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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382932
Research Project: Integrated Pest Management of Mosquitoes and Biting Flies

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Evaluation and application of repellent-treated uniform/clothing and textiles against vector mosquitoes

Author
item BERNIER, ULRICH - Retired ARS Employee
item PERRY, MELYNDA - Us Army Natick Center
item XUE, RUI-DE - Anastasia Mosquito Control District
item AGRAMONTE, NATASHA - Former ARS Employee
item JOHNSON, AMY - Us Army Natick Center
item Linthicum, Kenneth - Ken

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2021
Publication Date: 10/14/2021
Citation: Bernier, U.R., Perry, M.K., Xue, R., Agramonte, N.M., Johnson, A.L., Linthicum, K. 2021. Evaluation and application of repellent-treated uniform/clothing and textiles against vector mosquitoes. In Coats, J., Corona, C., Debboun, M., editors. Advances in arthoropd repellents. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. p.69-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85411-5.00002-9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85411-5.00002-9

Interpretive Summary: In military operations non-battle injuries, which include diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and other arthropods, have resulted in debilitating illnesses to warfighters and subsequently leading to failed missions with substantial medical costs to treat these individuals. In the American Revolutionary War, the ratio of non-battle related injuries and death outnumbered those received from battle by a ratio of 13:1. During the American Civil War and World Wars I and II, the ratio was closer to 2:1. Prior to and continuing through World War II, the United States Department of Defense developed a strategy to protect their military personnel when deployed on missions worldwide. This strategy provided remarkable protection from insect bites, and over the past 70 years clothing treatments with insecticides have been explored as arthropod repellents. Permethrin use on military clothing since 1991 has been shown to reduce the malaria incidence. This chapter discusses the need for repellent treated clothing, the development of the bite protection (or bite prevention) protocol for evaluating U.S. military fabrics, the protocol used for registration of a new treatment (etofenprox) for fabrics, and data from some recent studies on civilian clothing.

Technical Abstract: Mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever continue to cause harm and death to humans on a global scale. Prevention of arthropod bites is one of the most basic defense strategies to prevent the transmission of pathogens which occurs when an arthropod takes a blood-meal through its bite. Prevention of bites is dependent upon effective arthropod repellents for skin and clothing. While skin arthropod repellents are often compounds that are non-lethal to target organisms, clothing arthropod repellents are derived from the insecticide class. The primary purpose of a repellent on clothing is to repel an arthropod from the surface prior to being able to bite. Therefore, the most appropriate assays for measuring the repellency of insecticide treated clothing involve measurement of the ability of the system to prevent bites. This chapter discusses the need for repellent treated clothing, the development of the bite protection (or bite prevention) protocol for evaluating U.S. military fabrics, the protocol used for registration of a new treatment (etofenprox) for fabrics, and data from some recent studies on civilian clothing.