repellent

For most of my time in Hong Kong, mosquitoes have been pretty much just an irritant - especially from spring to autumn, in and near woodland, and worst around dusk. But lately, we've seen some increase in two mosquito-borne diseases: dengue fever, and Japanese encaphalitis. Especially as the latter has a high fatality rate, this makes mosquitoes here potentially a good deal worse than pesky little things that make you itch.

BUT - right now - neither are mosquitoes a great threat; we've had few cases of dengue, and only a handful of encephalitis (three in 2004).