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1 June 2010 Electronic Mosquito Repellers Induce Increased Biting Rates in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)
Carlos F. S. Andrade, Isaías Cabrini
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Abstract

Studies have demonstrated that electronic mosquito repellers are useless and that some of them could even increase the attraction of mosquitoes. While testing some electronic repellers, we noted that they also promoted an increase in biting rates. The present work has evaluated three commercial devices and a computer program working on five different sound frequencies. In a test chamber, the number of Aedes aegypti L. bite attempts was computed during four cycles of 3 min each by alternately turning the devices off and on. The mosquito biting rates for five sound frequencies (ranging from 9.6 kHz to 18.2 kHz) initially demonstrated a significant increase (ranging from around 20% to 50%), which decreased from 8.3% to 25.1% when the repellers were turned off. The biting rate significantly increased at 11.8 kHz (33.7%) when the device was turned on again. The danger of using electronic repellers and the role of sound frequencies stimulating mosquito biting are discussed.

Carlos F. S. Andrade and Isaías Cabrini "Electronic Mosquito Repellers Induce Increased Biting Rates in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)," Journal of Vector Ecology 35(1), 75-78, (1 June 2010). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1948-7134.2010.00061.x
Received: 24 August 2009; Accepted: 1 November 2009; Published: 1 June 2010
JOURNAL ARTICLE
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KEYWORDS
Aedes aegypti
mating
mosquito
repellency
sound
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