Protect Your Home from Mosquitoes: A Simple Checklist

Protect Your Home from Mosquitoes: A Simple Checklist

Warm and wet weather can lead to more mosquito activity, increasing the risk of diseases. The key is to avoid mosquito bites for your safety.

In Victoria, mosquitoes carry diseases like:

• Barmah Forest virus
• Ross River virus
• Japanese encephalitis
• Murray Valley encephalitis
• West Nile/Kunjin virus
• Dengue virus

Here’s a straightforward checklist to safeguard your home:

1. Maintain Fly Screens: Install and keep fly screens on windows, doors, vents, and chimneys. Ensure the mesh is no coarser than 12 x 12 meshes per 25mm to keep out smaller biting insects.
2. Use Insect Sprays and Repellents:
   • Apply insect surface sprays inside and outside your house to eliminate mosquitoes. Follow the product directions.
   • Use ‘knockdown’ fly spray for visible mosquitoes indoors.
   • Consider plug-in mosquito vaporisers or diffusers with repellent-treatment pads in enclosed external areas. Turn them off when not in use.
   • Apply effective mosquito repellent with picaridin or DEET on exposed skin.
3. Limit Breeding in Your Yard and Garden:
   • Remove stagnant water around your property to prevent mosquito breeding.
   • Clean up your yard, eliminating items that can hold water, like pots, containers, or tires.
   • Cover or overturn items like trailers, wheelbarrows, boats, and toys to prevent water pooling.
   • Regularly clean gutters, mend leaking taps and keep drains clear.
   • Change water in pet bowls, bird baths, and vases at least once a week.
   • Place sand around pot plants to absorb water.
   • Maintain swimming pools properly or cover them securely when not in use.
   • Keep fishponds tidy with minimal vegetation around the edges.
   • Trim lawns and gardens to reduce resting areas for mosquitoes.
4. Check and Maintain Rainwater Tanks:
   • Ensure water tanks are completely sealed. Check for gaps in lids, covers, and inlet pipes.
   • Fit removable screen mesh to overflow outlets and all inlet pipes.
   • Secure lids or screens on water-collecting containers. Remove unused containers.

Remember, preventing mosquitoes from entering your home is the best defence against diseases they may carry. Follow these steps for a mosquito-free environment.

You can also talk to your GP about vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) if you plan to travel.