A homegrown catnip lotion has proven βjust as effective as Deetβ as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda.
Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is a common herb from the mint family. The chemical in the plant that causes feline euphoria β nepetalactone β also has insect-repelling properties but this has not previously been commercialised.
New tools are vital in the fight against malaria, the disease spread by mosquitoes that infects about 282 million people a year and killed 610,000 in 2024 β the majority of them young children in African countries. There are concerns about rising resistance to insecticides, as well as the frontline drugs used to treat the disease.
In a study presented at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Florence on Tuesday, a team working between Uganda and Wales found mosquitoes seeking a blood meal were less likely to land on people wearing lotions made from catnip.
Dr Simon Scofield, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University, said: βWe found that a 6% catnip oil was just as effective as Deet, and the 2% catnip oil was only marginally less effective than that.
βDeet is out of the price bracket for most rural Ugandan subsistence farmers, so buying commercially available mosquito repellents is just not practicable.
βWe wanted to make a repellent, which is highly efficacious, but also allows local people to be involved in the production cycle so that it costs a minimal amount of money,β he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jul/07/catnip-lotion-as-effective-as-deet-at-repelling-mosquitoes-study-finds
