There are two reasons I am taking on mosquitoes in Haiti - malaria and dengue fever. Fortunately, the only thing preventing this list from being a terrible triad is that mosquitoes don't carry yellow fever in Haiti like they do elsewhere. At least that bullet will be dodged.
Today's Haiti readiness chore was to soak my clothes in a solution containing permethrin. This is a treatment for clothing to help add extra protection against mosquitoes. Essentially, I had to pour the concentration and some water into an XL Ziploc-style bag and then immersed the rolled-up clothing. The clothes soaked for two hours and are currently outside air-drying.
The chemical smell is really horrible. I have a headache and I think it is from that. I know the solution is potent because the instructions said to wear rubber gloves when removing the clothing from the solution. I thought I'd be bringing the clothes into the house tonight and hanging them in the basement. Now I know I'll have to rig something up in the garage and let them hang out there.
Find out what's happening in Springfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
You're probably thinking what I thought: "It's OK to have this stuff on your clothes but you're not allowed to get the solution on your bare skin?!" Believe me, I know. I'm not happy about the chemicals in the clothing contacting my body. I'm also not thrilled with wearing insect repellent with DEET on my skin. Both Habitat and my travel medicine doctor, however, have recommended this clothing treatment and the DEET so I'm going to follow their instructions. I suppose the chemicals are better than dengue fever and malaria. I'm certainly hoping to dodge those diseases, too.
