Commercial Mosquito Repellents and Their Safety Concerns

Abstract

Mosquitoes are serious vectors of diseases threading millions of humans andanimals worldwide, as malaria, filariasis, and important arboviruses like dengue,yellow fever, chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Zika viruses. The swift spread ofarboviruses, parasites, and bacteria in conjunction with the development of resis-tance in the pathogens, parasites, and vectors represents a great challenge in mod-ern parasitology and tropical medicine. Unfortunately, synthetic insecticides hadled to some serious health and risk concerns. There are no vaccines or other specifictreatments for arboviruses transmitted by mosquitoes. Accordingly, avoidance ofmosquito bites remains the first line of defense. Insect repellents usually work byproviding a vapor barrier deterring mosquitoes from coming into contact with theskin surface, and this chapter focused on assets and liabilities, mechanism of action,improving efficacy, safety, and future perspective of synthetic and natural repel-lents that could potentially prevent mosquito-host interactions, thereby playingan important role in reducing mosquito-borne diseases when used correctlyand consistently.