DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband and I have been married for six months. He’s the outdoor type; I’m not. He’s planning a camping vacation for us in a couple of weeks. I’ve tried to explain to him that I am a mosquito magnet and I will be miserable. I don’t want to be a bad sport, and I want to be with my husband, but the mosquito issue has me dragging my feet. He says taking B vitamins keeps the mosquitoes away. Which B vitamin? What illnesses do mosquitoes spread? How about AIDS? — N.D.

ANSWER: Some people are mosquito magnets. Mosquitoes are attracted by carbon dioxide, and they can detect it from a distance of 100 feet. Your carbon-dioxide production might be slightly greater than others. Other body chemicals lure mosquitoes. Everyone produces these chemicals, but not in the same proportions — another reason why some people draw mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are most active in the early morning and in the evening. These are the times when you want to be on high alert and use repellents faithfully. DEET (diethyl methylbenzamide) is an effective repellent with a long history of success. A product that contains 10 percent DEET works for two hours; one that has 24 percent works for five hours. Another good repellent is picaridin. Neither DEET nor picaridin is a brand name. You have to look for these names in the list of a repellent’s contents.

Treating your clothes with permethrin provides another barrier to mosquitoes.

No B vitamin drives mosquitoes away, in spite of the popular opinion that it can. Garlic and bananas, other grapevine repellents, don’t work either.

Illnesses spread by mosquitoes in Canada and the United States are St. Louis encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus. Encephalitis is a brain infection.

Mosquitoes do not transmit AIDS. The HIV virus (the cause of AIDS) doesn’t survive in mosquitoes. In addition, blood obtained by the mosquito from one person is not injected into the next person the mosquito bites.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a construction worker. It’s hard physical labor. I recently joined a gym, where I have been lifting weights.

Ever since I joined the gym, I have been exhausted all the time, and my muscles hurt. Am I overdoing it? — H.L.

ANSWER: We’re told to listen to our bodies. Your body is telling you that you need a rest. Stop going to the gym for a week or two. If the tiredness and pain go away, then you can start again, but with fewer exercises and with lighter weights. Progress slowly. Do not exercise the same muscles on two consecutive days. Use weightlifting exercises for the upper body one day and for the lower body the next day.

If the pain doesn’t go away in a week or two, you have to see a doctor.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’d like your opinion on this. I walk at a pretty fast pace on a treadmill for half an hour three times a week. Would it be better for me to walk at this pace for 15 minutes every day of the week?

I like the three-day-a-week routine. I can work without interruption on the other days. — S.B.

ANSWER: Recommendations say to exercise on most, if not all, days of the week.

What you suggest makes me believe you’re getting the same benefits with your three-day-a-week schedule as you would be with a six-day-a-week one. I don’t have a reference to back that up.

If you do keep the three-day-a-week program, you can’t spend the other days just sitting at a desk or lying on a couch. You have to get some physical work in every day. If you don’t, you’ll undo the progress you make on the exercise day.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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