Health and safety forum

If you don't mind the chemicals, then use Deet - get the highest % content that you can find. It's horrible stuff though - thick and sticky. Otherwise, just cover up (socks, long trousers, long shirt).

I use citronella based products, but I'm not paranoid about getting bitten, it doesn't really bother me all that much. You can use coils in your room and a net.

yeah, but look where live - lol - hardly an issue in Issam I found

"Most of us anglos have hair on our arms which offers natural protection."


Well, that won't work for those of us who shave our legs!

Lemon eucalyptus extract is as effective and as long lasting as DEET according to this expert review of insect repellents.



The principal repellent component of lemon eucalyptus extract is PMD, which is the main by-product of lemon eucalyptus hydrodistillation.43 The active component is prepared through acid modified extraction of leaves or a synthetic version of PMD is used in the majority of commercially available preparations. Importantly, PMD has been proven to prevent malaria in a clinical trial in the Bolivian Amazon.44

Studies carried out both in the laboratory and the field using rigorous methodology have shown PMD to be a repellent of equal efficacy and longevity as deet.45 At 30% AI, PMD provided almost complete protection for 4 hours in South America46 and complete protection for 6 hours at 50% AI in Sub-Saharan Africa against malaria vectors.47 In both of these studies, the protection time was equivalent to the deet controls. A well-designed laboratory trial of PMD against a further African malaria vector showed complete protection for 4 to 5 hours using PMD impregnated towlettes,48 again comparable with deet. Laboratory trials using the main vectors of dengue fever have shown good protection, which is important for travelers as the vector bites in the day-time.45,49 Against the tick vectors of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, PMD reduces attachment and feeding success by around 77%, and PMD is highly effective against the Highland Midge.50 PMD has not been tested against the vectors of leishhmaniasis in vivo, although in vitro results suggest that it may be effective.51


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1708-8305.2010.00402.x/full

Jemal, just remmember, if the skin is covered up, the mosquito can't get to it. So if you wear shoes instead of sandals, and long pants intead of shorts, the mosquitos area of attack is much more limited, making for easier defense.

I don't do the beach, and I don't have skeeters in my room. So I'm good to go. My wife is always comlaining about getting bit - because she likes to wear dresses and shorts...

She's Thai. She has a really small amount of natural body hair. She's screwed.

I don't know SBE. My wife doesn't shave her legs and she doesn't have any hair on them - or almost none. Certainly not enough to help her with the mosquito problem! I personally can't speak for all adolescent Thai girls.

In different kind of place their is always a lotion for insect bite that 100 percent effective.