Responses of male and female mosquitoes to repellents in the World Health Organization insecticide irritability test system.

A study was conducted to compare responses of male and female Aedes aegypti (Linn.) and Aedes taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann) to 9 olfactory repellents in the World Health Organization insecticide irritability test system. An irritant insecticide (permethrin) and a control were included for comparison. Aedes aegypti exhibited significantly more takeoffs than Ae. taeniorhynchus, and female mosquitoes exhibited significantly more takeoffs than males. Permethrin induced significantly more takeoffs than the control, but olfactory repellents did not. Certain 2- and 3-factor interactions of test materials, species, and sexes were statistically significant. This study supports a previous conclusion that the World Health Organization test method does not measure contact repellency (irritancy) and olfactory repellency equally.