Mosquitoes, Malaria & Other Nasties
See also:
Species:Cimex lectularius (Europe)
Cimex hemipterus (Africa)
Order:Hemiptera
Family:Cimicidae
My wife lived all her life in Ghana until 30 years of age, not from a particularly rich family, and never saw a Bed Bug in her life, until I took her to France. There we stayed in a popular hotel with a 2-3 star rating used by business people for a few days ;we got bitten to death by Bed Bugs.
Adult Bed Bug
From my experience in traveling in Europe and Ghana i would say that as long as you stay in a reasonable hotel you have more chance of suffering a Bed Bug infestation in Europe, than Ghana. In fact we are approaching an epidemic of Bed Bugs in London. One of the reasons being pesticides that are effective against Bed Bugs are being withdrawn.
Ref -Andy Brookes BSc(Biol),FRES "Life after Chlorpyrifos", Pest Control News, October 2007
In Ghana there is more of a balance of nature, for instance you will see Geckos climbing about, there is much less multi dwelling properties, where Bugs travel along pipe routes from one dwelling into another
The Bed Bug is a relatively large insect for a parasite being up to around 6mm in length but flattened dorso-ventrally(or the same way as a flounder fish).
Evidence of infestation
Bites can occur anywhere on the body,since bugs stay hidden during the day,and
emerge at night from cracks crevices,small concealed spaces to feed,
when obviously their hosts are prone asleep in bed.
Common areas include exposed areas such as the face & arms,but also include pressure areas
such as the buttocks & thighs.
Bed Bugs also leave fecal marks near to their hiding places. If a little drop of water is applied to these marks they turn red distinguishing the fecal marks from wood stain or natural marks in the wood.
Bed Bugs infest the dwelling and don't travel on the host, so unless you stay in an infested dwelling for any time, when they can then lay eggs on your belongings, your are unlikely to take problems with you.
The short answer is if you discover an infestation leave the accommodation; dry cleaning or hot washing clothes and bedding will sort out eggs, insects. Checking out a hotel room for signs of infestation before you agree to take it and pay is the ideal situation, because adequate treatment of the dwelling is going to involve a professional. Squirting around with an aerosol isn't going to achieve much.
Sleeping under a mosquito net can help avoid bites. An old fashioned method of avoiding bugs was to immerse each leg of the bed in a tin of paraffin or insecticide. Of course if you do that after they have already infested the mattress its not going to do anything since the bugs just commute to you and back under the mattress!
Mosquito head, and mouthpart.
Mosquitoes are simply flies(belonging to the family Culicidae) which have mouthpart's designed like a hypodermic needle( in simple terms) and can pierce human skin to reach small blood vessels.
Mosquitoes are vectors of several diseases including Malaria, which is caused by a type of Protozoan called Plasmodium. The plasmodium organisms survive inside the mosquito, and when a mosquito ;"bites "these organisms travel into your body along with the small amount of saliva, and other liquids which exude from the end of the mouth parts embedded in your skin.
Human malaria is actually caused by infections from four species of Plasmodium - Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae, each responsible for a different form of the disease. Other Plasmodium species infect primates, rodents, birds, and lizards and several of these, particularly those infecting rodents, have been used in experimental studies and for the testing of drugs and vaccines.
The life cycle of Plasmodium, the organism which causes Malaria is quite complicated, but as mentioned above the Organism survives inside mosquitoes. Once it gets into a humans blood stream the organism invades red blood cells, and the organisms replicates itself many times, the result causing a fever which can be fatal
A Bed Bug or mosquito doesn't actually ;"bite;", they have piercing mouth parts(see mosquito photograph above ) ;they pump some anti-coagulant & saliva into the wound which is to stop the blood coagulating and blocking up the insects mouth parts. These insect liquids are recognized as foreign by the human body and as such represent "antigens". It is the human body's response to these antigens that shows itself as a red spot or swelling, commonly called a bite mark.
"Bite marks" which show rapidly are usually associated with the involvement of macrophages & the release of histamine.(Thus creams which can calm down these bites are anti-histamines).
The Anopheles mosquito usually feeds dusk to dawn so unless in an insect screen protected dwelling avoidance of being bitten is one of the options. Cover exposed skin particularly the ankles.
DEET repellent is very effective and has been used since the time of the Vietnam war. It has a wide range of effectiveness and works against fleas, other bitting insects, ticks and chiggers. It is resistant to rubbing and removal by perspiration.
The dwelling your staying in should have insect screen, the plug in "electronic buzzers" don't work. As an additional precaution the plug in devices that have an insecticidal coil containing something like Permethrin are effective. Other wise my regime of making sure all insect screens in the bedroom are closed and giving a blast of aerosol , closing the door and leaving to percolate for twenty minutes before retiring works and reduces the insecticide you breath in.
There is no vaccination against Malaria so prevention
involves taking pharmaceutical drugs the current available ones are:
| Drug | Dose | possible side effect | Not suitable for ,person with condition, conflicts with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chloroquine | Two tables once a week taken on the same day each week | Nausea, skin rashes,visual disturbances, headache | Epilepsy, Psoriasis, Kidney problems |
| Proguanil | Two tablets per day with food | Mild gastric upset, mouth ulcers, skin rash | Kidney problems |
| Doxycycline | One capsule per day | Heartburn nausea, increased sensitivity to sun, diarrhoea, headache, thrush in women, can conflict with women's pill. | Pregnant women, children under 12 |
| Malarone | One tablet per day | nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea,loss of appetite | pregnant women, kidney problems |
| Mefloquine | One tablet per week on same day of the week | Sleep disturbance, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, rashes, abdominal pain, panic attacks, psychotic reactions | pregnant women, epilepsy,depression, |
| pyrimethamine (trade name Daraprim) | One tablet per week on same day of the week | sore throat, rashes,tiredness,weakness,breathlessness,giddiness | pregnant women, epilepsy,children under 5 |
Pharmacists in Ghana rate Daraprim as one of the better preventative anti malarial tablets; also although the paperwork advises not for children under 5 , we were advised by a pharmacist that a quarter of a 25mg pyrimethamine was OK for our 4 year old daughter, and in fact my wife did this for two months before I came out to Ghana without any malaria or side effect problems.
If you think after arriving back in the U.k you have picked up an infection the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in London
can help, their telephone number is:
Hospital of tropical Diseases: 0207 387 4411