By Murray Sherriffs
DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) is the gold standard ingredient used in insect mosquito repellents.
Researchers say that it now can attract the insects, as they’ve come to associate the chemical with food.
University of Tours Prof. Claudio Lazzari says that until now, scientists believed that repellants worked by blocking the pests’ ability to find humans, or through their unpleasant-smelling nature.
Lazzari says that “…this represents a significant change in understanding repellants.”
Dr. Nina Stanczyk of ETH Zürich University says that mosquitoes have been long observed to have “impressive learning abilities” and are able to “associate such a strong repellent smell with their food and are then attracted to it afterward.”
Lazzari says the chemical does not lose its effective nature, when used outside in normal conditions.
University of Florence entomologist Prof. Francesca Romana Dani says that “…although a single mosquito can take multiple blood meals, they do so every few days, so it’s important to evaluate how long the memory of a blood meal taken in the presence of DEET will last.”
