The various repellents and other modes of bite
avoidance for travelers have recently been the subject of
an evidence-based review.
3
There has been surprisingly little research conducted
on the way that travelers follow bite-avoidance advice
or use repellents in practice. It could be argued that
bite avoidance is viewed in the same way as any chemo-
prophylactic agent to protect against malaria; it is only
effective if the individual adheres to the regimen pre-
scribed. Yet although work has been conducted defining
levels of adherence, attitudes, and behaviors regarding antimalarials,
4–6 this is not the case for bite avoidance.
There is also little data available concerning
compliance to insect repellent use, although it has
been stated that it is generally less than to malaria
chemoprophylaxis.
7 In retrospective questionnaire-
based studies of travelers and field studies in
servicemen,
adherence to bite recommendations does
appear to be low. Further, the attitudes of travelers to
the recommended bite-avoidance measures have no
been rigorously investigated to date.