Mosquito nets

I have an intense dislike of mosquito nets. This may surprise some of you (i.e. my mom) who may remember the 13 year old version of me begging, pleading for and eventually getting a mosquito net to hang above my twin bed in my newly painted dusty-rose (NOT pink) room. But, I have come to live in a place where the mosquito net is neither romantic nor decorative, but necessary. I therefore appreciate the mosquito net, and for the under-5 set will defend its use and distribution until the end of my days.

My dislike of the net began in Kenya. I never actually hung my mosquito net up when I lived in Nairobi. No one else in the house used one, and the idea of putting nails into my new host family’s walls was distasteful to me (and them). Then, I moved to the village and immediately gave the net to my new host mom and dad. The cooking fire was located in the small house I lived in, and the smoke kept the mosquitoes away (it also left me with a near constant cough) whereas my host parents were bothered all night by the little beasts. And then I got to Cameroon. Here, I did hang my net. I was forced to, as the health officer actually came to my village to check such things. I used it occasionally, but mostly left it tied up above my head. The reasons:

1. Mosquito nets are hot. They seem to stop the flow of air all around you, so it feels like you are breathing with your head under a blanket.

2. I have a talent of enclosing at least one mosquito in the net with me. This little guy inevitably makes no detectable noise or movement until after he has bitten me approximately 300 times, at which point he proceeds to buzz in my ear.

But, all that could be overcome. The real reason I am opposed to mosquito nets has to do with the mefloquine-induced hallucinations I suffered in Cameroon. Mefloquine is a very effective, relatively cheap malaria prophylaxis. Most people take their mefloquine every week and experience no side effects other than the desired resistance to malaria. Not me. I was one of the small percentage who experience vivid dreams, visual hallucinations, and anxiety while taking the drug. The symptoms started innocuously enough. I had some fun, colourful dreams in my first few months on the drug. But, the dreams gradually got more and more vivid and became more nightmares than dreams. Once I was safely ensconced in my village, I began to see flashes of things that were not there (easily ignored at first, as I was also incredibly dehydrated – a condition which can also result in hallucinations). The dreams continued to harass me, and it was at this point that my mosquito net became the enemy. My addled brain would see the mosquito net in the moonlight as a type of inescapable cage. It seemed cruel and impenetrable – like some sort of magical spider web. The culmination of all this was a night terror that left me shrieking for help, tearing the net down around me as I ran, still half asleep, from my home. Though the aftermath of this was funny (half the village came running, machetes drawn ready to rescue me from danger. One man even checked under the bed for me), the distaste for the mosquito net remains 6 years later.

But, when one of my new Chadian friends caught me repeatedly bending down to scratch my well-bitten ankles, he asked me about the net. “I don’t use one.” I said.
“Is there not one in your room?” he asked, ready to take action and resolve the problem. “No, there is, I just don’t use it.”
“Why not?”
“Well,” I paused, unsure if I could explain why I was ‘scared’ of mosquito netting, “I just don’t like them.”

“That is silly, you will get malaria if you are not careful, and your legs will itch.”


Faced with this impenetrable logic, armed with an AC blowing right at my head and the knowledge that I am taking Malarone for malaria prophylaxis instead of mefloquine, I decided to try the net. So, I used it last night, and by some miracle did not trap any bugs in the bed with me, and thus have no new bites to report this morning. I am still uneasy about the use of the net, but happily, am told that there are no mosquitoes at camp (a consequence of the fact that is only rains 2 times per year. Literally. There are, on average, two days a year when it rains.) So, I doubt that my use of the net will continue. For the meantime, though, I am glad that I was able to overcome my mosquito net fear, at least for one night.

I’m off to Abeche tomorrow – a sort of jumping off point for heading to camp – which will happen on Monday!