DEET discussion from been busy diving thread

[greeniguana]

The level of DEET (10%, 30% or 100%) refers only to how long it remains effective. If you’re going to be outside for 10 hours, use 100%. For two hours, 25% is adequate. DEET reacts with chemicals released by your body to confuse and deter mosquitoes. It has no effect on clothing. That’s a complete waste of money. I see it all the time especially on golf courses. People spraying their hats!

Yeah. The golfers are right... I've been a wetland biologist for more than 20 years, never once sprayed DEET on my skin. Even in nasty swamps, just spraying my hat is usually all that's required. And concentration over 50% is worthless.

https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/toolkit/DEET.pdf

 

[greeniguana]

See above citations. Full credit to @Esprise Me .

"These results suggest that synthetic repellents disruptively change the chemical profile of host scent signatures on the skin surface rendering humans invisible to Anopheles mosquitoes."

Doesnt need to be on the skin to keep them from smelling you. You can put deet on a piece of paper and set it on a table and it repels mosquitos.... I've done it.

 

[tridacna]

Doesnt need to be on the skin to keep them from smelling you. You can put deet on a piece of paper and set it on a table and it repels mosquitos.... I've done it.

Since when did a piece of paper attract a mosquito? Not sure what your experiment proved?

 

[greeniguana]

Since when did a piece of paper attract a mosquito? Not sure what your experiment proved?

OK. I know better than to argue with you.

 

[tursiops]

DEET goes on skin, Permethrin goes on clothes. Picaridin goes on either.

Permethrin vs Deet vs Picaridin

Exploring nature and spending time outdoors with your dear ones are, undoubtedly, awe-inspiring experiences. Nevertheless, being bitten by annoying vector

control-mosquitoes.com

 

[tridacna]

What makes mosquitoes avoid DEET? An answer in their legs

Many of us slather ourselves in DEET each summer in hopes of avoiding mosquito bites, and it generally works rather well. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on April 25 have made the surprising discovery that part of the reason for DEET's success can be found in the...

www.eurekalert.org

Turns out if you put shoes on mosquitoes, they bite you regardless of how much DEET you have on. Sensors in their feet.

 

[Esprise Me]

What makes mosquitoes avoid DEET? An answer in their legs

Many of us slather ourselves in DEET each summer in hopes of avoiding mosquito bites, and it generally works rather well. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on April 25 have made the surprising discovery that part of the reason for DEET's success can be found in the...

www.eurekalert.org

Turns out if you put shoes on mosquitoes, they bite you regardless of how much DEET you have on. Sensors in their feet.

Did you read your own link?

Other researchers showed several years ago that DEET may taste bitter and speculated that bitter taste could account for its ability to repel mosquitoes on contact.

To test this idea, the researchers first made sure that mosquitoes didn't like bitter tastes or the taste of DEET by offering them sugar water with and without DEET or another bitter compound. As expected, the insects had a clear preference for sugar water without the bitter or DEET.

So yes, DEET repels mosquitoes, full stop. It doesn't need to be applied to human skin to activate its magic. It may work better on skin; that's still being researched, and nothing you or I posted proves that conclusively. It seems there are a number of factors that affect mosquito behavior, and DEET may work in more than one way. But it's pretty clear that the behavior you derided--applying it to clothing-- has at least some effect. Since mosquitoes can bite through many types of clothing, and since the advice not to apply DEET under clothes is easily Google-able, spraying it on your clothes may in fact be the best way to go in certain circumstances.

I'm not really hoping to convince you at this point, but I'd hate for someone reading your posts to make a poor decision. In the US, mosquito bites are usually just an annoyance, but when traveling to other parts of the world, as the OP and perhaps others following along are planning to do, the consequences can be much more serious.

 

[Marie13]

Heh. I’m one of those people that gets nice welts from skeeter bites. MX should be fun.

 

[Esprise Me]

Heh. I’m one of those people that gets nice welts from skeeter bites. MX should be fun.

Me too. California used to be a safe haven, but in the last few years we've acquired an invasive species. I'm hard at work trying to annihilate the monsters or at least protect myself. But FWIW, I didn't get bitten too bad around the cenotes the two times I visited.

 

[Marie13]

Me too. California used to be a safe haven, but in the last few years we've acquired an invasive species. I'm hard at work trying to annihilate the monsters or at least protect myself. But FWIW, I didn't get bitten too bad around the cenotes the two times I visited.

I grew up in Michigan. Skeeters are the unofficial state bird.