The researchers found out that it is nearly as effective as the DEET-laced repellents. The perfume is more than just a fragrance, it could also be an efficient mosquito repellent, according to a new study.
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In a new study from New Mexico State University, researchers sought to find which repellants and perfumes were the most effective at repelling mosquitoes.
To conduct the experiments, the researchers applied various repellents one at a time on a volunteer’s hand and exposed the hand to a container with about 20 mosquitoes. You might want to include Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell.
“People need to protect themselves, especially if they travel to the tropics”, says one of professor in a press release from NMSU. To confirm the efficacy of the materials, the researchers placed a mosquito at the long end of a Y-shaped plastic tube with.
According to Gizmodo, the research was done at the university’s Molecular Vector Physiology Lab. Perfume was included in the study by researcher Stacy Rodriguez, who wanted to dispel the myth that flowery smelling perfumes actually attract mosquitoes. Overall, DEET was found to be the most effective form of repellent. They also looked at how long the mosquitos were repelled for. For this species, however, the DEET-free repellents produced mixed reactions, with the Avon Skin So Soft Bug Guard significantly reducing attraction for 120 minutes and the bath oil having no effect.
Roger Eritja via Getty Images Asian tiger mosquitoes (pictured here) and yellow fever mosquitoes were used in the study.
The researchers aren’t quite sure why the perfume has repellent qualities, but concluded that the fragrance may provide a temporary masking effect.
Recently, Rodriguez and other researchers in NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences tested the effectiveness of 10 commercially available products meant to repel mosquitoes. Cutter Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent worked as well. A Vitamin B patch was found to be ineffective.
The skin patch, which claims to repel mosquitoes for up to 36 hours, did not repel either species.
“This is interesting because it shows that different species have adverse sensitivity to particular scents”, Rodriguez said. “It’s important to let consumers know what is actually effective”.
“With the impending threat of chikungunya and dengue infections at the southern borders of the USA, we need to choose products that work effectively to reduce the contact between the human and the mosquito”, she said.
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Products with the toxic chemical DEET were, of course, the most effective against both the yellow fever mosquito and the Asian tiger variety.
