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Researchers have debunked the myth that eating garlic protects against mosquito bites and lowers the risk of malaria disease, calling it a myth that should be disregarded.
The researchers emphasized that there is no scientific evidence that eating garlic helps repel mosquitos.
Because of its high sulfur-containing compounds, garlic has been claimed to help repel mosquitoes.
Malaria, according to the World Health Organization, is a potentially fatal disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitos.
Vector control, according to the World Health Organization, is an essential component of malaria control and elimination strategies because it is highly effective in preventing infection and reducing disease transmission.
"The two primary interventions are insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying.
“Over the last two decades, expanded access to WHO-recommended malaria prevention tools and strategies – including effective vector control and the use of preventive antimalarial drugs – has had a major impact in reducing the global burden of malaria,” WHO says
Speaking in exclusive interviews with PUNCH HealthWise, the researchers stated that while it is a known fact that garlic has antibacterial and antifungal properties, there is no scientific proof yet to show that the consumption of garlic can ward off mosquitoes.
One of the researchers and National Malaria Technical Director to the National Malaria Elimination Programme, Prof. Olugbenga Mokuolu, said people should adopt standard measures in preventing themselves against mosquitoes such as sleeping under insecticide-treated nets rather than be under a false delusion.
Mokuolu, who is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Ilorin and Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, said, “We don’t have any scientific proof of any association that eating garlic repels mosquitoes. And people mustn’t be under such false delusion.
“Rather, they should take more standard precautions in trying to avert exposure to mosquito bites and thereby limiting the possibility of having malaria.
“One of those standard precautions is that people should concentrate more on environmental cleanliness, particularly the clearing of drainages to avoid storage of water in open containers and then sleeping under an insecticide-treated net.
“Those are the important measures people should take. We don’t want them to be under a false delusion.”
The malaria researcher urged Nigerians not to joke about malaria, adding that they should avoid taking measures that could be detrimental to health in their quest to prevent mosquito bites and malaria.
The paediatrician said, “You know there have been many things just as people drank salt water during Ebola which was quite harmful.
“Garlic is reputed to have some health benefits but I am not aware of it being a mosquito repellant.”
The don stated that malaria is a killer disease that should not be treated with kid gloves.
“Malaria is a deadly disease. It accounts for nearly 200,000 deaths in Nigeria every year. I don’t think there is any other condition that is singularly responsible for that number of deaths in the country in a year”, he said.
The 2021 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey Report showed that the malaria prevalence in the country stood at 22 percent in 2021.
The NMIS report indicated that malaria prevalence is highest among children aged 48 to 59 months with the prevalence highest in the northwest at 51.6 percent.
Other key findings of the report also show that “56 per cent of households own at least one insecticide-treated net.
According to the 2021 World Malaria Report by the WHO, Nigeria contributes 27 percent to the global malaria burden (one out of every four persons having malaria) and 32 per cent to malaria deaths globally (about one out of every three deaths).
Also, a researcher with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, Hilary Okoh, told Prime9jaOnline that there is no available study yet to show that eating garlic repels mosquitoes.
“Before I can say whether is true or false, there must be evidence of research that has been carried out on it. There are so many claims out there but most of the claims have no scientific evidence attached to them,” he said.
In a 2021 article published in PMC journal titled, ‘Variability in human attractiveness to mosquitoes, the researchers said mosquitoes cause discomfort and harm to humans, being vectors of many pathogens.
“However, not all humans suffer from mosquito bites with the same frequency or intensity. Some individuals are more attracted to mosquitoes than others, and this has an important impact on the risk of infection by pathogens transmitted by these vectors, such as arboviruses and malaria parasites.
“Variability in human attractiveness to mosquitoes is partially due to individual characteristics in the composition and intensity in the release of mosquito attractants.
“The factors that determine these particularities are diverse, modestly understood, and still quite controversial,” the authors said.