Protecting school children all day from dengue mosquitoes

MANILA, Philippines – Parents can set up all the possible dengue protection measures at home but their kids could still be vulnerable to dengue-carrying mosquitoes once they leave the home.

One place where kids face the threat of dengue is at school, where they spend almost half of their day or sometimes even more.

Is there a way to protect them effectively? School administrators, of course, have not been remiss. They implement cleanup drives that remove mosquito-breeding places.

Some schools, those that have the budget, would put screens on all windows and doors of their buildings. Unfortunately, not all schools can afford that and it does not completely protect a child from dengue.

There is a way, however, for parents to empower their children so that they are protected from dengue even at school.

This dengue-protection measure is the use of an insect-repellent lotion which is not only effective and safe but also convenient to use as well. It is easily applied to all exposed areas of the skin (avoiding the eyes and mouth) so that mosquitoes will not bite.

Parents may apply the insect repellent before their kids go to school and be given assurance that they are protected during school hours.

There are certain cases, however, when the insect repellent must be reapplied. For example, water can wash away an insect repellent, so during the rainy season, if a child gets wet, the insect repellent must be reapplied.

Insect repellent lotions must also be reapplied after a certain number of hours, by which time the effects of the lotion has passed. This is why, when buying an insect repellent lotion, parents must check the label to find out how many hours its effectiveness lasts — the more long-lasting its effects, the more peace of mind parents can enjoy.

When school children are mature enough, they could also be taught to reapply insect-repellent lotion on their own — in the proper manner and at the proper time. Again, this is only advisable for older children. Less mature kids would need an adult to re-apply the lotion for them.

New threat

For many years, Filipinos believed that dengue-carrying mosquitoes only posed a threat during the day. This is because they are most familiar with the species Aedes aegypti, which attacks most aggressively during daytime. This gave parents the assurance that their children were safe from dengue at night.

New research by a group of Filipino entomologists, however, disputes this popular belief. It has been discovered that another species of mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus, bites most aggressively from late afternoon till the evening hours.

This means that children who happen to be in school or some other place outdoors during the late afternoon and evening hours, are still in danger from dengue-lamok. Parents are now well advised to make sure that they have dengue protection measures in place at night, as well.

When it comes to insect repellent lotions, there is now one available in the Philippine market that is clinically proven to protect children from both day-biting and night-biting mosquitoes. This is the new Green Cross Insect Repellent Lotion with leveled up protection from day and night dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Compared to other brands, the Green Cross Insect Repellent Lotion provides longer-lasting effectiveness from eight to 10 hours per application. In addition, it gives a high-level of anti-bacterial protection that the Green Cross brand is known for.