Applications promise to fight mosquitoes, but their effectiveness is far from proven.
As summer marks the return of mosquitoes in numbers, some people rely on insecticides to fight against this scourge. Others are betting on mobile applications to repel these insects. Numerous on the App Store and the Google Play Store, the effectiveness of the latter remains largely questionable.
Unproven effectiveness
Presented as “mosquito repellents”, these applications promise to keep them away from the environment with a simple “low frequency sound”. An idea which is not new, recalled the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) last August.
“These devices would be effective because they would imitate the sound waves produced by the wingbeats of male mosquitoes or dragonflies. However, female mosquitoes which bite humans would be repelled by this sound,” explained Inserm.
The applications are based on this simple argument, which has not yet been scientifically proven, just like their effectiveness.
“The waves that could possibly be heard by female mosquitoes are too powerful to be reproduced by a smartphone,” Inserm also specified.
This lack of evidence concerning the usefulness of mosquito repellents based on waves had already been highlighted by the Cochrane organization in a literature review of ten studies published in 2010.
“Prank app”
Added to this is the fact that some of these applications themselves recognize their ineffectiveness. The “Insecticidal mosquito repellent” application, which is the first to appear after searching for “Mosquito repellent” on the App Store, indicates for example that it is more of a gadget than a real means of fighting against insects. mosquitoes.
“It has not been scientifically proven that low-frequency sounds can help repel mosquitoes. For this reason, this app should be considered a prank app,” the app developer warns in the lengthy description. this one.
As Inserm reports, experts advise against using this type of applications, “at best because they have no use, at worst because they can provide a false sense of protection, which leads users to neglect other approaches to protect themselves from bites.
