{"id":4502,"date":"2026-05-14T12:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/mosquitos-repel-60s-fragrance\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:02:42","slug":"mosquitos-repel-60s-fragrance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/mosquitos-repel-60s-fragrance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mosquitos repel &#039;60s fragrance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-05-14 12:02:40<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>A musky fragrance loved by men in the 1960s could become an unlikely weapon in the war against mosquitoes, scientists say.<BR><br \/>\nResearchers in Brazil discovered that patchouli oil, famous for its earthy scent and hippie-era popularity, completely stopped mosquitoes from landing on skin for up to three hours during lab tests.<BR><br \/>\nThe oil was tested against Aedes aegypti, the insect responsible for spreading dangerous diseases including dengue fever, Zika and yellow fever.<BR><br \/>\nScientists turned the oil into a topical cream and asked volunteers to apply it to their forearms before exposing them to 50 female mosquitoes.<BR><br \/>\nThe bugs reportedly refused to land on treated skin throughout the entire three-hour testing period.<BR><br \/>\nLead researcher Lizandra Lima Santos,  from the Federal University of Amapa, Macapa, Brazil, said: \u201cUnlike many natural repellents that lose effectiveness quickly due to volatility, our formulation achieved complete protection against A. aegypti for up to three hours at a relatively low concentration.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nPatchouli oil comes from the leaves of the patchouli plant and became hugely fashionable in the 1960s and 70s thanks to its heavy, woody aroma.<BR><br \/>\nResearchers believe a compound called patchouli alcohol, which gives the oil its distinctive smell, may interfere with the way mosquitoes identify human targets.<BR><br \/>\nOne ingredient, alpha-guaiene, appeared to affect mosquito proteins in a similar way to DEET, the chemical found in many insect repellents.<BR><br \/>\nScientists say this could pave the way for a more natural alternative to DEET products, which some people claim can irritate the skin.<BR><br \/>\nThe cream remained stable for 90 days during testing, with no changes in smell, texture or colour.<BR><br \/>\nDespite the promising results, researchers stressed more safety testing is needed before patchouli-based repellents could hit shelves.<BR><br \/>\nHealth experts also warned people should still rely on proven repellents when travelling to areas where mosquito-borne diseases are common.<BR><br \/>\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend DEET and other approved repellents as safe and effective when used properly.<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-05-14 12:02:40 A musky fragrance loved by men in the 1960s could become an unlikely weapon in the war against mosquitoes, scientists say. Researchers in Brazil discovered that patchouli oil,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4503,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions\/4503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}