Bauer, Irmgard L. (2023) The oral repellent – Science fiction or common sense? Insects, vector-borne diseases, failing strategies, and a bold proposition. Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines, 9. 7.

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Abstract

Over the last decades, unimaginable amounts of money have gone into research and development of vector control measures, repellents, treatment, and vaccines for vector borne diseases. Technological progress and scientific breakthroughs allowed for ever more sophisticated and futuristic strategies. Yet, each year, millions of people still die or suffer from potentially serious consequences of malaria or dengue to more recent infections, such as zika or chikungunya, or of debilitating consequences of neglected tropical diseases. This does not seem value for money. In addition, all current vector control strategies and personal protection methods have shortcomings, some serious, that are either destructive to non-target species or unsatisfactory in their effectiveness. On the other hand, the rapid decline in insect populations and their predators reflects decades-long aggressive and indiscriminate vector control. This major disruption of biodiversity has an impact on human life not anticipated by the well-meaning killing of invertebrates. The objective of this paper is to re-examine current control methods, their effectiveness, their impact on biodiversity, human and animal health, and to call for scientific courage in the pursuit of fresh ideas. This paper brings together topics that are usually presented in isolation, thereby missing important links that offer potential solutions to long-standing problems in global health. First, it serves as a reminder of the importance of insects to human life and discusses the few that play a role in transmitting disease. Next, it examines critically the many currently employed vector control strategies and personal protection methods. Finally, based on new insights into insect chemo-sensation and attractants, this perspective makes a case for revisiting a previously abandoned idea, the oral repellent, and its use via currently successful methods of mass-application. The call is out for focused research to provide a powerful tool for public health, tropical medicine, and travel medicine.

Item ID:	79173
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2055-0936
Keywords:	Systemic repellent, topical repellents, spatial repellents, mosquitos, chemo-sensation, neglected tropical diseases, salt fortification, insect decline, biodiversity
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Date Deposited:	03 Jul 2023 23:28
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420605 Preventative health care @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310399 Ecology not elsewhere classified @ 10% 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3299 Other biomedical and clinical sciences > 329999 Other biomedical and clinical sciences not elsewhere classified @ 40%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2001 Clinical health > 200104 Prevention of human diseases and conditions @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200404 Disease distribution and transmission (incl. surveillance and response) @ 30% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1999 Other environmental policy, climate change and natural hazards > 199999 Other environmental policy, climate change and natural hazards not elsewhere classified @ 20%
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