The most serious risk of water is drowning or near drowning, with 3,300 deaths and another 5,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States.
Children are especially at risk of drowning. Teaching children to swim as early as practical and supervising them around pools and other bodies of water are critical to prevention.
Here are links to posts that can help you start enjoying the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.”
Don’t let water related illness spoil your summer fun.
photo from stock photo site- Lightstock.com- affiliate link
Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer – Nat King Cole (LIVE)
Nat “King” Cole
Dr Aletha
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For infections spread by insect bites and stings, avoiding exposure is the best way to prevent disease.
We have an influenza vaccine and scientists are hard at work developing one for coronavirus. For infections spread by insect bites and stings, avoiding exposure is the best way to prevent disease.
Insect bites and stings cause 3 types of problems-
local skin reaction
A local reaction at the site of the bite. This can range from mild redness, swelling and itching to a deep wound that may get infected.
The young girl depicted here, sustained a number of insect bites about her upper back. Note how these vesicular lesions resembled what was initially thought to be a case of chickenpox, caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV). credit CDC/ K.L. Herrmann,public domain
systemic reaction
A systemic reaction means symptoms in multiple organs of the body. This could include nausea, vomiting, trouble breathing, dizziness, muscle aches , headache and anaphylaxis (life-threatening allergic reaction). Bee and wasp stings can cause both local and systemic reactions.
An insect transmitted infection
We worry most about this one (other than an anaphylaxis.) World wide, this is the most serious result of insect bites, leading to millions of illnesses and deaths. Malaria alone infects 200 million people, causing almost 500,000 deaths yearly.
Mosquitoes– bites can transmit malaria; Zika , chikungunya, dengue, West Nile,and yellow fever viruses
This photograph depicted two, Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks, commonly known as the longhorned tick. The smaller of the two ticks on the left, was a nymph. The larger tick was an adult female. Males are rare. This tick can reproduce asexually. Note that the ticks had been placed atop a United States dime, in order to provide you with some sense of scale, as to the size of these small creatures. credit James Gathany/CDC This image is in the public domain and thus free of any copyright restrictions
Preventing insect bites
wear long sleeve shirts and jackets
sleep under nets
be cautious when eating out of doors
remove sources of standing water
keep doors and windows closed, or install screens
apply insect repellents to skin or clothing
Insect repellents shown effective in scientific studies.
(This section contains several affiliate links. They are here for your convenience and to support this blog. However, they do not indicate endorsement or advice to use.)
DEET- N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide
best documented effectiveness against mosquitoes and also repels ticks, chiggers, fleas, gnats ,and flies.
Only effective against mosquitoes, not against ticks
Less effective than DEET
Essential oils
Obtained from clove, geraniol, patchouli
Limited and variable protection against mosquitoes
How we’re fighting malaria around the world
You can help the victims of malaria by donating to the Malaria Medicine Fund. Blessings International gives malaria medicine to medical teams free of charge to use while treating malaria patients all over the world. 100% of donations go to this cause.
watercress words by Dr Aletha 
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