| > A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda. While this is good news...a quick realty check, for those unfamiliar: Malaria, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, kills ~16,000 Ugandans per year. That is a profoundly different social and economic situation from what mosquito repellents face in most of the world. Also, the research is aimed straight at local, low-tech production in Uganda. Criteria like "shelf stable", "no unpleasant odor", and "doesn't stain clothing" could be very low priorities. EDIT: Fixed mortality number, added source: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profil... Note the >10M annual cases. Malaria is really not a nice disease, and Uganda's population is only about 50M. |