Evaluation of the cotton fabric model for screening topical mosquito repellents

The data of King (1954) were analyzed by rank correlation methods to determine if the results of tests of candidate mosquito repellents on cotton fabric were correlated with the results of tests of the same compounds on the skin. The coefficient of rank correlation was statistically significant (P less than 0.01) for tests against salt marsh mosquitoes, Aedes sollicitans and Ae. taeniorhynchus, and yellow fever mosquitoes, Ae. aegypti, but not for tests against malaria mosquitoes, Anopheles quadrimaculatus. The coefficient of rank correlation was small (rs less than or equal to 0.40), and it was concluded that cotton fabric is not an efficient model for the skin in repellent screening programs.