3Y11M 2Y1M 蚊対策 How to fight against mosquitoes

他の住人に聞いてみると、このフラット、どうやらどの家も設計上かなり室内が暗くできていて、昼間でも電気をつける必要があるらしい。ただ、上部の階だと蚊はそんなに多くない。やっぱり高い階に住みたい。できれば海の見えるフラットに引っ越したいわ。

さて、その蚊対策。コンセントに差込で使う液体の蚊取り線香が全然効かない。各部屋にあるのに、朝起きるとアラタカラが蚊に刺されまくっていたり、夜中、蚊に気がついて寝られなかったりする。いろいろな人からの助言をまとめると、

１．夕方5時半から8時過ぎは蚊が多いので窓をしめる

２．昼間から各寝室のドアを閉めて、万が一蚊が潜入してきても寝室には行かないようにする

３．モスキートラケットを常備する　－　バトミントンのラケット状のネットの部分が針金で出来ていて、ここに電流が走る。これで蚊を叩く（すくう？）。蚊をみつけた時に手元にあればなかなかいけるのだが、やっぱり手でパチッと殺す方が早いかな。

４．モスキートーファンを常備する　－　暗い部屋で使うと青い電球が蚊をおびき寄せ、その下で回っているファンの下部に蚊をトラップする。これが優れもので、結構捕まっている。薬を使わないし、しばらくは子供部屋の必需品。

まあ、マレーシア人が（新参者、知らなかったのかと言わんばかりに）口を揃えて「一階だから蚊がいるのはしょうがないよ」と言うのだけれども、子供はちょっとかわいそう。マラリア蚊はペナンには生息していないので心配ないが、デング熱の媒体の蚊はいるし、日本脳炎の予防接種をうけろって言われるわけだから、たかが蚊とはいえ侮れない。

Having asked other residents in our block of flats, I've learnt all the rooms are more or less the same. They are all dark due to the design of the flats and we all have to turn on the light during day. But if you live in upper floor, there are not many mosquitoes. When I was in Singapore I learnt mosquitoes can not fly so high. Well, I want to live on higher floor and preferably in a flat with sea view!

On the day I arrived in Penang, I dashed to the nearby supermarket to buy mosquito repellent which is designed to plug in to an electricity socket as it evaporate the chemical from the small bottle attached below. They usually work very well in summer in Japan. But for some reason, they don't work here. We have it in each bedroom but I often wake up in the middle of night because I have been bitten and can not go back to sleep unless I kill it, or in the morning, I find Aratakara's legs covered with several mosquito bites.

The below are the tips from those I've talked about this problem.

1. Close windows from 5.30 PM till after8 PM as mosquitoes are active around this time

2. Close bedroom doors at any time to prevent any mosquitoes happen to be in the flat to sneak into bedrooms

3. Buy a mosquito racket - Badminton racket shaped equipment with wire net, this net runs electricity and we can hit mosquitoes with it to kill them. If it's at hand when we see a mosquito, it's useful. Otherwise I still find using my own hands more effective.

4. Equip with mosquito fan - It's a device with blue light and small fan running underneath. In a dark room, the blue light attracts mosquitoes, and then trap them underneath the fan or hit them with the fan to kill. We don't use any chemical but still this seems to be quite useful. We've seen a couple of unfortunate mosquitoes in it. We will keep putting this on in our kids' bedroom.

Malaysian people usually say, "Oh you are on the ground floor, no wonder you have lots of mosquitoes" in the manner that they think we are too innocent. Never mind what they say but I feel sorry for kids. We don't have malaria mosquitoes in Penang but we still find dengue fever mosquitoes and our paediatrician recommend Aratakara to have Japanese encephalitis jabs. For some people it's just mosquitoes but it's probably not that simple for us.