What makes an ideal insect repellent?
The ideal insect repellent should aim to have the following properties: • Active against a wide variety of biting insects • Prolonged activity (remain effective for at least 8 hours between applications) • Non-irritating to the skin and mucous membranes • Cosmetically appealing (odourless or have a pleasant odour and greaseless) • No systemic toxicity • Resistant to abrasion, washing and sweating • Chemically stable and doesn’t react with commonly used plastics • Economically viable for widespread use. Currently there are no insect repellents that meet all the criteria listed above. It is extremely difficult to find a single active chemical that is effective against the many different species of disease-carrying insects. DEET is the most broad-spectrum and most effective insect repellent that has been developed to date. However it has recently been discovered that the chief malaria-carrying mosquito, Anopheles albimanus, in the United States is becoming resistant to DEET.
