100% Deet?

Bumpy Jonas

When it comes to bug spray for India during the monsoon, should I go with these 100% DEET sprays? Or is that too much of the chemical? How available is good bug spray in India (should I bring my supply for all 3 months with me)? How quickly will I probably go through the stuff?

Thanks a lot!!!

maree

100%....is that legal?? Sounds pretty toxic. I use a 30% one if the mozzies are really bad or sometimes just a natural citronella based one. And yes....insect repellent is readily available.

Bumpy Jonas

That's what I thought... 100% sounded pretty rough to me!! But I kept seeing them being offered. Thanks for the info!

hazyjane

I liked odomos cream as it smells nice and is moisturizing. I couldn't sleep in a cloud of deet fumes myself.

I think how drastic the measures you need to take are depends on whether you're someone the mosquitos like or not. There's a chemical they like that's in some peoples' blood and not others is I think how it works. They hardly ever bite me so I'm very fortunate. My travelling companion wasn't so lucky.

indiamike

Odomos cream is readily available and probably safer than using a DEET spray or cream and for the price, you could get around five tubes of Odomos for the what you would pay for a bottle of deet spray at western prices.

For info on Odomos visit their website http://clients.rediff.com/odomos/Odomos.htm

Oh and while your there make sure and check out the games section. I have been playing Odo Man for the last few minutes (Pac Man except with mosquitos and Odo Man )

Plus some great wallpapers, especially the nudists and the sadhu.


Great Fun

maree

I tried Odo Man and, I have to say, I was crap.... only 970 points - couldn't seem to get the hang of the arrow keys.... great website.

Hazyjane - lucky you....I'm one of those people they like to bite.

Watson

Definately Odomos for me. Is readily available, works and smells ok.

IVAN

Just in case, you know of course that Deet is a repellent, not an insecticide?

I think that I have a few links with some warnings on the travel section of my homepage.

I woluldn't put 100% Deet on my skin but, you can make use of the 100% solution by spraying your mosquito net, the sides of your bed, the wall above your head etc...

Ah and, one of the best things you can do is to bring with you a mosquito's favorite dish like maree

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flamingo2004

hah - 16.430 point in Odo Man
But on the topic - instead of a very expensive spray from home (for like 769 rp) you can buy an Odomos cream for ? - how much.
I 'm kind of there, where my wife spends more on stuff to bring to protect us against mosquitos, than we are gonna use on eating and drinking in India....

mdchachi

The May 2003 Consumer Reports tested mosquito repellents. Test methodology didn't sound that fun. Certainly not as much fun as testing MP3 players or high-performance sports cars:

Three testers exposed their repellent-treated arms to 200 mosquitoes for 3 minutes, then counted the number of bugs that bit them. If none bit, the testers repeated the process every half-hour until at least one mosquito bit during two successive exposures. To judge effectiveness against ticks, the testers put three active deer-tick nymphs on their untreated wrists and waited to see whether the ticks would climb onto a repellent-treated section of their forearm. The test was repeated every hour with new ticks until at least one tick ventured onto the treated area and stayed there. (None of the bugs carried disease.)

The best they found was 33% DEET 3M Ultrathon and 100% DEET Off! Deep Woods for Sportsmen, each provided protection from mosquitos for 13 hours. 15% DEET Bug Out was deemed a good buy for shorter durations (up to 7 hours).

Non-Deet repellents and lotions were found to provide one hour protection at most. No all-natural "natural" products were found to be effective.

I'll have to check the brand but I picked up some 100% DEET last week in preparation for India. I'm much more concerned about the mosquitos than several days exposure to DEET.

Perhaps when somebody gets a chance they can gather 200 mosquitos and try out this test with Odomos and let us know how effective it is. :-)

trvl_in

100% deet is likely the most toxic chemical you may consider applying to your skin. It will burn holes in synthetic fabric, so use it only on exposed flesh (if at all). Use no more than two drops dabbed cologne style behind each ear and one drop on each wrist. The resulting miasma of poisonous vapour should repel mosquitos.

Deet gets absorbed by your skin, entering your body. Your metabolic system must work efficiently in order to clean this chemical out of your system. If you have any doubt about the resiliance and vitality of your system, stay away from 100% deet.

The 30% deet ultrathon product is presently considered to offer the best available balance of repellence, health safety, and comfort of use (odour / skin irritation).

I am taking mainly 30% ultrathon plus one small bottle of 100% deet to be used only if necessary.

If you are travelling with children, or with anyone else who might possibly misuse or not understand the risks associated with deet, I would strongly urge not taking 100% deet with you at all.

This is my personal opinion based on what I've heard and read. I am not a qualified health advisor. I would suggest consulting a Doctor or other health professional before using 100% deet.

jrpkid

You're going to have to place bets on all risks: will there be a lot of mosquitoes where you are when you are there? Will you be in one type of climate the whole time? Are you taking malaria meds? What kind? How effective is it? Are you using a combo of DEET and meds, or just DEET? These are questions you'll have to ask yourself and sort out what's best for you.

How available it is depend on where you are going. I brought 100% DEET with me, and brought a small spray bottle. I mixed it 50/50 in the spray bottle, and used it sparingly. Using this method, you can tweek with the concentration until you get an amount you feel comfomfortable with using, and which also repels the buggers. If you have to, you can dump some out, add dilute it further, or add more 100% to make it stronger. There were times when I didn't really have to use repellant, and there were times when I had to use the stuff full strength (but these times were rare, even when the monsoons started). What I really wish they had was an "all other flying critter" repellant. But that's a whole other bowl of pickles.

I was able to put a 50/50 on my clothes with no noticible damage. But wash it off your skin at night (or whenever your done needing it)!!!! It IS very toxic.

I didn't know anyone using Odomos. Actually, there was one guy, but he started using my spray once the rain started.

republicofcharas

the REPEL brand sold in the usa is 95% DEET.

midwestjules

Be careful with high concentration of DEET, especially with children. There's debate about this, but my sister-in-law's nephew (about 10 yr old) started having epiletic (sp?) attacks after a camping trip and specialists traced it back to the use of DEET from mosquito repellant they used. My immunizations Dr. told me DEET doesn't cause epilepsy, but this case would be strange coincidence. I'm not trying to be alarmist, just telling what I've heard.

Sadhu

So how bad will the mosquitos be in Tamil Nadu in April? Going April 2-15, and I'd like to know what I'm up against. Thanks

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