Table 3.

Guidelines on repellent testing adapted from [78]

WHOPES approved repellent testing methodology
Laboratory Testing
Use 20% deet in ethanol as a positive comparison
Human subjects preferable to reflect the end user
Before the test the test area of skin should be washed with unscented soap then rinsed with 70% ethanol / isopropyl alcohol
Mosquitoes should be reared under standard 27 ± 2 C temperature, ≥80 ± 10% relative humidity, and a 12:12 (light:dark) photoperiod.
Mosquitoes should be 3 to 5 days old, nulliparous females, starved for 12 hours preceding the test
Tests should be conducted with three or more species
40 x 40 x 40 cm cages with 50 – 100 mosquitoes for effective dose testing
40 x 40 x 40 cm cages with 200 - 250 mosquitoes for complete protection time testing
Control arms should be used to estimate mosquito readiness to feed
Treatment arms should be offered to mosquitoes after avidity has been measured
Field Testing
Use 20% deet in ethanol as a positive comparison
Human subjects preferable to reflect the end user
Before the test the test area of skin should be washed with unscented soap then rinsed with 70% ethanol / isopropyl alcohol
Volunteers should sit >20 metres apart
Design should be completely randomised
Trials should be conducted with medium biting pressures of representative vector species
All participants should be recruited on informed consent from the local area and be provided with malaria prophylaxis
In all testing monitoring of adverse effects should be carried out