Mosquito repellent to enter market

Nadira Gunatilleke

The mosquito repellent to be introduced by the Medical Research Institute (MRI) with the assistance of Sri Jayawardenapura University’s Medical Faculty will reach the market by next year. The repellent will protect the public from all types of mosquitoes and it will be 100 percent safe to use, Health Ministry sources said.

According to the spokesman, the repellent will be produced using local herbal plants identified by the MRI and the Medical Faculty. Advertising of the product will commence early next year. The program will be funded by the National Dengue Control Program. The repellent can be applied on the skin to prevent all types of mosquito bites. The research is going on and it has achieved 90 percent success.

The MRI conducts researches on bacterias, viruses, insects, worms, birds and animals. It conducts special researches on diseases that can be caused by worms in the bodies of cat, dog, pig and pigeon. Abortion may occur due to diseases caused by animals.

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena ordered health officials to produce a complete report on the results of new researches done by the MRI to present it in Parliament.

Parliamentarians accused the MRI for not conducting researches because there were no information available on the researches done by the MRI and their results. The results were not compiled as a report, he said.

The institute conducted research on AH1N1. The MRI will conduct important researches on different health issues in 2011 including researches on the effect of ground water in relation to high incidence of cancer, establishing molecular testing and geno-typing for measles, rubella, hepatitis and dengue, introducing improved techniques for mosquito surveys, technical advice on dengue vector control based on entomological surveillance, he added.