Evaluation and use of mosquito repellents

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Abstract
Skin and clothing repellents have played an important part in protecting persons from mosquito attack where other methods of obtaining relief from annoying or dangerous insects are not feasible. The ideal repellent has not yet been discovered, but diethyltoluamide (deet) comes the closest. All candidate compounds are screened against caged Aedes aegypti. Promising compounds are then tested by applying them to the forearms of human subjects. The arms are exposed for short periods at fixed intervals to caged mosquitoes in the laboratory or continuously to natural infestations in the field. Data obtained are statistically analyzed, the effects of several varying factors inherent in such tests being taken into account. Evaluating a promising repellent has involved tests in Alaska, Panama, and intermediate latitudes, against as wide a variety of species as possible, under conditions inducing severe sweating as well as at normal temperatures. Normally, much of the repellent is lost by being rubbed off on the clothing or other objects, so tests to determine the resistance of a repellent to removal by contact with clothing or other surfaces constitute an important part of the evaluation. For skin application, the better repellents of mosquitoes are deet, chlorodiethyl benzamide, ethyl hexanediol, dimethyl phthalate, dimethyl carbate, and butopyronoxyl. Butyl ethyl propanediol, ethyl hexanediol, and deet are effective repellents for treatment of clothing for protection against mosquitoes.

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