • Bioplastics, heralded for supposedly breaking down more quickly, can cause similar health problems to other plastics

    Starch-based bioplastic that is said to be biodegradable and sustainable is potentially as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, and can cause similar health problems, new peer-reviewed research finds.

    Bioplastics have been heralded as the future of plastic because they break down quicker than petroleum-based plastic, and they are often made from plant-based material such as corn starch, rice starch or sugar.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Andrew Bowie says Kemi Badenoch could pull UK out of Paris climate agreement

    The Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.

    Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not based on science”.

    Continue reading...

  • Hitchin, Hertfordshire: We have a local speciality here, the rue-leaved saxifrage, poking up in street cracks and wall crannies. It’s worth lying on the pavement for

    I’m a proud member of Happy (the Hitchin association of pavement plant yokels), so-called by my friend Phil, a fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll find us roaming the town centre, scanning brick walls and peering into paving crevices on the hunt for the tenacious species that thrive in these oft-overlooked habitats. I had my pavement epiphany a couple of years ago outside the chemist on Hitchin high street when I saw a little lass bending down, scrutinising the paving stones. Her dad soon whisked her away and I went over to look. She’d noticed a community of self-seeded plants growing in a semicircular crack. The diversity of the miniature garden astonished me: mosses, meadow grass, goosegrass, common whitlowgrass, sow thistle, fleabane, and there, among the annual plants and perennial cigarette butts, a seedling with trilobed leaves – a Hitchin speciality – rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites).

    Now it’s early May and this three-fingered rock-breaker’s tiny white flowers have opened in the sun, the foliage blushing redder the drier and sunnier its location. Looking closely, you can see sticky hairs lining the fleshy leaves and stems – but be prepared for funny looks if you lie prostrate on the pavement to examine this low-growing annual.

    Continue reading...

  • Sustainable farming initiative is part of payment package that replaced EU’s common agricultural policy

    Ministers wrongly refused nature funding to 3,000 farmers in England when they shut the post-Brexit subsidy scheme, the government has admitted.

    There was anger earlier this year when the environment secretary, Steve Reed, suddenly paused a key post-Brexit farming payments scheme with little information about what would replace it and when.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Campaigners call for energy profits levy to be made permanent to enable ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels

    Making permanent the UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas producers would generate enough cash to enable North Sea workers to move to green jobs, research has found.

    Cutting current subsidies to fossil fuel producers would free up yet more funds to spend on the shift to a low-carbon economy, according to the report.

    Continue reading...

  • ABC’s The Kimberley showcases rare footage by a crew working alongside Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists

    The Kimberley’s winding ochre gorges, coral sunsets and celadon crocodile-filled rivers feature in a new ABC documentary series about one of Earth’s last great tropical wetlands.

    Filmed on cinema-grade cameras in the remote and vast north-west Australian region, The Kimberleycaptures an intimate portrait of its ancient landscape and offers ecological and cultural insight across three episodes.

    Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

    Continue reading...

  • Under pressure from Reform and from the former PM, Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policy

    Populist politicians are striking a chord with the public in their attack on “the green agenda” because they are right – climate policies are elitist. So says the man standing to be the next leader of the Green party in England and Wales.

    “We should all be angry about net zero,” argues Zack Polanski, currently the Greens’ deputy leader. “The poorest people in our society are being expected to step up to tackle the climate crisis. But it’s the government’s fault, not the people’s fault.”

    Continue reading...

  • On the remote Channel Islands, a draw for researchers and divers, preservation has transformed the ecosystem

    Just 14 miles (23km) off the southern California coast lies a vast underwater paradise.

    Giant sea bass the size of grizzly bears and schools of sardines glide together through swirling strands of golden kelp, whose long stalks preside over a world exploding with life and color. Playful harbor seals dance into the depths of undulating pink, green and orange plants, alongside spiny crustaceans and vibrant sea stars that embrace the volcanic rock that slopes to the sandy seafloor.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds