Word: mosquito
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...well into the dog days of summer, and the din has become almost unbearable: We hear it while we're lounging in the hammock, fishing by the pond, barbecuing in the back yard, and sometimes when we're just trying to sleep. It's mosquito time again, but this year, instead of just slapping away the annoying bugs, we're attacking them with a vengeance born out of fear. That's not just a buzzing noise you hear, after all - it's the sound of the West Nile virus, and theculex pipiens mosquito that carries the ignoble honor most likely...
...while Louisianans are scrambling for cover, it's not just southerners who are scared. Americans everywhere are donning pants and long-sleeve shirts and buying up the most powerful mosquito repellents on the market. (Doctors and the CDC recommend using sprays containing DEET.) Towns and cities across the country are also waging war, showering pesticides and larvacides onto vulnerable areas and distributing informative pamphlets door-to-door. Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced the government was providing $10 million to study and fight the spread of West Nile virus, and scientists and researchers have descended on Louisiana...
...meantime, residents of the eastern U.S. are hoping against hope for some kind of mosquito oriented disaster of Biblical proportions, like a miniature ice age that effects only bugs or perhaps a spate of far-reaching mosquito suicide pacts. Failing that, we can at least keep our fingers crossed for new developments in the world of repellent sprays...
...SPRAY When it comes to fighting off mosquitoes, it doesn't pay to be meek. DEET, the pesticide found in commercial bug sprays, is far more effective at preventing mosquito bites--for up to five hours--than are milder alternatives, including citronella and Skin-So-Soft, which fend off the critters for only 20 minutes. While early animal studies hinted at possible brain damage from overexposure, an independent study reports that DEET products, used sparingly for brief periods, are relatively safe. --By Alice Park...
...created by a mad scientist--or, as he prefers to be known, an "evil genius"--who gave the creature only one instinct: "to destroy everything it touches." Stitch escapes to Earth, a primitive planet that the Turans have allowed to exist as a "protected wildlife preserve to repopulate the mosquito." Stitch wanders into a dog pound and is adopted by the desperately needy Lilo; she figures "he used to be a collie before he got ran over." Will Lilo, herself something of a little monster, be able to turn this space Satan into a nicely domesticated Hawaiian--a ukul-alien...