Opensourcing the fight against mosquitoes to stop one thing: harmful protection
We exist to rid the world of mosquito-borne disease. The independent global foundation for mosquito diseases and vector control, through honest information, real-time surveillance, and a promise to never poison the nature we defend.
Spraying the Mediterranean with insecticide is not a strategy. It is an admission of failure.
A treated net by night, a repellent by day. Not a toxic fog.
Someone has to be blunt about snake oil. It is us.
The mosquito-protection aisle is full of products that range from ineffective to actively harmful, sold as if they were adequate protection. The public has a right to know the difference, and a right to a credible alternative.
Read the evidenceGas-emitting coils
Indoor-air harmPyrethroid smoke devices
Burning one coil indoors emits fine particulate (PM2.5) on the order of dozens of cigarettes. The clearest case of a product that harms the air you breathe.
Liu et al. 2003 · Environ. Health Perspect.
Plug-in diffusers
Unquantified exposurePrallethrin vaporisers
A volatile insecticide released continuously into sealed rooms. Prallethrin is an EU candidate for substitution, and cumulative human exposure is poorly characterised.
Reg. (EU) 2024/2576 · prallethrin PT18
Scented candles
Marginal efficacyCitronella and essential-oil blends
A marginal repellent effect at close laboratory distances, and no meaningful protection in real outdoor conditions. Ambience sold as protection.
Fradin & Day 2002 · NEJM
Skin repellents
Hours, not all nightDEET and picaridin
These work. Skin repellents such as DEET and picaridin protect for a few hours, then need reapplying. A long-lasting treated net works all night with nothing to reapply. By day, when the dengue and chikungunya mosquito also bites, a repellent has a real role.
WHO · International travel and health, ch. 7 (2020)
Uncertified marketplace nets
No certificationGeneric listings on Temu, AliExpress, Wish, unbranded Amazon
The purest illusion of protection: mesh often too coarse for the tiger mosquito, no EU BPR authorisation, no durability rating, sometimes claiming a treatment they do not carry. The appearance of protection over an open door.
No EU BPR authorisation · no durability rating
Treated nets first
WHO: much more effective than untreated
Nothing protects a sleeping person better than a long-lasting treated net. WHO finds treated nets much more effective than untreated ones (International travel and health, chapter 7, 2020 update). The dengue and chikungunya mosquito also bites by day, so daytime protection matters too.
Fabric-bound treatment
One active ingredient: permethrin
A single WHO-recommended active, permethrin, bound into the fibre, one formula not two. EU BPR authorised (permethrin, EU-0026815-0000). No leaching into air, water, or skin over the product lifetime.
Built to WHO standards
Category: long-lasting insecticidal net
Independent efficacy and safety testing against WHO target entomological endpoints. Traceable by batch.
Years, not hours
A net outlasts every spray
Aerosols wear off in hours and depend on you reapplying them. A long-lasting impregnated net keeps working for years, every Mosticare net for a minimum of three.
Measured limitation
Not a substitute for environmental control
A net protects a bed, a balcony, a garden enclosure. It does not drain a breeding site. We say so because it is true.
The environment counts as a patient.
We measure success by what does not happen. The bite that never lands, the fever that never arrives, the forest that is never poisoned to protect the people who live in it.
Opensourcing the fight against mosquitoes to stop one thing: harmful protection
We exist to rid the world of mosquito-borne disease. The independent global foundation for mosquito diseases and vector control, through honest information, real-time surveillance, and a promise to never poison the nature we defend.
Spraying the Mediterranean with insecticide is not a strategy. It is an admission of failure.
A treated net by night, a repellent by day. Not a toxic fog.
Someone has to be blunt about snake oil. It is us.
The mosquito-protection aisle is full of products that range from ineffective to actively harmful, sold as if they were adequate protection. The public has a right to know the difference, and a right to a credible alternative.
Read the evidenceBurning one coil indoors emits fine particulate (PM2.5) on the order of dozens of cigarettes. The clearest case of a product that harms the air you breathe.
A volatile insecticide released continuously into sealed rooms. Prallethrin is an EU candidate for substitution, and cumulative human exposure is poorly characterised.
A marginal repellent effect at close laboratory distances, and no meaningful protection in real outdoor conditions. Ambience sold as protection.
These work. Skin repellents such as DEET and picaridin protect for a few hours, then need reapplying. A long-lasting treated net works all night with nothing to reapply. By day, when the dengue and chikungunya mosquito also bites, a repellent has a real role.
The purest illusion of protection: mesh often too coarse for the tiger mosquito, no EU BPR authorisation, no durability rating, sometimes claiming a treatment they do not carry. The appearance of protection over an open door.
Nothing protects a sleeping person better than a long-lasting treated net. WHO finds treated nets much more effective than untreated ones (International travel and health, chapter 7, 2020 update). The dengue and chikungunya mosquito also bites by day, so daytime protection matters too.
A single WHO-recommended active, permethrin, bound into the fibre, one formula not two. EU BPR authorised (permethrin, EU-0026815-0000). No leaching into air, water, or skin over the product lifetime.
Independent efficacy and safety testing against WHO target entomological endpoints. Traceable by batch.
Aerosols wear off in hours and depend on you reapplying them. A long-lasting impregnated net keeps working for years, every Mosticare net for a minimum of three.
A net protects a bed, a balcony, a garden enclosure. It does not drain a breeding site. We say so because it is true.
The environment counts as a patient.
We measure success by what does not happen. The bite that never lands, the fever that never arrives, the forest that is never poisoned to protect the people who live in it.