At best, a mosquito bite is uncomfortable and unpleasant – at worst, it could transmit all sorts of undesired infections

You should be extremely precautious about mosquito bites

At best, a mosquito bite is uncomfortable and unpleasant – at worst, it could transmit all sorts of undesired infections, report from Dailymail. You should be extremely precautious about mosquito bites, especially if you are planning to go on a vacation in a different country. Even if you had taken malaria drugs, you should not have become smug about repellents. If you are going to visit a country that is very possible to have malaria infection, you should consider for a double insurance because malaria pills are only 90 per cent effective. Here are some of the recommendations given my Dr. James Logan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical

Cover up

The mosquitoes that can infect you with malaria are mainly biting at dusk and dawn so at these times you must be particularly careful and be sure that you have put mosquito repellent and wear appropriate clothes with long sleeves and trousers.

Use repellent

The most recommended repellent is the one containing DEET (a strong chemical proven to repel mosquitoes). For high-risk tropical areas the level of DEET should be above 30 per cent, says Dr. Logan. For low-risk tropical areas a DEET level under 30 per cent will be enough. If you are making your trip in Europe, you don’t need high level of DEET and you can use whatever safe alternative you wish.

Beat the itch

When bitten, many people turn to hydrocortisone creams but according to Dr. Logan and his collegues there is a more effective itch reliever like Piriton. This cream or pill has none of the side effects, associated with topical steroids, such as thinning of the skin.