Oct. 6, 2008
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| Ken Zukin (right) of Ken Zukin Productions aims his camera inside the mosquito cage as researcher Zain Syed assists. |
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| Walter Leal, his wrist sprayed with DEET, shows hows mosquitoes avoid the repellant. At left is researcher Zain Syed. At right: Ken Zukin of Ken Zukin Productions. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS— DEET research took center stage recently when the UC Davis News Service filmed professor Walter Leal and researcher Zain Syed in their lab.
Leal and Zain uncovered the secret of DEET, in a story that went international.
DEET’s mode of action or how it works has puzzled scientists for more than 50 years. The chemical insect repellent, developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and patented by the U.S. Army in 1946, is considered the “gold standard” of insect repellants worldwide. Worldwide, more than 200 million use DEET to ward off vectorborne diseases.
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| Paul Pfotenhauer behind screened door. |
Scientists long surmised that DEET masks the smell of the host, or jams or corrupts the insect’s senses, interfering with its ability to locate a host. Mosquitoes and other blood-feeding insects find their hosts by body heat, skin odors, carbon dioxide (breath), or visual stimuli. Females need a blood meal to develop their eggs.
See full story on DEET Research
Watch video, the work of Paul Pfotenhauer of the UC Davis News Service and photographer Ken Zurkin.
