The Top End of Australia is home to plenty of creatures such as mosquitoes, biting midges, and a wide range of other insects that can leave locals and visitors alike with some unwelcome pain or discomfort, as well as possibly contracting an insect borne disease. Faced with the daunting array of biting insects, many people often ask, “what is the health risk of this or that insect, what is the best way to protect against the bites and stings, what repellent is the best, or even do sand flies really urinate on your skin?” This introduction to the various culprits and the range of ways to protect yourself will hopefully help make your life in the Top End a bit less painful and safer.

There are many examples of development in the Darwin region that have led to enormous populations of a range of mosquito species, severely effecting residents in nearby areas and requiring costly rectification. To aid planners in their design of the proposed Newton development, the Medical Entomology section of the department of Health and Families has made collections of biting midges and mosquitoes form march 1984 to April 1985 in and around the proposed development area between the Elizabeth and Blackmore Rivers, south-west of Palmerston. Additional surveys of biting midge breeding areas were made in late 1987. This report analyses the result and suggest methods of minimising the adverse effects of the biting insect present in the proposed development area, and outlines some construction guidelines to avoid exacerbating the problem.

A dengue outbreak has been underway in Timor Leste (East Timor) since the start of January 2005, with hundreds of cases and multiple deaths from dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) Timor Leste. The Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services (DHCS) received a formal request from the Minister of Health Timor Leste on 05/04/2005 to provide advice to overcome the current outbreak and for a longer-term program to combat dengue disease in Timor Leste. This request was discussed with key DHCS officers and Ausaid officers, who supported a visit by the director of Medical Entomology Branch to conduct an assessment of the current dengue control program and to provide advice on strengthening the dengue control program.

This package is designed for health educators across the disciplines to use in the development and implementation of their programs. The core expected outcomes, listed in the curriculum section, target all health practitioners who practise in remote, rural and discrete Indigenous communities across northern Australia.

Chikungunya virus, an alpha virus, is one of the 4 species of the Semliki Forest complex, the others being Semliki Forest, Getah, and Mayaro. Chikungunya and o’nyong-nyong viruses are regarded as subtypes of the Chikungunya virus species. A 30 year old woman, 18 weeks pregnant with her 4th child presented to the Royal Darwin Hospital emergency department in January 2004 with a febrile illness. She had returned from East Timor 5 days prior where she had been working. The woman had been born in East Timor but had lived most of her life in Australia until taking up a position in Dili.

These brief notes are aimed at minimum self-protection measures that can be taken by intending travelers to nearby countries in Southeast Asia to reduce exposure to dengue, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis vector mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes and biting midges (genus Culicoides and sometimes erroneously called sand flies) can reach sufficient numbers in various localities to be considered serious pests. The bites themselves can be painful and extremely annoying, and people suffer varying degrees of reaction to bites (Lee 1975). However the possibility of the spread of various diseases by their blood sucking habits to either humans or animals is a more serious outcome. Mosquitoes can carry viruses such as Murray Valley encephalitis, Kunjin, Ross River, and Barmah Forest virus which cause human disease (Russell 1995). Biting midges do not carry any pathogens in Australia that cause human disease.Biting insects create problems in the enjoyment of outdoor activities, causing a reluctance to enter certain areas after sundown or forcing people to be confined to insect-proof areas at certain times of the year. Personal protection and avoidance measures can offer considerable protection from bites, as well as offering protection against mosquito-borne disease.