Mosquito Repellents

Poor mosquitoes. They don’t do it on purpose; the female mosquito looks for a blood meal in order to feed her developing eggs. Unfortunately for us, though, the saliva she releases when she bites can cause an allergic reaction on our skin that can be very unpleasant. And it doesn’t stop there; if the female is carrying a virus when she feeds, she can transmit the virus to the animals and people she bites.

Mosquito repellents are the favored method of fending off mosquitoes and their bites for people and animals; indeed, there are types of mosquito repellent for cats and dogs and mosquito repellent for horses. A mosquito repellent works by masking the chemicals you (or an animal) give off that work like magnets for mosquitoes, attracting them to the dinner table. The area where the mosquito repeller is applied will become unattractive to the mosquito, which will avoid that area, hopefully; repellents do not kill mosquitoes.

The best mosquito repellent will offer you a good amount of protection from bites for an extended period of time, after just one application. The two main categories of mosquito repellents available today contain either synthetic chemicals, like DEET, or volatile plant oils and chemicals, such as Citronella. Within these categories there is quite an amount of variation among specific products, which differ in formulation and amount of active ingredient; often, the higher the percentage of active ingredient, the longer protection the repellent provides. Furthermore, you can find repellents in spray, wipe-on, foam, stick, or lotion formulation.

Many people have concerns regarding spreading a chemical such as DEET on their skin, but the CDC has studied and performed a variety of tests on DEET and declared it safe if used according to its label. Besides DEET, the CDC recommends Picaridin and Oil of Lemon-Eucalyptus as effective mosquito repellers; indeed, these are the most effective repellents according to the CDC. Some repellants that claim to be “natural” will actually include a small percentage of DEET, such as Mosquito Milk repellent, to increase efficacy.

Despite CDC assurances, many people continue to dislike using synthetic chemical-based repellents and opt for an “all-natural” mosquito repellent, which they equate with safety. These repellents, however, are not necessarily more effective, nor are they safer than repellents based on chemicals like DEET. These natural products are usually plant essential oils that can be toxic and irritating to humans.

There are also personal mosquito repeller devices, like the Sunbeam mosquito repeller or the solar mosquito repeller, that claim to repel mosquitoes by emission of sounds, but no evidence of the efficacy of this type of electronic mosquito repellent exists. Websites claim that garlic, bananas and Vitamin-B are natural mosquito repellent tablets to be taken orally; many sites also claim to teach you how to make natural mosquito repellent formulations for homemade mosquito repellent. Again, no concrete evidence exists to support the efficacy of these products.