Comparative repellency of Iranian dimethyl phthalate (DMP) lotion and trench ointment against Culex pipiens (complex) under laboratory condition

Background and Mosquito control and personal protection from mosquito bites is currently one of the most important measures to control mosquito born diseases. The use of repellents is an obvious practical and economical means of preventing the transmission of these diseases to human. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) is one of the safest repellents, which is used alone or in combination with other repellents. This study evaluated DMP lotion, which synthesied and formulated in Iran, and Trench ointment for protection time (PT) and failure time (FT) against Culex pipiens (complex), under laboratory condition. Tests were conducted on human subjects to determine the repellent protection time and failure time (FT) by screen cage method induced by Iranian and foreign dimethyl phthalate (DMP) lotion and Trench ointment. Our results indicated that PT of Iranian DMP against Cx. pipiens was 299 min (SE= ± 7.03), which was not significantly different from two other repellents. There were significant differences in FT among three repellents. The FT of Iranian DMP was significantly less than two other repellents. PT and FT of trench ointment against Cx. pipiens (complex) was 5.5 and 8 hour, respectively. Iranian DMP lotion is comparable with foreign DMP lotion, but the formulation needs improvement to increase its repellent FT. Iranian DMP lotion must be evaluated under field condition, before usage in large scale.