[ithkuil]

> draining swamps

How does that work? I moved to a civilised place in Italy, where the swamps have been drained centuries ago etc etc; there is no malaria anymore.

Yet, nowadays there are tons of mosquitos, I have nets on all my windows and doors and yet I have to occasionally kill them either mechanically (I'm getting good at it but still) or using poisons.

My <1y child has huge reactions when bit; I tend to stay inside because it's so annoying to get bit all the time; sprays work but not 100%, as if those mosquitos are adapting against the poisons we throw at them.

Are these non malaria-carrying mosquites more adapted to breed with less water? Did we stop doing a good job draining the swamps?

[blisterpeanuts]

Different species have different attributes. The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) from SE Asia is invasive in the Americas and carries nasty diseases -- yellow fever, dengue, zika, chikungunya. It's a highly aggressive biter, highly adapted to marginal environments, and can breed in a tiny pool of water the size of a bottle cap. It tends to be active in human-settled areas. If ever a mosquito deserved to be wiped out, it's this one.

I'm not sure about Italy; I imagine you have plenty of species migrating up from Africa. If you have a lot of mosquitoes, probably there is a water source they're breeding in -- a pool, an old tire, a nearby pond? If you can find a breeding source, dump a mosquito puck in it -- a safe algae that kills mosquito larvae.