Protect your family from Zika with RISE – Top tips for prevention

I was compensated for this article as part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network.

Summer is here and in South Texas, that means it’s mosquito season. Now, I’ve lived and traveled to many different regions of the U.S and never have I encountered mosquitoes in such quantities and size as I have in Texas. They can get so bad that you don’t even want to go outside because the entryway to your home will be swarming with them! With new diseases such as the Zika Virus becoming more of a threat, it’s more important than ever to make sure you and your family are protected and taking the right precautions to avoid being bitten.

Thankfully RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) offers amazing resources to educate people on the responsible use of pest control products as well as mosquito control. They’ve created the site, DebugTheMyths.com as a resource hub designed to answer common questions about repellents and pesticides, as well as to serve as a place to ask questions and learn more about controlling common pests in your yard and community. On their site, RISE recommends that families and communities work as a team to help prevent mosquito problems. RISE, along with the CDC also recommend that travelers, pregnant women, and residents living in areas where the risk for Zika virus is greatest should use EPA-approved insect repellents that are proven to work. Other measures you can take to prevent bites are :

1. Put up personal barriers
2. Reinforce your home
3. Apply mosquito-specific defenses
4. Eliminate standing water

Another way that RISE recommends to keep communities safe, is to make sure your neighborhood leaders have measures in place to help prevent mosquitoes. Ask your community if they currently have or plan to implement professional applicators or vector control officials who will create an integrated mosquito management plan to help decrease mosquitoes in your area. This can be done in two different ways:

1. Larvae mosquito treatments which are applied directly to water sources to stop larvae from becoming adult mosquitoes
2. Adult mosquito treatments which are localized treatments used by public health mosquito control programs to reduce the flying mosquito population.
   

With Summer in full swing, keeping your family safe is the number one priority. Work as a team with your community and with help from RISE to make sure your equipped with the knowledge and measures needed to prevent contracting Zika and keeping mosquitoes at bay.

Want to learn more? Join the #AtoZika Twitter party on June 28 at 9pm ET! Ask questions and gain more info on Zika and how to prevent it. PLUS enter to win a $50 Target gift card!

For more info on Zika and mosquito prevention, head to DebugTheMyths.com and join the conversation with #AtoZika.