Director of Medical Entomology Nina Kurucz is encouraging Darwin residents to cover up and use insect repellant for the next few months with an increase in biting midges expected around the new and full moons

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are being told that a combination of high tides
in the full moon are expected to see biting midge
or Midge's on the rise around Darwin. Now, as I
understand that the increased numbers are expected to hit this week,
the director of medical Entomology at anti Health, Nina Kuritz,
joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Nina.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, lovely to speak to you. Nina. What is the
situation for this week?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, So this is the time again between pretty much
August and December, when around the full and new moons,
the biting midgies are coming out in high numbers because
around the neap tides they're breeding in the mangralves. They
emerged and they're first hang around there to lay their
first batch of eggs. But then they need a blood

(00:51):
meal to produce more eggs, and that coincides with the
full moon and the new moon. So therefore, because they're
no chemical to any that can be done to control
these biting midgies, so anywhere close to mangroves when people
are out and about in the late afternoon or early
in the morning, they need to cover up to not
get bitten, and midchies are that small. A they can't

(01:14):
bite food clothing, but b you might also not actually
feel them biting. And then all of a sudden you've
got all these red spots and the next day it
gets very itchy. It's very hard to resist scratching, and unfortunately,
when you open up the skin through scratching, that can
lead to secondary bacterial infection.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh, Nina, it sounds like it's not going to be
an ideal time and we're all going to be out
and about because there's so much on.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, this is why the department wants to get out
this warning and tell people just to cover up, or
if you've got any exposkin, use all the insect repellent,
like the morcito repellent.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeap, Like, how long are these numbers expected to stay high?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Usually it's about three days before before after the new
in the full moon, and that's the mangrove biting mitch.
But there are other species and they start a little earlier,
so just pretty much sort of five six days around
each moon face until December when we get them monsoonal

(02:18):
weather and then their breeding sites are actually flooded and
they die right down.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now I know you mentioned then what we can do
to protect ourselves, but just remind our listeners.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, so all the insect repellents that contain the deed
or the picaridin or the oil of lemon Eucalyptus PMD,
they can all be used and they work for michies.
But also if people have got backyards and they're close
to mangroves or know that the midgies are around, they
can use the mosquito coils and lanterns or get a

(02:51):
past controller in to do a barrier spray. So that's
a chemical treatment close to the house and that is
known to use. Biting midgie is up to ninety percent.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Well, Nina, it's going to be an interesting time. I
guess where we are out and about, and as you've
seen it, ante health making sure that we really are
aware of what's going on and making sure that we
cover up because we know that sometimes as well as
you sort of touched on there, you know, if you're
scratching those bites, it can cause some further issues too.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, it can. And if you do get bitten and
it gets really itchy, just please go to a pharmacy
because there are products around that sue those bites. Otherwise,
from personal experience, just gently use an ice cube, anything,
call some people use something warm and that also sues it.
And just for people to be aware, Anti health has

(03:46):
got a pet biting Midge calendar which is available on
the anti health website, and that actually shows when high
numbers of midges are expected. So at other times, especially
when you're right in the mangro else, you can also
experience them. But that's just the times and they're really high.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah. Well, Nina, I really appreciate your time this morning.
Thank you very much for joining us and making us
aware of the situation. Thank you, thank you, thanks so much,