With dengue cases at a record high this year and the Zika virus slowly making its way into our lives, Malaysians are always on the look out for the best mosquito repellent in the market.
Thanks to a recent study, researchers have found the perfect mosquito repellent you can buy right now: a bottle of Victoria’s Secret ‘Bombshell’ perfume.
Yes, you read that right.
According to a study done by the New Mexico State University (NMSU), researchers found that the popular perfume can effectively repel mosquitoes for up to two hours.
NMSU dropped the Bombshell (sorry, we can’t resist the pun) after the team conducted a test on 10 commercially available products and its effectiveness in repelling the annoying little buggers.
Science website Science Alert reported that the experiment, which was reportedly conducted last year, used two different types of mosquitoes – the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti).
The researchers found that for two hours, ‘Bombshell’ — which costs RM279 per bottle, if anyone’s asking — managed to keep the mosquitoes away.
“There was some previous literature that said fruity, floral scents attracted mosquitoes and to not wear those.
“It was interesting to see that the mosquitoes were not actually attracted to the person that was wearing the Victoria’s Secret perfume – they were repelled by it,” Stacy Rodriguez, who led the NMSU research team, told the website.
But before you ditch your mosquito repellents and load up on ‘Bombshell’ perfumes, it’s important to note that for the experiment, only 0.5ml of the perfume was doused onto the volunteer’s hand, so the researchers do not believe that the perfume would have the same effect in normal concentrations.
Also, the researchers found that the perfume is not anywhere near as effective as products containing diethyltoluamide, the most common active ingredient you can find in insect repellents.
So, we advise you to stick to mosquito repellent, guys.
