Summer is finally here and so are weekends spent on the terrace. But your evenings are likely to be ruined by mosquitoes and you might be tempted to download apps to keep them away: do they work?
Lemongrass and mosquito repellent: you have tried everything to keep pests away and you surely turned to the App Store (or Play Store) to find an app that would repel them.
But does this method really work? Is keeping mosquitoes away just a placebo effect?
On paper, the principle couldn’t be simpler. These applications would broadcast low frequency waves that female mosquitoes (those that bite) would equate to the beating of dragonflies’ wings (a predator) and would make them run away in fear…
Or a male mosquitowhich would also have the effect of keeping them away given that mosquitoes only mate once in their life.
A useless application?
As reported by Inserm, there is no scientific proof that these applications have any effectiveness… Worse, it could even push some users to relax their distrust and neglect protective measures against mosquitoes.
If in France (metropolitan), the risks are relatively low and will only cause you a few annoying pimples, The mosquito remains the greatest predator for humans with more than 800,000 victims per year worldwide…
And during this vacation period, when many people will go to tropical places to sunbathe, it is more than important to remember that this type of application is not a secure protection and that you should not rely on them to avoid being bitten.
