Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco have found that a new kind of mosquito repellent, called a spatial repellent, can help prevent mosquito bites and protect people from diseases like malaria. The study, published in the journal eBioMedicine, looked at over 25 years of data and studied about 1.7 million mosquitoes.
The repellent is used in a product known as a spatial emanator. It releases chemicals into the air and can stop more than half of mosquito bites. It is small, can last for up to a year, and does not need electricity or heat to work. This makes it useful in remote areas where malaria is common, such as in parts of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
This new tool comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) recently gave its support for spatial emanators. It is the first new mosquito control method in more than 40 years.
Unlike bed nets, which only work at night and inside homes, or mosquito sprays, which must be used again and again, spatial repellents can be used anytime — day or night. They also protect against mosquitoes that spread other diseases like dengue, Zika, yellow fever and West Nile virus.
The chemicals used in these repellents are similar to those in treated bed nets but are released into the air in a different way. The repellent works against all types of disease-carrying mosquitoes, but the level of protection may differ based on the mosquito species.
Malaria killed about 597,000 people in 2023, most of them children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.
The study suggests that spatial repellents could help fill the gaps left by older methods and may become an important part of the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.
