A recent large systematic review published in the Cochrane Library (Link) looked at electronic mosquito repellents to see whether they in fact do repel mosquitoes. The reason the study is important as these have been promoted to help prevent malaria which is an enormous health problem internationally. As you may know malaria causes more than three hundred million acute illnesses and kills at least one million people every year. Ninety per cent of deaths due to malaria occur in Africa, south of the Sahara, and most deaths occur in children under the age of five.

Malaria is transmitted by mosquito bites from infected female mosquitoes.

There is a large international effort going onto help prevent these and things such as mosquito repellents and mosquito nets have been recommended to minimise the risk of transmission. Travellers often use repellents and other means to prevent infection.

The electronic mosquito repellents have been designed to repel the female mosquitoes. They emit high pitched noise which is supposed to affect the mosquitoes.

The Cochrane review looked at a range of field studies to assess the effectiveness of these electronic mosquito repellents. There was no evidence in these field studies suggesting any repelling effect of electronic mosquito repellents and therefore no evidence to support their promotional use. The author’s even suggested that future randomised trials were not proposed as there was no suggestion in the field studies of any promise from these repellants.

Essentially you need to use appropriate effective mosquito repellants. Topical mosquito repellants such as those containing "DEET" have been shown to be effective. Covering up and using mosquito nets, particularly those impregnated with repellent, is also effective. Always discuss antimalarial medication with your doctor well before travelling.

If you would like more information feel free to come to the next Merrylands and District Rehabilitation Interest Group. This is listed under our Training News on each of our web pages.