Contents
Beating Summertime Insect Woes
In the mid 1950s, ARS scientists discovered DEET. Though it is still the main
active ingredient in about 200 commercial products, new insect repellents are
being researched today.
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Today, thanks to ARS research, consumers have some protection
against mosquitoes.
Since World War II, ARS research has focused mainly on two types of mosquito
protection for military personnel and the general public: treated fabrics and
insect repellents for use on skin. In the mid-1950s, ARS researchers discovered
the mosquito victim's dream: DEET, now a widely used repellent. Today, millions
of people worldwide apply DEET to their skin; it's the main active ingredient
in about 200 commercial products.
However, "DEET is very oily and has an unpleasant smell," says
Donald R. Barnard, head of ARS' Mosquito and Fly Research Unit at Gainesville,
Florida.
"Currently, there is no alternative as effective as DEET with the
qualities that would be pleasing to consumers."
Finding such an alternative has been a primary goal of ARS scientists at
Gainesville, where researchers have tested 16,000 new candidate repellents in
the last 20 yearswith several new ones in store for the future. One group
of synthetic repellents under testing now, called piperdines, appears very
promising as a possible DEET alternative.
ARS scientists, in cooperation with the U.S. Army, developed fabric treated
with the insecticide permethrin for use in clothing that can be used as a
barrier to prevent insects from biting U.S. troops who travel abroad. In many
underdeveloped countries, tropical diseases transmitted by mosquitos are a
problemparticularly malaria and dengue fever.
World Health Organization statistics report about 4 million malaria cases
each year and about 1 million deaths, while about 24,000 deaths occur each year
from dengue-related illnesses. About 2.5 billion people are currently at risk
worldwide for dengue, and the potential for exposure to mosquito-transmitted
diseases could increase if temperatures increase worldwide.
Today, the U.S. Department of Defense uses a two-pronged strategy: DEET and
permethrin-treated clothingcalled the personal protection
systemagainst mosquitos and other health-threatening pests that could
lead to possible disease exposure.
So what is in store for the next millennium? ARS researchers are looking at
what makes us so tempting and tasty. They are trying to identify and understand
what scents humans and animals emit that say to mosquitos, "Hey, free
lunch!" They hope to take this knowledge and use it to develop new
attractants, which could be used for monitoring or in combination with toxic
baits to kill the pests.
"Ultimately, in the next millennium, we're trying to develop
nonpesticidal control methods, which include biological, behavioral,
biochemical, and genetic control technologies," says Barnard.By
Tara Weaver-Missick,
Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
This research is part of Arthropod Pests of Animals and Humans, an ARS
National Program (#104) described on the World Wide Web at
http://www.nps.ars.usda.gov/programs/appvs.htm.
Donald R. Barnard
is in the USDA-ARS
Mosquito
and Fly Research Unit, Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary
Entomology, 1700 S.W. 23rd Dr., Gainesville, FL; phone (352) 374-5931, fax
(352) 374-5922.
"Beating Summertime Insect Woes" was published in the
December 1999
issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
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