Protecting yourself from insect and tick bites is essential—not just to avoid discomfort, but also to prevent potential health risks. Mosquito bites can transmit serious diseases such as malaria, chikungunya, Zika virus, dengue fever, and yellow fever, while tick bites can lead to Lyme disease or tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Fortunately, you can reduce the risk of these unpleasant and dangerous illnesses by taking the right precautions to keep yourself and your family safe from bites.
Disease and virus information
Malaria
Malaria is a parasitic disease, transmitted by a mosquito contaminated with malaria parasites. This mosquito is active between sunset and sunrise. Malaria causes fever, headache, chills, excessive sweating, and muscle ache. On average, the first symptons of malaria usually occur 10 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Most people contract the disease in (sub)tropics.
Dengue
Dengue is a viral infection, transmitted by contaminated mosquitoes, which are active during the daytime. The virus occurs in (sub) tropical regions. There are multiple types of the dengue virus.
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is a tropical disease. The virus is tramsitted through the bite of a contanimated yellow fever mosquito (aedes aegypti). Yellow fever only ocurs in tropiucal regions of Africa and South America.
Zika
Zika virus is spread by the yellow fever or dengue mosquito. Most people do not experience any symptons at all. It has been scientifically proven that infection during pregnancy can be harmful to the unborn child.
Chikungunya
Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes in (sub)tropical regions. Symptoms range from mild to sever, and it is usually spread by the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) or the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)
West Nile virus
West Nile virus can affect mammals and humans. The virus spread through infected mosquitoes like the West European house and tiger mosquitoes, but humans are a "dead-end" host, as their blood does not contain enough virus to infect uninfected mosquitoes.