Mosquito Borne Illnesses to Avoid During Holiday Travel

With the holiday season fully arrived, millions of Americans will now be traveling far and wide to visit celebrate with friends, visit their family, and simply step away from their hectic everyday life.

During this time of year, many people choose to head south in order to escape the cooler winter temperatures. However, what tourists might not acknowledge, mosquitoes are still active and causing plenty of issues in some of the most popular U.S. travel destinations.  

As the Atlanta mosquito control experts, we want everyone to have a fun and safe holiday season, so we’ve compiled a few mosquito-borne illnesses (including the areas where they are active) and ways you can better protect yourself against them while traveling for the holidays.

Zika Virus

Zika virus has spread rather quickly in the past two years through parts of South America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands and now the U.S. (in major cities like Miami and Atlanta).

This mosquito-borne virus causes fever, joint/muscle pain, headaches, vomiting, conjunctivitis (AKA Pink Eye) and rash- and is especially dangerous for women that are pregnant or plan on becoming pregnant. Unfortunately, Zika has no cure as of now, which makes it highly dangerous.

People should take precautionary measures to avoid mosquito bites and the standing water that provides the ideal breeding grounds for these pests. There are several travel health notifications for a few popular holiday destinations from the CDC, so ensure to check these before you book your trip, especially if anyone in your family is pregnant.

Chikungunya

The mosquito-borne virus known as Chikungunya first appeared in 2013 and quickly began spreading to South America, Central America and parts of Florida.

The illness itself causes  joint pain, fever, severe headaches and rash.  The title of “Chikungunya” stems from the Makonde word that translates to: “it bends up,”. This refers to Chikungunya victims, as they’re often in bed for weeks and crippled with pain.

According to a report from the Pan American Health Organization, an estimated 120,000 cases have been reported in just 2016 alone, 135 of them have resulted in death.  

Unfortunately, there is no existing cure or vaccine for the illness, which is why many experts highly recommend people take precautions such as adding screens to windows, wearing long pants and sleeves and using insect repellent.

Dengue Fever

Many have probably never heard of Dengue Fever, which is (yet another) mosquito-borne illness that is the now leading cause of illness and death in the tropics.  Over (roughly) 400 million people are infected annually with Dengue Fever, a virus that causes headaches, severe body aches, nausea, and high fever

Once again there exists no vaccine for this illness, and people who have contracted the virus can expect to spend up to two weeks recuperating. Mr. Mister takes all mosquito-borne illnesses extremely serious, which is why educating our customers about these diseases and the importance of protection against mosquitoes is one of our main company values.

We hope you’re finding our Atlanta Mosquito Control blog helpful and informative! For more information on what makes Mr. Mister Atlanta’s premier provider of innovative mosquito control solutions and techniques click here. Or, visit our Testimonials page to see what some of our satisfied customers are saying.