Field efficacy of commercial antimosquito products in Illinois

We evaluated the efficacy of commercial antimosquito products in field tria ls in Illinois in June 1998 by comparing mosquito landing rates. Products t ested were a sonic mosquito repeller, an insect killing grid using ultravio let light and 1-octen-3-ol as lures, mosquito smoke coils containing a pyre throid, citronella candles, the mosquito plant Pelargonium citrosum, and a N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (deet)-impregnated wrist band. The sonic mosq uito repeller, insect killing grid, and mosquito smoke coils were evaluated in 16 trials over 5 days; the citronella candles and mosquito plants in 11 trials over 4 days; and the wrist bands in 4 trials on 1 day. In all 3 stu dies, we compared landing rates with the antimosquito products to both posi tive (topical application of a deet formulation) and negative (no treatment ) controls. The deet topical repellent had a consistently lower landing rat e than all the nontopically applied products tested. However, the mosquito coils and the deet-impregnated wrist bands did significantly reduce mosquit o landing rates relative to untreated controls.