In Reply to: mosquitoes- How bad? posted by blisscat on Thursday, 20. October 2005 at 20:48 Bali Time:
... hey there, just checked BTF for first time in weeks and your message was at the top of the list, and as I'm sitting in Ubud this very moment slapping the mosquitoes off of my feet, thought maybe I should answer your questino!
Rainy season seems to have begun, and the mosquitoes are definitely more apparent, especially in daytime but also at night. My daughter went to a dance lesson today at someone's 'compound', and after an hour her arms were covered in nasty bites. Cockroaches have suddenly appeared everywhere too, have been in Bali about 6 weeks now but this is really the first we've noticed the bigger ones about (the rains have been especially heavy over the past week). I'm more worried about dengue fever than malaria here, although I'm sure it is possible to contract malaria. Dengue fever is apparently transmitted through 'daytime mosquitoes'.
If you want to avoid mosquitoes, stay in more open areas where there's more likely to be a good breeze, and on the second floor or higher if possible. Good strong ceiling fan at night right over the bed is probably more effective even than an A/C, mosquitoes don't like breezes/wind. Dense plantings, even in pots in a compound, seem to attract them - I know when I lived in the south of USA we were told not only not to leave any water around for them to breed in, but also to keep the grass cut and the weeds down to help control them in the summer.
We didn't expect the mosquitoes to be as bad as they've been - my kids, especially the 4 yr old, have suffered a LOT from bites (the 4 yr old is somewhat allergic to insect bites, they become infected easily) since arriving here, to the extent we had to call in a doctor as the little one's lymph nodes were alarmingly enlarged from all the infection. I gather that for most people the first week or two are the worst in terms of any type of reaction to bites.
Don't know if any of this is of any use to you,don't have time to think about what I'm saying here sorry, the internet cafe is already closed! Cheers...