How to fight plagues
Mosquitoes:
Weather changes cause millions of mosquitoes to grow. They carry many diseases. Some of these diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are dengue, leishmaniasis, malaria, and yellow fever.
It is necessary to use the right insecticide for the activity you are going to perform. Therefore, we recommend using:
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For open spaces: mosquito killing coils
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For closed spaces with people inside: mosquito killing mats
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For specific use or fumigation: aerosol or liquid insecticide
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For activities that involve a lot of movement, such as camping, fishing, playing sports, child games, etc: mosquito repellent
Protect yourself against mosquitoes by using:
Flies:
Flies live in garbage and wherever they can find animal feces. Dead animals start to attract flies a few hours after dying. Most flies are diurnal. Fly larvae eat rotten meat and feces. Adult flies eat all kinds of food with sugar, even nectar and rotten fruit.
Since rotten meat and feces attract flies, these are involved in the transmission of diseases, such as dysentery, cholera, and typhoid fever.
Fight flies by using:
Flesh fly:
Their scientific name is Sarcophaga Carnaria, normally called "flesh flies". These flies can be found in any part of the world. The adult flies are bigger than house flies. Their thorax and abdomen are covered by bristles. They have big reddish eyes. The adults are light or dark grey and have a sucking-biting buccal organs.
Signs and Symptoms: The presence of larvae in the skin is the most typical sign of disease. There are also tunnels built by larvae as they move from place to place.
Get rid of flesh flies by using:
Wasps:
The best treatment is prevention, whenever possible. For people allergic to bee, wasp or yellow insect bites, it is important to carry an emergency kit and to be familiar with their use should they happen to need it.
The sting must be removed if it is still on the skin, by scrubbing it away with a blunt object. Do not use tweezers since they could squeeze the poison out of the sting and increase the amount of poison liberated. Use ice (wrapped in a cloth or a suitable wrapping) on the bite during 10 minutes. Then remove the ice for another 10 minutes, and then repeat this procedure.
Once bit, call a Poisoning Control Centre or a hospital emergency room in order to get help in case the patient has any allergic reactions.
Get rid of Wasps by using:
Moths:
Moths are like butterflies. Many species are very picky in terms of what they eat, and they may even eat a single kind of plant during their entire life. Adults generally suck flower nectar. Some larvae eat fabric or stored grains.
The so-called clothing moth is found all around the world. It eats animal sub products such as fur, woollen rugs, tapestries, and may be harmful for stored woollen clothes
A proper diagnosis of the plague is the first step to control it. Clothes damaged by clothing moths have ruts on the surface, formed by the pasturing habits of larvae.
Occasionally and during severe infections, there will be holes on the wool. When there is larvae on furs or hair brushes, they cut individual hairs near the surface.
Eliminate moths by using:
Horsefly:
: It is the usual name for any of over 2,000 species of short-antenna flies. They are pretty cosmopolitan.
To get away from horseflies while resting or camping, laying on the ground is enough. It is more difficult for these insects to identify and find their victim in such circumstances.
Also wearing clothes with light colours helps avoid this problem.
Eliminate horseflies by using:
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Crawling Insects
Ants:
One of the most outstanding characteristics of ants is their social behaviour. They live in colonies normally formed by a queen, male ants and workers. Ants communicate. They can communicate, among other things, directions (where food is) and danger awareness.
Most ants have no sting or it is not functional. Their most common defence is biting and throwing formic acid. Some people may be hypersensitive to ants' bites.
Ants are very diverse, hence it is difficult to make generalisations. Some species are considered plagues because they live in and protect a territory considered ours or because they want to eat products we need. Some species of opportunist ants may invade kitchens, provision supplies and areas with food for animals as they look for suitable food.
Get rid of ants by using:
Roaches:
Is your family upset by the presence of roaches in your house? Your house is not the only one. Even though roaches are thought to prefer dirty places, even the cleanest houses have roaches. Were hey able to talk, roaches could tell us most of the story of our planet as direct witnesses. The evolving persistence along some hundred million years of these insects is really amazing. While the planet was subject to several transformations, roaches did not need to change their aspect, which turned them into real living fossils.
Nonetheless, roach despite is almost universal. The fact that they carry in their body organisms that cause human affecting diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea, etc, has contributed to this feeling. Roaches are the most common house insects. Once they invade a house, they spread rapidly, which makes them more difficult to control.
DO NOT FEED THEM! For a roach, any piece of matter is food. They eat crumbs, pet food, dry leaves, and rubbish. If they are very hungry, they will even eat soap and glue!
DO NOT LET THEM IN! Roaches spend most of their time hiding. They like cracks and since they have very flat bodies, they can go through any small whole.
Get rid of roaches by using:
Spiders:
The spiders are very interesting insects. They produce silk which they use to knit their spider webs, capture their victims, float in the air, protect heir egg sack, and line their lairs.
They eat a lot of insects, which helps control the number of insects. Some medical investigations have produce several chemicals useful for controlling or treating diseases in humans by using spider poison. A spider sting may cause pain, but in most of the cases the poison is harmless, except in the species called black widow and brown spider, whose bite may cause harmful reactions in humans.
Get rid of spiders by using:
Garden Plagues:
Garden insects and diseases normally attack weak plants. We therefore suggest the following preventive steps in order to keep your plants strong and vigorous:
- Buy quality plants: well grown, with good roots, strong stems and good proportions. Check them for diseases, plagues, or wounds, and if you find any, reject them.
- Weather: Choose species that get along well with the weather. In case you want a species not adapted to your weather, the risk for parasite attack will increase, since the plant will be living in a place not suitable for it.
- Place the plant in a suitable spot: protected from strong wind, cold, excessive sun.
- Correct watering: Not too little nor too much. Excessive watering causes the roots to get rotten and excessively used to watering, so they suffer when they have no water for a while. Plants should not be thirsty either. Avoid wetting leaves and flowers when watering, since it may foster the development of diseases. Water the foot of the plant. Sensitive indoor plants must be "watered from below", by placing them on a container with water for a while so that they can absorb enough water. Then remove the container.
Should infection (either plague or disease) occur in spite of these pieces of advice, then you should take healing actions, by using chemical insecticides, ecological insecticides, traps, manual capturing, healing pruning, etc.
Get rid of garden plagues by using:
Termites:
These are ant-like insects. There are about 1,500 species. Their social organization is highly developed. They build colonies in big nests or termite lairs that can house up to a million individuals.
They eat the vegetal cellulose found in the wood they digest thanks to some protozoa that live in their bowels.
ALERT SIGNS:
- The most obvious sign is clouds of flying termites that may occur both inside and outside the house.
- You will find dead termites and lots of transparent, onion skin-like wings.
- Cracks or holes on wooden walls and floors.
- Piles of sawdust in corners.
- Air bubbles under the paint.
PREVENTION PROGRAM:
- As a minimum, a yearly professional inspection. The risk of damage is so big home solutions cannot be relied on.
- Use a protection insecticide by painting, spraying or spreading it on wood, or inject it inside walls through holes.
- Reduce humidity in the foundation of your house.
- Clean ventilation pipes and ducts frequently. Get rid of any leaves and residuals as soon as possible. Any wood by-product such as compost may become an invitation for termites to come and have a feast.
Get rid of termites by using:
Centipedes:
They live outdoors in humid places, as well as under rotting leaves and in fertilizer around outdoor plants. Centipedes are long oval brown animals, with two pairs of legs in almost every segment. They eat rotting humid plants, new roots and green leaves. They live in leaf piles and garbage. They usually roll up while resting. In dry weather conditions or during warm summers, they migrate from garbage piles as leaves get dry and may enter surrounding buildings.
It is important to spray on garbage in order to prevent insects from entering buildings. Also, remove remains and dead leaves around foundations in order to have complete control on insects.
Get rid of centipedes by using:
Crickets:
They are omnivorous and eat organic material from garbage, also from disintegrated plants, fungi and shoots. They live under stones and logs in prairies, meadows, and next to roads. They are mostly nightly insects. They show some interesting behavior patterns: in order to get the attention of a female cricket, the male cricket produces a sound by rubbing his front wings one against the other. This creaking can be heard by female crickets with the ears they have on their front legs. The singing of male crickets can be very loud.
Crickets disintegrate material from plants, and by doing so they help renew soil minerals. They are an important source of food for other animals. However, they can be harmful for shoots and in big groups they can even become destructive.
Get rid of crickets by using:
Vinchuca:
The vinchuca or gaucho bedbug (triatoma infestans) is one of the most health-wise important vector insects. This insect lives strictly in houses and their surroundings. When a vinchuca bites its victim, it leaves feces and urine contaminated with a parasite called trypanosoma cruzi, which transmits the Chagas disease. Once the parasite enters the bloodstream of the victim, it spreads all over the organisms and weakens the heart, the digestive system and the brain. Currently, the Chagas disease affects around 18 million Latin-Americans, especially in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil, and it causes around 20,000 deaths per year.
The Chagas disease is considered a disease of the poor, of the very poor, especially native people and farmers who usually sleep with their animals. The insect goes around biting both animals and people.
PREVENTION:
In order to prevent this disease, the first step is to avoid raising animals inside the house, then repair the roof of the house, and if the insect is still found inside the building, fumigate it.
Get rid of vinchucas by using:
Scorpions:
They are poisonous insects that inject their poison through a sting. All scorpions are poisonous, some more than others.
Their bite is very painful, and in most cases it requires the use of painkillers. It is not an aggressive species, and it attacks only when it is trampled or squashed with some part of the body of the victim.
They live in humid places and in all kinds of buildings and houses, both in cities and the countryside. They hide in sewers, drains, telephone wire pipes, etc.
They eat exclusively other insects such as crickets and roaches.
What to do if bitten by a scorpion: Sooth the patient and loose his clothes. Do not apply any product on the affected zone, do not apply alcohol or ice. Apply warm cloth. Give the patient plenty of water with sugar. Take the patient to the doctor as soon as possible.
Suggestions to avoid having scorpions at home:
- Do not keep wood, bricks or debris in the same place for long periods of time (change them to another place from time to time).
- While cleaning storehouses or doing yard work , wear leather or thick latex gloves and shoes.
- In case of finding a scorpion do not crush it with your feet or your hands, use a long-shaft device.
- Cover drains, gratings, sinks etc. with tops or a cloth, mainly at night and after finishing housework.
- Pour grease-cleaning liquid in drains after finishing housework.
- Remember their favorite food is roaches; therefore, by decreasing the number of roaches in your house, you will also affect the scorpion population.
Get rid of scorpions by using:
Fleas and pique:
The most common types of fleas are the ones that infect cats, dogs and human beings. Basically, they prefer biting cats and dogs, but in case they cannot find any and also in serious infections, they bite people, too. The best environmental conditions for their development are places that gather dust, sand, and organic residuals.
For every flea we see on the animal, there might be 10 in the environment, and those are the ones difficult to get rid of. By treating the animal as prevention, we can prevent fleas from infesting the house.
A large number of fleas on a puppy or a kitten may suck enough blood as to provoke anemia and weakness in the animal with the parasites, which makes it prone to getting any disease.
There is a small flea normally called pique (tunga penetrans) that constitutes a special case. An adult female, once fertilized, may get under the skin of its victim, leaving out only the back extremities or its abdomen in contact with the outer environment in order to lay its eggs.
Places where dogs or cats sleep must be carefully taken into account, as well as places of difficult treatment (under furniture and armchairs).
Get rid of fleas and piques by using:
Ticks and lice:
Another group of dangerous trespassers is formed by ticks and lice, which are parasites since they depend on the blood of dogs, cats, birds, rodents, or human beings, to survive.
They can be found in any part of the body, although their favorite areas are ears, parts of the head, and between fingers or toes. They may cause serious diseases, such as anaemia and bleeding if not timely treated.
PREVENTION:
- Check your pet's hair (especially if it is long) from head to tail, focusing on the areas of higher blood stream, such as ears. Check your dogs every time they come back from a walk.
- Use antiparasite products. If you have a cat, talk to your vet first, since cats are more sensitive to this kind of products.
Get rid of ticks and lice by using:
Acarus:
They are harmless insects for human beings, but their feces have high allergenic power. The main accumulation of allergic factors are found in mattresses, pillows, and rugs and other home textiles. Acarus can be found in almost any ecosystem, including deserts, tundras, mountains, deep soil strata, caves, hot water springs, oceanic soil. It is to say, acarus have colonized almost every habitat, and there is a wide variety of species:
Free-life (no parasite) acarus: they live on the ground, in the air part of plants, in stored products, in sea coasts. There are also parasite species, such as vertebrate ectoparasites that attack mainly bats, armadillos, birds, reptiles, and rodents.
Get rid of acarus by using:
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Rats, mice:
Rodents such as rats and mice stand out among the different species of vertebrates that have gotten used to a human environment by invading houses and facilities, contaminating or consuming food and becoming a risk for health and productive systems. These animals carry diseases and parasites. They also destroy and contaminate crops and food, storage and packaging facilities; and put food processes and products at risk.
Hanta virus is one of the specific risks spread by a wild rodent called "long-tailed mouse". Different kinds of rats and mice may get infected with hanta virus and transmit the infection through their feces, urine, or saliva to human beings. The biological waste of infected rats may get dry and become dust. Carried by the wind it becomes suspended contaminated material, which may be inhaled by people. The hanta virus lung syndrome is a very serious and sometimes fatal respiratory disease.
Domestic rodents do not carry hanta virus, only wild species living mainly in rural areas, even though these rodents may also get into populated places. Hanta virus does not affect other animals, such as dogs, cats, and farm animals.
PREVENTION:
Outside the carrier, the virus has a very short life, hence it cannot survive in open, ventilated or sunlit areas.
For campers and visitors in rural areas there are some suggestions:
- Before using a deserted hut or one that has not been used for several months, open it and air it for at least one hour.
- After that, check for rodents, and do not stay in any hut where you find signs of rodent invasion.
- If you sleep in the open, check the spot you are going to use and see if there are any rodent excrements or mouseholes.
- Do not bother rodents in their mouseholes or caves.
- Try to avoid sleeping near piles of wood or garbage areas that might be frequently visited by rodents.
- Avoid sleeping on the ground without protection; use an air-bed or a cot. If you are sleeping inside a tent, close it up.
- Store food in rodent-proof containers. Bury or burn garbage. Keep your camping place clean.
- If there is no running water, boil your drinking water, or purify it by using chlorine.
Get rid of rats and mice by suing:
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