DEET vs Mossies

[Thanyaburi Mac]

I've been using OFF! in the orange can for some years, don't know, but have have never had malaria or dengue and I spend lots of time outdoors, well, inside the house but with a wide open porch. This is the 15% DEET stuff.

Was wondering what else might be available locally.

A friend said he'd bought some 24% concentration DEET at BOOTS so I stopped by an outlet this morning and found some, REPEL brand.

BOOTS also had REPEL in a 50% concentration. Made me wonder, is that high a concentration safe?

Went to ask Mr Google who came up with their www site: http://www.repel.com/

And, lo and behold, there's even 100% available OTC.

Mr Google also came up with this interesting article from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21519998

Mosquitoes ignore repellent Deet after first exposure

By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC World Service

Deet works the first time, but for some hours afterwards it loses its power

The widely used insect repellent Deet appears to be losing its effectiveness against mosquitoes, scientists say.

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So, any ideas, comments? I'm tempted to go ahead and get one of those 50% concentrate cans. Have had friends come down with dengue, looks like something I want to pass by.

Mac

[tfc]

For a relatively short period of time (up to 2 weeks) I'd be willing to use high strength deet but for day to day living (Chiang Mai city area) I use citronella when I'm out. It's kept me bite free for 3 years now. I had dengue just over 3 years ago and was lathering on the deet daily for a while but after prolonged use I started having unpleasant reactions to it. ie. it felt like it was penetrating the surface of the skin. This was just with the weak stuff 15-20%.