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Speaker 1: We are being told that a combination of high tides

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Speaker 1: in the full moon are expected to see biting midge

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Speaker 1: or Midge's on the rise around Darwin. Now, as I

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Speaker 1: understand that the increased numbers are expected to hit this week,

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Speaker 1: the director of medical Entomology at anti Health, Nina Kuritz,

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Nina.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, lovely to speak to you. Nina. What is the

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Speaker 1: situation for this week?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So this is the time again between pretty much

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Speaker 2: August and December, when around the full and new moons,

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Speaker 2: the biting midgies are coming out in high numbers because

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Speaker 2: around the neap tides they're breeding in the mangralves. They

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Speaker 2: emerged and they're first hang around there to lay their

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Speaker 2: first batch of eggs. But then they need a blood

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Speaker 2: meal to produce more eggs, and that coincides with the

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Speaker 2: full moon and the new moon. So therefore, because they're

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Speaker 2: no chemical to any that can be done to control

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Speaker 2: these biting midgies, so anywhere close to mangroves when people

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Speaker 2: are out and about in the late afternoon or early

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Speaker 2: in the morning, they need to cover up to not

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Speaker 2: get bitten, and midchies are that small. A they can't

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Speaker 2: bite food clothing, but b you might also not actually

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Speaker 2: feel them biting. And then all of a sudden you've

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Speaker 2: got all these red spots and the next day it

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Speaker 2: gets very itchy. It's very hard to resist scratching, and unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: when you open up the skin through scratching, that can

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Speaker 2: lead to secondary bacterial infection.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Nina, it sounds like it's not going to be

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Speaker 1: an ideal time and we're all going to be out

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Speaker 1: and about because there's so much on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is why the department wants to get out

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Speaker 2: this warning and tell people just to cover up, or

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Speaker 2: if you've got any exposkin, use all the insect repellent,

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Speaker 2: like the morcito repellent.

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Speaker 1: Yeap, Like, how long are these numbers expected to stay high?

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Speaker 2: Usually it's about three days before before after the new

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Speaker 2: in the full moon, and that's the mangrove biting mitch.

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Speaker 2: But there are other species and they start a little earlier,

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Speaker 2: so just pretty much sort of five six days around

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Speaker 2: each moon face until December when we get them monsoonal

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Speaker 2: weather and then their breeding sites are actually flooded and

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Speaker 2: they die right down.

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Speaker 1: Now I know you mentioned then what we can do

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Speaker 1: to protect ourselves, but just remind our listeners.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so all the insect repellents that contain the deed

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Speaker 2: or the picaridin or the oil of lemon Eucalyptus PMD,

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Speaker 2: they can all be used and they work for michies.

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Speaker 2: But also if people have got backyards and they're close

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Speaker 2: to mangroves or know that the midgies are around, they

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Speaker 2: can use the mosquito coils and lanterns or get a

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Speaker 2: past controller in to do a barrier spray. So that's

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Speaker 2: a chemical treatment close to the house and that is

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Speaker 2: known to use. Biting midgie is up to ninety percent.

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Speaker 1: Well, Nina, it's going to be an interesting time. I

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Speaker 1: guess where we are out and about, and as you've

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Speaker 1: seen it, ante health making sure that we really are

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Speaker 1: aware of what's going on and making sure that we

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Speaker 1: cover up because we know that sometimes as well as

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Speaker 1: you sort of touched on there, you know, if you're

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Speaker 1: scratching those bites, it can cause some further issues too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it can. And if you do get bitten and

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Speaker 2: it gets really itchy, just please go to a pharmacy

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Speaker 2: because there are products around that sue those bites. Otherwise,

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Speaker 2: from personal experience, just gently use an ice cube, anything,

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Speaker 2: call some people use something warm and that also sues it.

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Speaker 2: And just for people to be aware, Anti health has

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Speaker 2: got a pet biting Midge calendar which is available on

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Speaker 2: the anti health website, and that actually shows when high

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Speaker 2: numbers of midges are expected. So at other times, especially

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Speaker 2: when you're right in the mangro else, you can also

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Speaker 2: experience them. But that's just the times and they're really high.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Nina, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for joining us and making us

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Speaker 1: aware of the situation. Thank you, thank you, thanks so much,