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CNN Live Today
Medical Entomologist Discusses Mosquito Repellents
Aired August 08, 2002 - 10:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) warning there about the dangers of the West Nile virus. Alabama is latest state to report its first human case of the disease this year. In all, more than 30 states are now dealing with some form of the virus. Louisiana is the hardest hit area, with five deaths and dozens of infections.
Medical entomologist Roxanne Rutledge joins us now. She is going to tell us about how mosquitoes spread the disease and how you can protect yourself.
Roxanne, good morning.
ROXANNE RUTLEDGE, MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGIST: Good morning.
KAGAN: In your field of work, you keep some interesting company. Why don't you show us the little friends you brought with you this morning?
RUTLEDGE: OK. We have right here a cage of some male and female mosquitoes. Some that we reared in our lab. We know these are disease free.
KAGAN: I'm starting to itch just looking at those thinks, Roxanne.
What can we learn by looking at them, besides that those little critters want to bite us?
RUTLEDGE: Just by looking at them, if you look at the antenna on the front of their heads, the real fuzzy antenna are the males. The ones that have kind of plain antenna are the females. And it is the females that bite.
KAGAN: Ah, it's us girls that are doing the bad work out there.
RUTLEDGE: Right.
KAGAN: Now, we are hoping that they don't bite. Of course, number one, trying to prevent West Nile virus. But two, it is just downright uncomfortable to have all those mosquito bites in the summer. So we brought you here to talk bug spray. How important is bug spray?
RUTLEDGE: Right now, I would say to protect yourself against mosquito bites is one of the most important things that you can do.
KAGAN: We hear -- go ahead. RUTLEDGE: Personal protection, taking care of yourself, making sure that you don't get mosquito bites is very important right now, especially in those areas where they do have a lot of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) activity.
KAGAN: And when we hear about bug spray, we hear about DEET. What is DEET, and how does it work?
RUTLEDGE: DEET is actually a shortened name for a chemical that was synthesized in 1940s that is repellent for mosquitoes. We have -- in the products available on the market right now, they have different concentrations of DEET in them.
KAGAN: So we want to look at some of those products so that we -- because people, I think they go to the store, and your eyes just kind of glaze over at all the bottles of things. I guess most important, you are looking for concentration and percentage of DEET in each product?
RUTLEDGE: Right.
KAGAN: Is that correct? All right. Let's look at for three hours or more, OFF Deep Woods.
RUTLEDGE: Right, the concentrations that we found to provide protection for three to six hours were the product containing DEET at 20 percent or more.
KAGAN: OK. Now, if we go on down, if you have OFF Skintastic -- I think that's more kind of what you would see -- do actually, Roxanne, have those products with you so people can see -- what are those bottles? That might be even actually more informative than the graphics that we made. People don't see the graphics; they go to the store and the see the bottles. So let's hold up the bottle.
RUTLEDGE: Let me show you here where to look for the percentage of DEET. A lot of times the products that contain DEET will not actually say DEET on them. If you look...
KAGAN: You have to look at the really, really small writing.
RUTLEDGE: Right. And you'll see a long chemical name. N,N- diethyl-meta-toluamide -- that is DEET. And right over from that chemical name, it'll have the percentage of DEET in the product. So that's where you want to look.
KAGAN: If it is such a good thing, why aren't they putting it bigger on the label? That's what I wonder.
RUTLEDGE: The percentages?
KAGAN: Yes -- or even like, look, this product has DEET or this product doesn't have DEET.
RUTLEDGE: Actually, the ones who have more of an advertisement like that will say no DEET or DEET-free, like you see here. KAGAN: Right. Because I think some people hear a chemical and spraying and they think that is toxic, that is not something I want to put on my body. Is it toxic?
RUTLEDGE: Right. A lot of people don't want to use DEET because it is a synthetic chemical. Since the 1940s, since it has been in use, it has shown a pretty clean safety record.
KAGAN: Pretty clean. What does that mean?
RUTLEDGE: There are some people who have had reactions to DEET. There are some people who have misapplied it, who have had problems from using it. But the EPA has stated that if you use the product according the label, most of the general population would not have any problems with DEET products.
KAGAN: But is there a percentage that's too high? Would I want to slather 100 percent DEET all over my body?
RUTLEDGE: No, you don't really want to. There is not a need to. Most people...
KAGAN: Twenty percent should do you?
RUTLEDGE: Yes. Seven to 20 percent is good for most people. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that if you are going to use a DEET product on a child that you don't need to use more than 10 percent.
KAGAN: Yes, I want to talk kids. Can it be dangerous to kids?
RUTLEDGE: Well, it can -- it can be dangerous to anybody that uses if it's applied inappropriately. With kids, you want to have an adult apply it to the child. Don't get it on their hands because they will put their hands in their mouth and their eyes. And the other thing is you only need it put the DEET on the exposed parts of your body. You don't want it put it on underclothing. You can put it on top of clothing, but most people just put it on their skin. And then when you are back indoors, when you are out of the mosquito biting community, wash it off.
KAGAN: One more question on kids, is there an age at which you shouldn't use it, like really little kids, like babies?
RUTLEDGE: Yes, the guideline is not to use it on children under 2 years of age.
KAGAN: So how do you protect those kids?
RUTLEDGE: You know, I think most of the over-the-counter products that you see, no matter what they are, tell you not to use products on children under 2 years of age without the advice of a physician. So there's not one I would recommend for using for kids under 2 unless you talk to a physician about it.
KAGAN: Got it. So just to wrap up real quick, for kids, don't go over 10 percent, for adults, 20 percent is really all you need. And read the label to make sure the chemical is in there.
RUTLEDGE: Right.
KAGAN: Roxanne Rutledge, thank you and little critter friends for stopping by today.
RUTLEDGE: Thank you. All right.
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