Abstract: Mosquitoes transmit various pathogens to humans and animals, which may result in a variety of diseases. The need for newer repellents and their release mechanisms have increased due to development of insecticide resistance and reluctance by many to use traditional topical repellents. Sustained release spatial repellents have been tested and have shown promise in preventing vector-host contact in small, enclosed areas such as personal space and tents. Sustained release devices have been designed to provide long term repellency over extended periods of time by deploying a set of devices. These devices have been evaluated under semi-field conditions for their efficacy when used at tent entrances to provide personal protection. Free flying mosquitoes were released and potentially recaptured using a baited trap set inside the tent as a surrogate host to determine the repellency. Mosquito bioassays were conducted inside the tents to determine the spatial distribution of the spatial repellent within the tent and the efficacy of the devices to affect mosquito behavior. This ensures that a sufficient amount of active ingredient was being released and spatially distributed in a way to affect the host seeking and host location behaviors of any free fliers which pass through the array of devices located at the tent entrance. These novel sustained release transfluthrin devices have been proven efficient up to 6 weeks in reducing the number of mosquitoes from successfully locating a potential host.
