DEET killing effect on Demodex mites

What is it about?

Background: There is no single effective treatment for demodicosis; successful treatment requires a multimodal approach. Relapse orrecurrence of demodicosis is relatively high, making the therapy challenging. Several reports have documented the successfultreatment of demodicosis with acaricidal agents, which aimed at reducing the excessive number of Demodex mites and improvingthe patients’ symptoms. Reports of irritation and resistance to topical acaricidal agents have led to the search for effective alternativetreatments.Materials and Methods: A total of 100 standardized skin surface biopsy (SSSB) biopsy slides from 100 patients with demodicosiswere randomly divided into five groups, each with 20 slides exposed to immersion oil, N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) 5%, 10%,20%, and permethrin 1%, respectively. The microscopic evaluation started immediately after the test agents exposed the mites. Thesurvival time (ST) was defined as the interval between the first exposure of Demodex folliculorum to the test agents to the time themovements ceased.Results: The differences between the median ST of DEET 5% (44 min), 10% (22 min), and 20% (14 min) were significant whencompared to the negative control group (240 min) with p<0.001, <0.001, <0.001, respectively. While the median ST of permethrin 1%(42 min) was not significantly different from the median ST of DEET 5% (p=0.7395).Conclusion: This study demonstrated the dose-related acaricidal effect of DEET on D. folliculorum. The survival times of DEET 5%,10%, and 20% were significantly shorter than the negative control (immersion oil). DEET 5% had a comparable in vitro killing effectas permethrin 1%. Further in vivo studies are necessary to determine the clinical efficacy in patients with demodicosis (PDF) Comparison of in vitro Killing Effect of N, N-Diethyl-Meta-Toluamide (DEET) versus Permethrin on Demodex folliculorum. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361851892_Comparison_of_in_vitro_Killing_Effect_of_N_N-Diethyl-Meta-Toluamide_DEET_versus_Permethrin_on_Demodex_folliculorum [accessed Jul 31 2022].

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Photo by Misael Moreno on Unsplash

Photo by Misael Moreno on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study demonstrated the dose-related acaricidal effect of DEET on D. folliculorum. The survival times of DEET 5%,10%, and 20% were significantly shorter than the negative control (immersion oil). DEET 5% had a comparable in vitro killing effect as permethrin 1%. Further in vivo studies are necessary to determine the clinical efficacy in patients with demodicosis.

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