Effectiveness of deet and permethrin, alone, and in a soap formulation as skin and clothing protectants against mosquitoes in Australia.

This note reports studies conducted in Australia to study the effectiveness of a new mosquito repellent formulation containing 20% N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (deet) and 0.5% permethrin in a bar of soap. The active ingredients are not new. Deet has gained wide acceptance and is used in many countries throughout the world (Rutledge et al. 1978a). Its effects against many arthropod species have been studied, and these have shown it is effective against a number of insects genera (Rutledge et al. 1978b, Schreck 1977). More recently, the effectiveness of permethrin as a clothing impregnation or pressurized spray for personal protection against mosquitoes, ticks and biting flies has been demonstrated (Lindsay and McAndless 1978; Shreck et al.1982, 1984,1986). The soap formulation warranted study as it is cheap to produce; a 70g block costing about $US 0.25, and encouraging results have been reported against mosquitoes in Malaysia (Yap 1986).