Mosquitoes come every year, how to avoid them? In order not to be harassed by these vampires, humans have been constantly developing various coping weapons. From passive defense mosquito nets and window screens, to proactive insecticides, mosquito repellents, and ambiguous toilet water, to the Internet celebrity product mosquito repellent bracelets in recent years, who can be truly safe and effective in each faction?
01
Pyrethroids–a weapon for active killing
The idea of dealing with mosquitoes can be divided into two schools: active killing and passive defense. Among them, the active killing faction not only has a long history, but also has an intuitive effect. In household mosquito repellents represented by mosquito coils, electric mosquito repellents, electric mosquito coil liquid, aerosol insecticides, etc., the main active ingredient is pyrethroid. It is a broad-spectrum insecticide that can control a variety of pests and has a strong contact action. Its mechanism of action is to disturb the nerves of insects, causing them to die from excitement, spasm, and paralysis. When using mosquito killers, in order to better kill mosquitoes, we usually try to keep the indoor environment in a closed state, so that the content of pyrethroids is maintained at a relatively stable level.
The most significant advantage of pyrethroids is that they are highly effective, requiring only lower concentrations to knock down mosquitoes. Although pyrethroids can be metabolized and excreted after being inhaled into the human body, they are still mildly toxic and will have a certain impact on the human nervous system. Long-term exposure may also cause symptoms such as dizziness, headache, nerve paresthesia and even nerve paralysis. Therefore, it is best not to put mosquito repellents around the head of the bed when sleeping to avoid discomfort caused by inhaling air containing too high a concentration of pyrethroids.
In addition, aerosol-type insecticides often contain aromatic harmful substances, and people with allergies need to avoid them when using aerosol-type insecticides. For example, leave the room and close the doors and windows immediately after spraying an appropriate amount, and then come back to open the windows for ventilation after a few hours, which can ensure the effect and safety of killing mosquitoes at the same time.
At present, the common pyrethroids on the market are mainly tetrafluthrin and chlorofluthrin. Studies have shown that the knockdown effect of cyfluthrin on mosquitoes is better than that of tetrafluthrin, but tetrafluthrin is better than cyfluthrin in terms of safety. Therefore, when purchasing mosquito repellent products, you can make specific choices according to the person who uses it. If there are no children at home, it is better to choose products containing fenfluthrin; if there are children in the family, it is safer to choose products containing fenfluthrin.
02
Mosquito repellent spray and water repellent – keep safe by tricking mosquitoes’ sense of smell
After talking about active kills, let’s talk about passive defense. This genre is a bit like the “golden bells and iron shirts” in Jin Yong’s novels. Instead of confronting mosquitoes, they keep these “vampires” away from us and isolate them from safety in some ways.
Among them, mosquito repellent spray and mosquito repellent water are the main representatives. Their mosquito repellent principle is to interfere with the smell of mosquitoes by spraying on the skin and clothing, using the odor that mosquitoes hate or forming a protective layer around the skin. It can not smell the special odor emitted by the human body, thus playing the role of isolating mosquitoes.
Many people think that toilet water, which also has the effect of “repelling mosquitoes”, is a perfume product made of toilet oil as the main fragrance and accompanied by alcohol. Their main functions are decontamination, sterilization, anti-prickly heat and itching. Although it can also play a certain anti-mosquito effect, compared with anti-mosquito spray and mosquito repellent water, both the working principle and the main components are completely different, and the two cannot be used instead of each other.
03
Mosquito Repellent Bracelet and Mosquito Repellent Sticker–Useful or not depends on the core ingredients
In recent years, the types of mosquito repellent products on the market have become more and more abundant. Many wearable mosquito repellent products such as mosquito repellent stickers, mosquito repellent buckles, mosquito repellent watches, mosquito repellent wristbands, mosquito repellent pendants, etc. It needs to be in direct contact with the skin, which is favored by many people, especially parents of children. These products are generally worn on the human body and form a protective layer around the human body with the help of the smell of the drug, which interferes with the sense of smell of mosquitoes, thereby playing the role of repelling mosquitoes.
When purchasing this type of mosquito repellent product, in addition to checking the pesticide registration certificate number, it is also necessary to check whether it contains truly effective ingredients, and select products with appropriate ingredients and concentrations according to the usage scenarios and objects of use.
At present, there are 4 safe and effective mosquito repellent ingredients registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC): DEET, Picaridin, DEET (IR3535) / Imonin), Lemon Eucalyptus Oil (OLE) or its extract Lemon Eucalyptol (PMD). Among them, the first three belong to chemical compounds, and the latter belong to plant components. From the perspective of effect, DEET has good mosquito repellent effect and lasts for a long time, followed by picaridin and DEET, and lemon eucalyptus oil repellent. Mosquitoes last for a short time.
In terms of safety, because DEET is irritating to the skin, we generally recommend that children use mosquito repellent products with a DEET content of less than 10%. For infants under 6 months, do not Use mosquito repellent products that contain DEET. Mosquito repellent has no toxic and side effects on the skin, and will not penetrate into the skin. It is currently recognized as a relatively safe mosquito repellent product and can be used daily. Extracted from natural sources, lemon eucalyptus oil is safe and non-irritating to the skin, but the terpenoid hydrocarbons it contains may cause allergies. Therefore, in many European and American countries, it is not recommended for children under the age of three.
Post time: Aug-05-2022