Use of kerosene lamp containing synthetic pyrethroids to repel mosquitoes

An indigenous and appropriate method of personal protection was developed and tested in rural areas. It consists of an ordinary kerosene lamp made of tin with a regulator to adjust the wick. Different concentrations of esbiothrin, a synthetic pyrethroid, were mixed in kerosene and allowed to burn in living rooms and cattlesheds from dusk to dawn to observe hourly entry of mosquitoes. The tin lamp (100 ml capacity) without chimney provided the most efficient protection from mosquito bites. The protection varied from 84.2 +/- 8.2 to 97.8 +/- 2.8. Maximum protection was observed against An. culicifacies. Esbiothrin kerosene lamp (0.01%) lighted in living room provided 99.7% protection to exposed human baits seated at a distance of 1 m from the lamp. The technique is simple, cost-effective and does not require electricity and can be used both for illumination and repelling mosquitoes in remote and inaccesible areas.