Using Permethrin-Treated Cloths for Baby Wrap to Prevent Malaria
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Reviewed & Translated by Dat Tien Nguyen, B.A, ScM.
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Posted on October 29th, 2025
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Despite recent progress in malaria management, the disease still imposes a significant burden especially in children living in underdeveloped nations. Factors such as insecticide resistance and change in mosquito biting habit had kept transmission persistent. With funding from Doris Duke Foundation, a study was conducted to investigate the usage of permethrin-treated cloths to prevent malaria in infants.
The study was conducted in Uganda where the Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus mosquitoes are the main carrier of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The study included 400 children with a median age of around 12 months old. Around 15% of the infants were moderately malnourished, with the remaining having normal nourishment status. The infants were randomly assigned to be wrapped with cloths treated with placebo or permethrin
The researchers found that the usage of permethrin-treated cloth to wrap infants reduced the risk of malaria infection by 66%. 8.5% of the infants wrapped with permethrin-treated cloth reported rash, not significantly higher than the 6% of those wrapped with placebo-treated cloth. The researchers noted that the wrap is effective despite the increase in resistance against permethrin in Anopheles mosquitoes. This could be explained by the fact that the permethrin might not kill the mosquitoes but still be effective at repelling them.
The study was conducted in Uganda where the Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus mosquitoes are the main carrier of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The study included 400 children with a median age of around 12 months old. Around 15% of the infants were moderately malnourished, with the remaining having normal nourishment status. The infants were randomly assigned to be wrapped with cloths treated with placebo or permethrin
The researchers found that the usage of permethrin-treated cloth to wrap infants reduced the risk of malaria infection by 66%. 8.5% of the infants wrapped with permethrin-treated cloth reported rash, not significantly higher than the 6% of those wrapped with placebo-treated cloth. The researchers noted that the wrap is effective despite the increase in resistance against permethrin in Anopheles mosquitoes. This could be explained by the fact that the permethrin might not kill the mosquitoes but still be effective at repelling them.