The Zika virus is a growing national concern here in the United States. As of August 3rd, the CDC has recorded a total of 1825 cases stateside, and that number balloons up to 5,548 when the US Territories of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands are included in the tally.
While most cases of Zika have been contracted while traveling abroad or transmitted sexually, the US is starting to see local-borne cases stemming from mosquito bites, which is a little disconcerting for residents of the southern and eastern states where those pesky little bastards teem in the hotter summer months.
But luckily we can add “insect repellent” to the list of wonderful uses for coffee.
As reported on hippy-dippy-health-blog-your-mom-always-forwards-you-articles-from DavidWolfe.com (and indeed this hot tip was sent to me by my mom. Hi Mom!), burning coffee grounds – fresh or used – is a natural insect repellant, keeping away the likes of mosquitoes, wasps, and bees. This is because “many insects have a very strong sense of smell, and coffee grounds, which are incredibly strong-smelling when they burn, drive them crazy.”
And it’s really simple. Just take a mound of dry coffee grounds and set it ablaze. As you can see in the video below, if it looks like you’re freebasing coffee, you’re doing it right.
So save those coffee grounds. We’ve got a few more months of heat left to barbecue and enjoy the beautiful outdoors, and coffee may just be the means of doing so without having to worry about Zika.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via DavidWolfe.com
