Prevention of Bug Bites, Stings, and Disease by Daniel Strickman, Stephen P. Frances and Mustapha Debboun

"This is a book that succeeds on several fronts. It is a tremendous resource for those of us who provide the public with information about arthropods and human health, as well as a very understandable handbook for the general public on how to avoid insect altercations. It is also one of the best reviews I have seen of both natural and synthetic repellents and the steps one may take to minimize contact with obnoxious arthropods. The authors did an exceptional job in creating a book that is clearly written, in a style that balances cold facts with the realities of everyday life and tosses in a bit of humor for flavor. It answers the questions all of us have about keeping medically important insect at least at femur's, if not arm's, length."--Marc J. Klowden for American Entomologist

"The authors have gone beyond a simple guide to insect repellents with this new text. Across the 15 chapters, the important biting (and stinging) arthropods are identified, and the strategies to avoid their bites, stings and the disease causing pathogens they may carry are discussed. Equally appealing to the scientist and 'entomophobe', this book draws on an astonishing amount of information from the scientific literature but presents it in a relatively straightforward, and occasionally humorous, manner that will not be off-putting to the layperson."--Australian Journal of Entomology

Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
Prevention of Bug Bites, Stings, and Disease by Strickman, Frances and Debboun provides an abundance of information on how to identify, avoid, and protect yourself and home against arthropods. This book covers many critters to include: scorpions, spiders, ants, bees, wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mites, ticks, lice, chiggers, fleas, bed bugs, biting midges, kissing bugs, mosquitoes, horse flies, black flies, deer flies sand flies, and centipedes. Yes, a lot of territory is covered in this book. I like to spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, backpacking and camping so I thought this book would provide some valuable information on how to avoid getting stung, bit, and annoyed at all the pest that inhabit our world. The bottom line for me is to wear appropriate clothes as a form of protection along with a bug repellent that is reapplied as directed. If you travel to parts of the world that have bugs which carry diseases such as Malaria, Lyme disease, Dengue, Cat Scratch fever, Yellow fever, West Nile, etc then it is very important to take protective measures including vaccines and preventative treatment when available. Failure to do so can literally be deadly. Prevention of Bug Bites, Stings, and Disease will provide you with information to prevent or minimize bugs from entering your home and what you can do to control the situation once they set up residence in your home. There is a discussion on the effectiveness of appropriate walls, doors, screen doors, window screens, use of chemicals, smoke, candles, lamps, mosquito coils, heated mats, plants, sprays, traps and fly traps. There is an excellent section on the use, effectiveness and ingredients of repellents. As the book points out: "Repellents are seldom 100% effective because certain individual biting pests are more tolerant than the population as a whole; because imperfect application leaves parts of the skin unprotected; and especially because abrasion, sweating, and wetting tend to lower the concentration of the active ingredients. What is more, when we say that a repellent product will last two, six, or eight hours, we are not talking into account the activities of the individual, the impact of extreme weather conditions on effectiveness, nor the particular population of pests." As you can see, proper protection will require some diligence on your part to take into account many of the factors which can reduce the effectiveness of the repellent that you are using. You cannot apply once and be protected for the rest of the day. You will need to incorporate a schedule of repellent application to provide you with maximum protection and effectiveness. This book is well written and covers more information than most people will ever need to know regarding annoying blood sucking or venomous arthropods. In addition there are some really great color photos of scorpions, spiders, ticks, chiggers, louse, kissing bugs, numerous flies, wasps and bees. Unless you have an intense interest in arthropods this book might be overkill for most. If you are having a problem with bugs in your residence then by all means call a professional. If you are trying to be proactive before a problem develops this book will provide you with a host of valuable ideas.