Picaridin-Based Insect Repellent
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Paul Auerbach, M.D.
There is a plethora of insect repellents on the market. Many of the newer repellents are intended to replace DEET (N,N diethyl-m-toluamide), which is an excellent and reliable repellent, but which carries a distinctive odor, can dissolve certain fabrics, and has been associated with rare reports of toxicity when used in high concentrations. Newer insect repellent choices include picaridin, which is advertised to be odorless, nontoxic, and non-injurious to clothing and tents. Wanting to give it a try, I carried a bottle of Cutter Advanced Insect Repellent (With Picaridin!) on a fishing trip this past summer to British Columbia. The main component in this product is picaridin 7%.In previous years, I have relied upon DEET, namely, DEET PLUS Composite Insect Repellent Lotion from Sawyer Products, which contains as its main component 17.5% DEET, and which has always been very effective. I have been using this product for years, because I continue to replenish my first aid kid from a supply I obtained nearly a decade ago. Despite this period of time, the repellent continues to perform very well and with no apparent decrease in its effectiveness.
The Cutter Advanced Insect Repellent with picaridin was easy to apply and, as advertised, was colorless and odorless. However, in my subjective, one-person observation, it wasn't as effective against the mosquitoes at our camp as was DEET. I took care to carefully apply the picaridin-containing spray to the exposed skin on my forearms, hands, face, neck, and legs, but found that I continued to be bitten by mosquitoes. The spray worked to a certain degree, as I did receive as many bites as I suffered without using the spray, but on many occasions, I needed to add the DEET Plus lotion in order to keep the mosquitoes off my skin. Furthermore, when I used DEET Plus alone instead of the picaridin spray, the former seemed to be much more effective.
Does this mean that there is no role for picaridin? Not at all. It certainly lessened the number of mosquito bites, and it is true that it is easy to apply and sports the physical characteristics as advertised. However, I have heard from a few others that their experience with picaridin has been the same, namely, that it seems to be less effective when the mosquitoes are plentiful and/or voracious, and that if an application is not perfect (e.g., a patch of skin is not treated), the mosquitoes are not repelled by picaridin in the vicinity (e.g., on treated skin) to the same degree that they might be if DEET had been used.
My recommendation at this time is that picaridin has a place as a mosquito repellent, but the user should be aware that if there is a serious concern about mosquito bites (e.g., with transmission of disease, such as West Nile virus or malaria), one should still be utilizing a DEET-containing product, use mosquito netting, pre-treat clothing with permethrin, and so forth.
PLEASE remember to preview the 25th Anniversary & Annual Meeting of the Wilderness Medical Society, which will be held in Snowmass, Colorado July 25-30, 2008.
Tags: insect repellent,picaridin, DEET, mosquito, insect bite, wilderness medicine, outdoor medicine, healthline
Labels: DEET, insect bite, insect repellent, mosquito, picaridin
6 Comments:
At Sat May 24, 06:03:00 PM 2008,
Ev said…
Tried out Cutter Advanced wipes today after picking up eleven bites in an hour of pruning and weedwacking while wearing Herbal Armor with sunscreen.
Voracious tiger mosquitoes everywhere in our area of SE VA.
Wiped vigorously all over with 3 wipes after washing everything else off. Four hours of mowing, pruning and weeding with just one additional bite.
Seems pretty good to me!
At Sat Jul 05, 12:10:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
I run trails (5 miles) and have to deal with biting flies. When wearing a Picariden based insect repelant I have some biting flies around me but they don't land on me. So I like the product. DEET may work better but I stink afterwards so that it continues to repel my wife. Piacaridin doesn't have this additional repellent effect.
At Fri Apr 24, 07:44:00 AM 2009,
Anonymous said…
I live below the "Gnat Line" in Georgia. The Cutter 7% (picaridin) works great at repelling gnats and a nasty critter called a "yellow-fly" when applied around your ears & neck.
DEET products don't seem to help w/ gnats at all....The folks that use "skin-so-soft" and dryer sheets still have gnats and smell very odd....I do agree DEET is better at fending of mosquitoes
At Sun May 03, 02:55:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
I am an avid cyclist and am also familiar with the biting gnats & yellow flies of the south. After years of wearing my not-so-favorite summer perfume, Eau D’EET, and having no luck with regard to the aforementioned insects, finding Picaridin has been a blessing. DEET containing repellants removed my nail polish and removed paint from any painted surface I happened to bump into. Mosquito bites are an irritation, but do not cause me to lose sleep & a benedryl cream relieves the itch. Gnat bites can literally keep me from sleeping for a couple days; the only thing that controls the itch is ice. And it’s difficult to apply ice packs to 30 or 40 bites in order to try for sleep. The yellow fly bites actually cause huge welts that are not just itchy for a week or so, but painful for 3-4 weeks after that! Thank goodness for Picaridin. One other note; I have not been bitten by any mosquitos while using the Picaridin either.
At Thu May 21, 02:31:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
I've been using picaridin based cutter advanced in a pump spray for a little over a week in NH. We are entering black fly season, mosquitoes are bad as are numerous other biting insects.
I am finding Picaridin not nearly as effective as deet, and it is anything but odor-free!!! Much worse than deet!! It is very strong smelling- kind of like black walnut hulls-not pleasant at all.
I had such high hopes- deet in strong concentrations is the only thing that works for me.
At Sat Jun 20, 03:19:00 PM 2009,
Anonymous said…
For after bite treatment, I use homeopathic remedy Ledum, 6c. Bites stop itching and lumps go away in an hour.
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