Hurricane Beryl Aftermath: Mosquito boom threatens Houston residents
HOUSTON - As if the hurricane didn't do enough damage, now we can also blame Beryl for the massive amount of mosquitoes swarming the area.
"We've just had the hurricane come through. It dumped a lot of water on us, which means we have a lot of standing water in puddles, in plant pots. When you have a lot of standing water, that means a lot of mosquitoes, especially with temperatures as warm as they are," explains Memorial Hermann Hospital Director of Infection Prevention, Dr. Linda Yancey.
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So what can we do to prevent the pests from paying us a visit?
"Just take a tour around your yard. Any place that has standing water, like kids' toys that may have water in them or empty plant pots, you want to dump those out. Mosquito larvae cannot develop in running water. So, fountains are fine. Streams are fine," said Yancey.
Anyone cleaning up all the downed trees and branches after Beryl was probably bitten a time or two.
In fact, in the last couple of weeks, a woman in Montgomery County was diagnosed with West Nile Virus.
"There are a couple of other mosquito-borne diseases that we're keeping an eye on. They're mostly in the Caribbean right now. Those are called Zika and Chikungunya. We haven't had any reported cases in Texas to my knowledge, but it's just a matter of time. (Why do you think it's just a matter of time?) As the climate warms, all of these diseases are creeping northward as the mosquitoes that cause them creep northward with the rising temperatures," said Yancey.
To protect yourself from these blood-sucking beasts while you're outside cleaning up after the hurricane, wear a hat, long sleeves, pants, and closed toe shoes.
"They are really bad. It's like Jurassic Park where you're stuck in the kitchen, and they're tapping on the glass. We countdown the kids before we run out of the house. After it rains really bad, it's just clouds of mosquitoes, especially back by the greenbelt where the water doesn't dry," says Houston resident Brent Richardson.
"The best way to prevent a mosquito-born illness is never to get bitten in the first place. There's three main types of mosquito repellent that you can use. Picaridin is a very good choice. Then you have Deet, which it smells like Deet. It is oily, but it gives really robust protection against both mosquitos and ticks. The third main kind is called Permethrin. This isn't something you apply to the skin. It's something you spray on your clothes. You spray it on clothing, let it dry overnight, and then when you wear the clothing, the clothing itself will repel the mosquitos. You can likely find it at hunting and fishing stores," Yancey said.
She added if you have more hurricane clean up to do outdoors, make sure you wear a wide-brimmed hat, long sleeves, pants, close-toed shoes, and gloves.