The only way to avoid mosquito bite is to exhibit and sustain clean and hygienic environment.
An epidemic of chikungunya - a viral disease carried by daytime-biting mosquitoes - is currently raging in the Caribbean.
There are more than 5,900 suspected cases affecting almost half the islands, and even French Guiana on the mainland.
Although we might want to wipe them out, removing mosquitoes could have a disastrous effect on an ecosystem; their larvae process detritus in the water where they breed and adult mosquitoes carry out the useful job of pollination.
They are also a nutritious food source for creatures like the mosquitofish - which snack on up to a hundred mosquito larvae every day.
And although malaria is the most well-known, there are plenty of other nasty conditions which they spread.
Here are five of the lesser known - and downright horrible - diseases that mosquitoes can give you.
Half the world's population is now at risk of contracting dengue which causes fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and a rash. Forty years ago there was no dengue in Brazil.
In the first six months of 2013 there were 1.6 million cases, with six thousand new cases every day in Rio de Janeiro, putting huge pressure on health services.
There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue - treatment is "supportive" including rest, plenty of fluids and trying to reduce the fever using paracetamol.
Severe dengue - which used to be known as dengue hemorrhagic fever - can be lethal.
Unlike the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria and feasts at night Aedes is active during the day. Dr Philip McCall is a dengue expert from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
"They begin to bite soon after sunrise but by 10:00 the biting goes down - it's too hot. They start again around 16:00 or 17:00 until sunset and are not active by night."
British doctor Ayan Panja contracted the more severe form on holiday in Malaysia in his 20s.
"I honestly thought I was going to die after having these symptoms for a couple of days. Thankfully I was admitted to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur where I was transfused with platelets."
Platelets are needed to help the blood to clot. Dengue stops the bone marrow from making them - so bleeding is another major complication of severe dengue.
So has it put Dr Panja off travelling to exotic climes?
"It's made me more aware of the condition and I am now even more cautious about avoiding mosquito bites."
It might sound like a name for some tasty street food but chikungunya is an unpleasant disease which causes a high fever and joint pain.
"It's debilitating. [People suffering] can't work and they have to stay at home in bed with joint pain," said Prof Johan Giusecke, chief scientist at the European Centre for Disease Control in Sweden.
Chikungunya was first described during an outbreak in Tanzania in 1952. The name comes from a word in the Kimakonde language meaning "to become contorted".
"Most people experience a rather short high fever, really feel sick, and then after a week or so it's over," according to Giusecke.
"But there have been chikungunya cases where the joint pain lasts for weeks or where chronic arthritis has resulted from the infection.
"Although not usually fatal, the condition can contribute to cause of death in frail or old people."
Last November the first case of chikungunya contracted in the Americas was reported on the island of St Martin in the Caribbean.
Far from its usual home of Africa, South East Asia and the Asian subcontinent, the infection has so far been responsible for four deaths.
There is now a fear that chikungunya will spread to North America as the mosquitoes that can carry the virus have been found in Southern Florida and on the Texan coast.
Since 2005, there have been 1.9 million cases in India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives and Burma also known as Myanmar, according to the World Health Organization.
There is currently no cure or vaccine and experts advise that the best way to stop it is to avoid being bitten in the first place. The good news? Once you've been infected you are immune and you don't have to suffer again.
An epidemic of chikungunya - a viral disease carried by daytime-biting mosquitoes - is currently raging in the Caribbean.
There are more than 5,900 suspected cases affecting almost half the islands, and even French Guiana on the mainland.
Although we might want to wipe them out, removing mosquitoes could have a disastrous effect on an ecosystem; their larvae process detritus in the water where they breed and adult mosquitoes carry out the useful job of pollination.
They are also a nutritious food source for creatures like the mosquitofish - which snack on up to a hundred mosquito larvae every day.
And although malaria is the most well-known, there are plenty of other nasty conditions which they spread.
Here are five of the lesser known - and downright horrible - diseases that mosquitoes can give you.
Half the world's population is now at risk of contracting dengue which causes fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and a rash. Forty years ago there was no dengue in Brazil.
In the first six months of 2013 there were 1.6 million cases, with six thousand new cases every day in Rio de Janeiro, putting huge pressure on health services.
There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue - treatment is "supportive" including rest, plenty of fluids and trying to reduce the fever using paracetamol.
Severe dengue - which used to be known as dengue hemorrhagic fever - can be lethal.
Unlike the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria and feasts at night Aedes is active during the day. Dr Philip McCall is a dengue expert from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
"They begin to bite soon after sunrise but by 10:00 the biting goes down - it's too hot. They start again around 16:00 or 17:00 until sunset and are not active by night."
British doctor Ayan Panja contracted the more severe form on holiday in Malaysia in his 20s.
"I honestly thought I was going to die after having these symptoms for a couple of days. Thankfully I was admitted to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur where I was transfused with platelets."
Platelets are needed to help the blood to clot. Dengue stops the bone marrow from making them - so bleeding is another major complication of severe dengue.
So has it put Dr Panja off travelling to exotic climes?
"It's made me more aware of the condition and I am now even more cautious about avoiding mosquito bites."
It might sound like a name for some tasty street food but chikungunya is an unpleasant disease which causes a high fever and joint pain.
"It's debilitating. [People suffering] can't work and they have to stay at home in bed with joint pain," said Prof Johan Giusecke, chief scientist at the European Centre for Disease Control in Sweden.
Chikungunya was first described during an outbreak in Tanzania in 1952. The name comes from a word in the Kimakonde language meaning "to become contorted".
"Most people experience a rather short high fever, really feel sick, and then after a week or so it's over," according to Giusecke.
"But there have been chikungunya cases where the joint pain lasts for weeks or where chronic arthritis has resulted from the infection.
"Although not usually fatal, the condition can contribute to cause of death in frail or old people."
Last November the first case of chikungunya contracted in the Americas was reported on the island of St Martin in the Caribbean.
Far from its usual home of Africa, South East Asia and the Asian subcontinent, the infection has so far been responsible for four deaths.
There is now a fear that chikungunya will spread to North America as the mosquitoes that can carry the virus have been found in Southern Florida and on the Texan coast.
Since 2005, there have been 1.9 million cases in India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives and Burma also known as Myanmar, according to the World Health Organization.
There is currently no cure or vaccine and experts advise that the best way to stop it is to avoid being bitten in the first place. The good news? Once you've been infected you are immune and you don't have to suffer again.
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