Dengue and other mosquito borne diseases have been taking a toll lately. Although rains didn’t really happen this year, mosquito season never failed to make an appearance.
Mosquitos are the vectors for some grave diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Kala Azar etc. To stay safe from these diseases, my first advice would be to keep your surroundings clean. If you follow me on facebook or twitter, you already know some of the steps which I shared to keep mosquitos away. Remember, mosquitoes breed in still water. It does not matter clean or dirty water. It is imperative that you avoid letting any water stand near your surroundings. Avoid flower vases with water in your room and make sure water isn’t left discarded anywhere. Besides environmental control against mosquitoes, it becomes extremely important to take some personal protective measures for mosquito control. Personal protective measures include mosquito nets, mosquito repellants etc. One such commonly known mosquito repellant is DEET or known by its IUPAC name of N-N-Diethyl 3 Methyl Benzamide and another one commonly available in the market is Odomos which is N,N-Diethyl Benzamide. These two are only approved for external use. Before we proceed, let me make something clear: topical DEET (a yellowish coloured oil) is a standard mosquito repellant. It keeps the mosquitos away, it does not kill the mosquitoes. Odomos was formulated by Dabur as a mosquito repellant too. I am reviewing Odomos here but things I mention here are applicable to DEET as well when DEET in proper concentrations is applied topically on the skin.
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