Choosing your insect repellent key facts on DEET, picaridin, and natural choices A Petri dish containing several mosquito samples. Mosquitoes traps are stationed at several sites across Kalamazoo County for vector sampling throughout the summer months. (WWMT) With summer in full swing across West Michigan, odds are you've already battled what's sometimes called the state bird: mosquitoes. With Jamestown Canyon Virus detected in a mosquito earlier this month in Kalamazoo County, health officials encouraged residents to protect themselves against mosquito-borne illness. Wearing insect repellant usually tops the list of precautionary actions you can take for preventing mosquito bites. With many different products to choose from, it's important to know which key ingredients are considered safe and effective.

Vector-borne diseases are found at almost every travel destination. Because few vaccines are available to protect travelers, the best way to prevent vector-borne diseases is to avoid being bitten by ticks and insects, including mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers, and flies, that transmit pathogens that cause disease. Travel medicine specialists should advise travelers to use repellents and take other precautions to prevent bites.

EXPLAINER | How do mosquito repellants work? To ward off mosquitoes, there are a wide variety of repellants, with the most tried-and-true products based on a substance called DEET. DEET acts as a contact-based repellent and conveys a chemical message to mosquitoes to leave. Citronella products are also used to keep mosquitoes away, but testing shows these products are far less effective than DEET. It's summertime, and for many of us that means plenty of time outside - and, unfortunately, mosquitoes. The combination of the increase in temperature and plenty of water is ideal for these blood- sucking insects to make their presence felt.

Keep Mosquitoes Away with These Tried-and-True Repellents Mosquito experts break down how to choose and use the best mosquito repellents High angle closeup of Black woman spaying legs with bug repellent Only insect repellants with Environmental Protection Agency–registered active ingredients such as diethyl toluamide (DEET)[AS1] , p-Menthane-3,8-diol (PMD) or icaridin (also known as picaridin) have been scientifically proved to effectively keep mosquitoes away. Mosquitoes are masters of speed and subtlety. Rarely do we catch one on our skin mid-bite. And when we do, the damage is often already done: the blood has been sucked, the itch-inducing saliva has been secreted, and, in some cases, a disease has already been transmitted.