Mozzie Nets & Protection

TimMakins · Feb 22nd, 2006, 23:55

I've always used a wedge shaped net, after a one-off encounter with a centrally hung dome-shape. I haven't found hanging it a problem, as long as you carry 2 x 5 metres lengths of thin string. Normally one is a washing line, and one for the net, but worst case senario needs both. It is very rare that there isn't a single place to hang it.

I have never understood why anyone would need an impregnated net. I hate to breathe in chemicals, so would avoid them. After all, if the net is doing its job, the mossies can't get at you anyway, so why the chemicals? They are outside, you are inside: if they perch on the net, it doesn't concern me, as long as they stay outside !

Tim in Ireland.

abracax · Feb 22nd, 2006, 23:57

If you are going to be using a net in a permanent setting in a high malaria risk area, then permethrin treatment is definitely the way to go. But for a travel net in low-risk areas, in my opinion the potential benefits are outweighed by the inconvenience (a net that is taken up and put down every day needs to be treated about every two weeks) and continual exposure of you and everything in your pack to insecticide and associated chemicals (e.g. stabilizers, synergists).

TimMakins · Feb 23rd, 2006, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by abracax

If you are going to be using a net in a permanent setting in a high malaria risk area, then permethrin treatment is definitely the way to go.

Why?? Please explain the logic behind your statement.

I repeat, if the net is good, I am inside, and the mossies are outside. Why should I wish to poison them, and me, as well?

Tim in Ireland.

emilii · Feb 23rd, 2006, 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyn

I've been told to try and get hold of a plug in called "All Out" once I arrive.

http://www.domain-b.com/companies/co...rbo_action.htm

We used Good Knight´s electric repellent during our stay. It worked out really well and we had no problems with mozzies. Only time I REALLY got bitten loads was on a bus trip from Salem to Bangalore. I had forgot to put Odomos on my feet and the nasty little suckers had a feast with my toes and ankles while I was asleep. I had ankles of an elephant the next day...

abracax · Feb 23rd, 2006, 01:51

If there are a lot of mosquitos and if they are highly likely to be carring malaria (e.g. in the Great Lakes district of Africa), then the surest way to ensure that the little buggers don't bite you through your net and/or find a way in through a hole is to use a mesh impregnated with a "high knockdown" insecticide like permethrin. Such nets serve as both protection and a mode of disease vector control - in many cases the only option for either. These considerations do not apply in most places tourists are likely to go in India. If you are spending a lot of time in impoverished rural areas where malaria is endemic, that is a different story.

Feb 22nd, 2006, 23:55	#16
TimMakins Surprised and Delighted by Life Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: On the road... Posts: 968	I've always used a wedge shaped net, after a one-off encounter with a centrally hung dome-shape. I haven't found hanging it a problem, as long as you carry 2 x 5 metres lengths of thin string. Normally one is a washing line, and one for the net, but worst case senario needs both. It is very rare that there isn't a single place to hang it. I have never understood why anyone would need an impregnated net. I hate to breathe in chemicals, so would avoid them. After all, if the net is doing its job, the mossies can't get at you anyway, so why the chemicals? They are outside, you are inside: if they perch on the net, it doesn't concern me, as long as they stay outside ! Tim in Ireland. __________________ Travelling Tim - http://www.mapability.com/blogs/ "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Feb 22nd, 2006, 23:57	#17
abracax Mahaguru Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Canada Posts: 435	If you are going to be using a net in a permanent setting in a high malaria risk area, then permethrin treatment is definitely the way to go. But for a travel net in low-risk areas, in my opinion the potential benefits are outweighed by the inconvenience (a net that is taken up and put down every day needs to be treated about every two weeks) and continual exposure of you and everything in your pack to insecticide and associated chemicals (e.g. stabilizers, synergists). __________________ He travels fastest who pays for a cab.

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Feb 23rd, 2006, 01:51	#20
abracax Mahaguru Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Canada Posts: 435	If there are a lot of mosquitos and if they are highly likely to be carring malaria (e.g. in the Great Lakes district of Africa), then the surest way to ensure that the little buggers don't bite you through your net and/or find a way in through a hole is to use a mesh impregnated with a "high knockdown" insecticide like permethrin. Such nets serve as both protection and a mode of disease vector control - in many cases the only option for either. These considerations do not apply in most places tourists are likely to go in India. If you are spending a lot of time in impoverished rural areas where malaria is endemic, that is a different story.

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