Are Your Window Screens Keeping Mosquitoes Out?

If you’re reading this, you probably looked up something related to dengue fever, an illness that is commonly transmitted by mosquito bites. What does dengue have to do with an impact window company like Karoly? The truth is that your window screens (and door screens) can have a significant impact on your risk of exposure to dengue fever from mosquito bites!

Let’s talk a bit about dengue fever, mosquitoes, window screens, and additional tips to help you keep your family safe from this disease:

What Is Dengue Fever?

According to Florida Health, dengue fever is “a mosquito-borne disease related to the viruses that cause West Nile and yellow fever” and can be “a painful, debilitating disease but is rarely fatal.”

Although the disease isn’t deadly, it’s something that most people definitely don’t want to catch because of the symptoms it carries. These symptoms include:

• Sudden fever
• Severe headache
• Eye pain
• Muscle and joint pain
• Bleeding
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea 

It’s a really bad time. Florida Health also notes that the symptoms last “4-7 days,” so it will likely take you out for a whole week, plus a few extra days to recover from the aftereffects of a sustained fever and pain.

There is a risk of a rare, but more severe, form of infection that causes internal bleeding which may be fatal if not treated.

How Does Dengue Fever Spread?

Dengue fever is spread via mosquito bites. Not just any mosquito, though. The primary culprits are the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Unfortunately, both of these mosquitoes are common in Florida.

According to the Herald-Tribune, as of the time of this writing, there are 190 confirmed cases of dengue fever in Florida, 170 of which were reported in Hillsborough County alone. This number is likely to increase as infections continue, awareness increases, and more people seek care for potential infections.

The Herald-Tribune article attributes this rise in dengue cases to three primary causal factors:

1. Warmer Temperatures. Hot temperatures help mosquitoes breed quickly, increasing their numbers. This incidentally increases the rate at which people get bitten, which translates into more cases of dengue fever.
2. Increased Rainfall. This leads to more standing water for mosquitoes to breed in and increasing their numbers.
3. Human Travel. When people go to overseas locations with dengue outbreaks (or outbreaks of other mosquito-borne pathogens), they may catch the fever there. Then, when they return, an uninfected mosquito can bite them, contract the illness, and transmit it to their next bite victim.

What Do Window Screens Have to Do With Dengue Fever? 

So, what do window screens have to do with dengue fever? A lot, actually. Especially if you like to air out your home by opening your windows from time to time.

The best way to avoid dengue fever is to avoid mosquitoes as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to keep your home sealed against mosquitoes. Windows, and window screens, play an important role in keeping mosquitoes away from you, your family, and your pets.

The aedes aegypti mosquito is tiny, being roughly ⅙ to ¼ of an inch long and a narrow body with wings that can be a little over 3 millimeters wide or less than 2 mm wide. Females tend to be larger than males, and it’s the females that feed on blood while males primarily subsist on fruit (Source: LSU Ag Center).

Meanwhile, the aedes albopictus (also called the asian tiger mosquito) is described by askifas as: “a medium-sized mosquito (approximately 2.0 to 10.0 mm (0.08 to 0.4 in), males are on average 20% smaller than females).” That’s about 2/25 and ⅖ of an inch, making them roughly similar in size to their aedes aegypti cousins. 

The asian tiger mosquito also has females that are larger than males, and it’s the females that drink blood to nurture future generations of mosquitoes.

The standard window screen mesh has openings of about 1.2 to 1.4 millimeters across, making the openings smaller than the mosquitoes, preventing the entry of adult mosquitoes, particularly the females who bite and spread dengue fever.

However, if you have a looser wire mesh or your window screen is torn, that can create an opening for mosquitoes to get into your home.

What to Do if My Window Screens Are Torn?

So, what should you do if your windows have missing or damaged screens that could let mosquitoes into your home? There are a few things you can do:

• Keep Your Windows Closed. The first thing to do is to close your windows tight to prevent mosquitoes from flying in. If your windows are damaged or have gaps that insects can pass through, it may be necessary to replace the whole window!
• Try to Patch the Tear. Another short-term solution is to patch the tear in your screen’s wire mesh. If the screen is merely ‘popped out’ because the piece of rubber set in the frame is loose, it may be possible to repair it simply by rolling the edge of the mesh over the frame and pushing the rubber gasket/wire back in over it. For other tears, taping the tear shut is a somewhat effective, if unsightly, solution that should tide you over until a more thorough screen replacement can be carried out.
• Replace the Window Screen. For particularly large tears or holes in screens, it may be best to wholly replace the window screen with a new one. This may involve reaching out to the window manufacturer, as some windows may be custom-sized, meaning an ‘off-the-shelf’ screen may not fit (also, some manufacturers might have specific mounting mechanisms for their window screens).
• Check the Seals and Weatherstripping of Your Window. If your wire mesh is perfectly intact, but bugs are still getting into your home, be sure to check the seals around your window for signs of damage or distortion. A cracked bit of weatherstripping could be all the opening a mosquito or other pest needs to get into your home. Additionally, the caulking around your window’s exterior should be checked and, if damaged, removed and replaced.

These are some basic methods of sealing your window openings against mosquitoes so everyone in your home can remain safe and healthy in the face of a dengue fever outbreak.

If you have a cracked or broken window with a missing screen, you should definitely replace that window as soon as humanly possible!

What Are Some Other Ways to Reduce My Exposure to Mosquitoes and Dengue Fever?

So, what are some of the other ways you can keep mosquitoes from biting you and exposing your family to dengue fever? Some other things you can do to limit exposure include:

• Keeping Pet Doors Sealed. If you have a cat/dog door, consider shutting it with the included cover except for those times where one of your pets is actively going in or out of your home. Lots of pet doors, especially cheaper ones, don’t seal tightly, leaving large gaps that insects can use to pass into your home.
• Removing Standing Water. Here’s one of the CDC’s top recommendations: In your yard and your home, look for objects that can hold standing water like buckets, planters, bowls, etc. and empty them at least once a week. Some species of mosquitoes, such as the asian tiger mosquito, can use puddles of standing water as small as a bottlecap to breed.
• Using Larvicide on Large Bodies of Water. For large bodies of nondrinkable water, treat them with a larvicidal agent to kill any larvae that hatch in them. This can help deny mosquitoes breeding grounds close to your home, limiting their reproductive rate.
• Spraying for Mosquitoes Around the Exterior. While most municipalities in Florida already spray for mosquitoes regularly, it may be helpful to increase the protection around your home by using bug sprays formulated for mosquitoes around your home. Pay particular attention to openings like windows and doors.
• Using Mosquito Repellent. If you have to go outside, such as you would while removing standing pools of water, be sure to use some mosquito repellent to drive the worst of the mosquito swarms.
• Wearing Long Clothes. It may be uncomfortable to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants in summer, but doing so can be a great way to minimize your exposure to mosquitoes when you have to go outside.
• Bug Bombing the House. If you have any persistent pest infestations, consider using a ‘bug bomb’ (also known as a fogger) pesticide to eliminate any bugs in your home, including mosquitoes. After the bug bomb is done, be sure to give your home a thorough cleaning to avoid attracting more mosquitoes. Also, do not keep any open containers of food in the home during the fogging process, as it will be contaminated with poison. 

Note: with any pesticide, be sure to follow any and all instructions given by the manufacturer. Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, goggles, and face masks can help improve your safety while using pesticides, but cannot replace proper caution in use. 

Need New Windows with Window Screens That Can Keep Bugs Out?

Thinking about getting new windows to protect your home from pests, bad weather, and more? Karoly Windows & Doors is here to help!

Not only do we provide expert installation on impact windows that create a tight seal to keep bugs, wind, and water out, we can walk you through every aspect of window installation, from window screen meshes to the right type of caulking to seal your windows, so you can be better informed for the future.

It all starts with a free in-home consultation where one of our window experts will inspect your windows, identify urgent issues, and recommend the best fixes to solve your biggest problems! With a consultative approach, you can ensure that you’re getting the best windows to suit your preferences while meeting your performance goals… whether that’s blocking bugs, keeping your home cool in the Florida heat, or staying sealed tight in the face of extreme weather!

Reach out to Karoly Windows today to get started: