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Preliminary field trials of personal protection against mosquitoes in The Gambia using deet or permethrin in soap, compared with other methods
Author(s) -
LINDSAY S. W.,
JANNEH L. M.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2915.1989.tb00481.x
Subject(s) - deet , hygiene , permethrin , citation , medicine , family medicine , traditional medicine , library science , biology , immunology , computer science , pathology , ecology , pesticide
A current trend in the control of disease in developing countries is to use methods which are cheap and can be operated effectively by local communities. Insect repellents may fulfil these criteria; they act as a last line of defence against blood-seeking mosquitoes, including those which are vectors of disease. Deet (diethyltoluamide) and permethrin in a soap formulation (U.K. Patent Application GB 2160216 A) proved effective against mosquitoes in Malaysia (Yap, 1986) and Australia (Frances, 1987). We attempted to determine how suitable this soap would be for protecting individuals against attack from mosquitoes in the early evening in The Gambia. Preliminary tests were undertaken to evaluate whether deet, perme&* or a combination of both chemicals in a soap formulation applied to human skin would reduce the rates of attack by wild mosquitoes under field conditions. Having demonstrated this, the repellent activity of soap containing both chemicals was compared with other methods of personal protection practised in The Gambia. The present paper pays no attention to mosquito bednets, the efficacy of which has been evaluated recently in The Gambia by Lindsay et al. (1989a) and Snow et al. (1989) for permethrin-impregnated bednets and by Snow et al.