If anything ever did not go together, it's mosquitos and camping. Here's what you need to know about dealing with these vicious bloodsuckers when you're trying to enjoy a camping trip.

Our guest in the Interview of the Week for Episode 356 of the RV Podcast, is Dr. Janet McAllister, of the Centers for Disease Control. Since this has been such a horrific year for mosquitos, we thought it would be good to bring back an interview we did with her a while back that explains what we need to know about mosquitos.

And we also talk about the growing tick investigation now sweeping the country.

To watch the video version of the entire podcast, check below.

And for the audio version of the podcast, you can listen on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and all the other podcast apps, as well as clicking the player below if you'd like to listen or download on your computer.

Mosquitos and Camping : Know Your Enemy

Dr. McAllister is the Centers for Disease Control’s top expert on mosquitos, a medical entomologist who knows more about mosquitos than you'd think possible including mosquitos and camping.

We first interviewed her back in Episode 204 of the RV Podcast and she talks about everything from the right mosquito repellant to use, to when they are. most active,

Here is an edited transcript of the interview highlights:

Dr. Janet McAllister

What should we know about mosquitos and camping?

Mike Wendland:           In terms of mosquitos and camping and the environment, campsites, tall grass, times of day … windy conditions … what are our best options, environmentally, to avoid being bothered by those biting mosquitoes?

Dr. Janet McAllister:    Well, certainly, if there's a lot of vegetation around your campsite like you mentioned, tall grass or bushes, someplace that adult mosquitoes can find harborage in … those are going to be more likely to have mosquitoes in them, that would then come out and bite.

So, more open areas, as far as vegetation. Also, people don't like to be bitten by any kind of mosquito, but, a lot of the mosquitoes that are going to bite you, are not actually the mosquito that's going to transmit some of these mosquito-borne diseases.

Mike Wendland:           I'm curious now. Are there different kinds of mosquitoes? I thought there was only one mosquito?

Are there different kinds of mosquitos?

A swarm of mosquitos

Dr. Janet McAllister:    Yeah. Absolutely. People think that a mosquito is a mosquito. Kind of like if you think about dogs … all dogs are dogs. They may be brown ones and black ones, and big ones, and little ones, and spotted ones, but they're all dogs. That's not the case. Mosquitoes are more like birds.