Mosquito‐repellent controlled‐release formulations for fighting infectious diseases

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: António B. Mapossa, Walter W. Focke, Robert K. Tewo, René Androsch, Taneshka Kruger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021
• Subjects: Malaria; Vector control; Mosquito repellent; controlled‐release formulations; Kinetic model; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03681-7; https://doaj.org/article/9542c6e1f12c42e8b1e4b5a5cb30cd13

Abstract Malaria is a principal cause of illness and death in countries where the disease is endemic. Personal protection against mosquitoes using repellents could be a useful method that can reduce and/or prevent transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. The available repellent products, such as creams, roll-ons, and sprays for personal protection against mosquitoes, lack adequate long-term efficacy. In most cases, they need to be re-applied or replaced frequently. The encapsulation and release of the repellents from several matrices has risen as an alternative process for the development of invention of repellent based systems. The present work reviews various studies about the development and use of repellent controlled-release formulations such as polymer microcapsules, polymer microporous formulations, polymer micelles, nanoemulsions, solid-lipid nanoparticles, liposomes and cyclodextrins as new tools for mosquito-borne malaria control in the outdoor environment. Furthermore, investigation on the mathematical modelling used for the release rate of repellents is discussed in depth by exploring the Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas, Weibull models, as well as the recently developed Mapossa model. Therefore, the studies searched suggest that the final repellents based-product should not only be effective against mosquito vectors of malaria parasites, but also reduce the biting frequency of other mosquitoes transmitting diseases, such as dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika virus. In this way, they will contribute to the improvement in overall public health and social well-being.