Methods of Imparting Mosquito
Repellent Agents and the Assessing
Mosquito Repellency on Textile
Aufa Adeela Anuar* and Nurain Yusof
Textile Research Group, Faculty of Applied Sciences,
MARA University of Technology, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia
*Correspondence: [email protected]
Abstract
This review intends to analyze the distinctive fabric utilized for mosquito repellent studies and forms of
treatment mosquito agents on the fabrics. Textile treated with mosquito repellent is a revolutionary innova-
tion to protect human from the bites of mosquito borne disease such as Dengue. This peculiarity was
produced as needed in feeling of assurance from mosquitoes in the regions which are territories of the
mosquitoes and inclined to disease. To impart this feature, the fabrics are given a treat- ment of mosquito
repellent agent which capable of being utilized and without ruining their characteristics. The utilization of
anti-agents to dress and di?erent fabrics is best contrasted with skin application in light of the fact that it
lessens the probability of unfavorably susceptible responses. This paper described the textile materials
selection, methods of imparting the repellent into the fabrics, types of repellent as well as the repellency
test of treated fabrics. The assessments used in the treated textile are sum- marized and conditions of the
assessment of repellency relative to this discussion are presented.
Introduction
Mosquito bites can give an unpleas-
ant feeling and may transmit the vec-
tor disease such as dengue or malaria
to humankind. Mosquitoes are attract-
ed to human blood con- taining protein
to develop their eggs, biting human to
another human, thereby trans- mitting
the vector disease to human. The ge-
nus Aedes mosquitoes are responsi-
ble to transmit the vector of dengue all
over the worlds with billion people suf-
fer from the dis- ease and also death
cases reported (Division of Vector-
Borne Disease 2012). There are only a
few vaccines to treat the virus caused
by mosquito bites, however, in the case
of dengue, researchers are yet to find
the vaccines for it (Farag et al. 2011)
the best way is for people to avoid
mosquito bites. Repellents are practi-
cal products and economical means to
prevent the transmissions of the mos-
quito vector disease (Yang & Ma 2005).
Hence, personal protective measure
must be taken to protect human from
mosquito bites. Applying mosquito re-pellents either on their skin, house,
even on their clothing or upholsteries
may help in protecting human against
mosquito bites. Repellents that applied
to skin or clothing produce a vapor lay-
er that has an offensive smell or taste
and makes a person unattractive for
feeding and therefore repels the mos-
quito (Brown and Hebert 1997; Fradin
and Day 2002) several studies showed
that most repellents was developed in
the form of lotions, cream, essential
oils, spray, or solution where in most
cases require direct application to the
human skin (Amer and Mehlhorn 2006;
Ariffin et al. 2012; Fei and Xin 2007;
Fradin and Day 2002; Snodgrass 1992;
Yates et al. 2005).
Treating the garment fabrics with re-
pellent agent is another way to avoid
mosquito bites as the big proportion
of the human skin is covered by the
treated garment thus, avoid- ing it to
be exposed to the blood sucking mos-
quitoes. Imparting the mosquito repel-
lents onto the textile and cloth impreg-
nating laundry emulsions application
is one of the inno- vatory and practical
NCM-OCTOBER 2021
35approach in daily routine to driving
away the blood sucking arthro- pods
from people (Brown and Hebert 1997;
Maheshwari and Ramya 2014). The
present inventions of mosquito repel-
lents to be imparted into the fabric can
be produced using various techniques
such as addition during rinse cycle,
direct coating, finishing like cloth im-
pregnating laudry emulsions and oth-
ers (Anitha et al. 2011; Anuar and Yusof
2016; Farag et al. 2011; Fei and Xin
2007; Snodgrass 1992; Sumithra and
Vasugi Raja 2012; Troutman 2009; Van
Winkle 2002). The textiles with mos-
quito repelling features exhibit a char-
acter that can drive the mosquito away
from the treated textile, or by knock-
ing down the mosquitoes when it is in
contact with the treated textiles. The
applications of the mosquito repellent
feature must not damage the original
characteristic of the textile materials
itself. The value added of repellent
properties also for textile material is a
novel approaches as it by means can
help to reduce the statistics of vector
disease cases with- out giving a side
effect to the wearer. According to a