Study summary
Efficacy of Some Wearable Devices Compared with Spray-On Insect Repellents for the Yellow Fever Mosquito, Aedes aegypti
Rodriguez SD, Drake LL, Price DP, Hammond JI, Hansen IA
Read the original paper- Study type
- Field Trial
- Year
- 2017
- Published in
- Journal of Insect Science (2017), 17(1):24
- Evidence strength
- Well-supported evidence
Summary
This study put a range of wearable and gadget-style mosquito repellents to a head-to-head test against the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, an aggressive daytime biter that spreads dengue and Zika. The products included a sound-based wearable, a repellent wristband, and other passive devices, tested alongside a metofluthrin clip-on emanator and skin-applied repellents. The researchers measured how strongly mosquitoes were still drawn toward a person using each product, which is a direct way to ask whether the device actually keeps mosquitoes off you.
Key findings
The sound-based wearable and the passive wristband gave no significant reduction in mosquito attraction, meaning mosquitoes were drawn to a person wearing them about as readily as to an unprotected person. By contrast, the metofluthrin-based clip-on emanator and the skin-applied repellents did reduce attraction. The honest takeaway for a buyer is that this trial separates the gadgets that do something from the ones that do not: a wearable that emits sound, or a band worn on one spot, did not protect the person, while an active airborne repellent and a skin repellent did.
Limitations
This was a controlled evaluation of mosquito attraction using Aedes aegypti, so it measures whether mosquitoes are still drawn to a treated person rather than counting bites over a full evening outdoors, and results could differ for other mosquito species. It also tested specific commercial products, not every band or sonic device on the market. Even so, the pattern is consistent with the broader evidence that sound-based and single-spot wearables do not deliver the protection they are sold on.