Permethrin-treated baby wraps cut malaria cases in Ugandan trial

Researchers in Uganda found that treating cloth baby-carrying wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut malaria rates among the infants carried in them by about two-thirds in a trial in Kasese, a rural, mountainous part of western Uganda. The trial involved 400 mothers and babies aged about six months.

Half were given wraps, locally known as lesus, treated with permethrin and half used standard untreated wraps dipped in water as a sham repellent. Researchers followed them for six months, re-treating the wraps once a month. Babies in the treated group had 0.73 cases per 100 babies each week compared with 2.14 in the other group.

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people a year, most of them children in Africa under five. One mother at a community session said: "I’ve had five children. This is the first one that I’ve carried in a treated wrap, and it’s the first time I’ve had a child who has not had malaria." Co-lead investigator Edgar Mugema Mulogo said the results had everybody "tremendously excited," and co-lead investigator Dr Ross Boyce said they were so astonished they should rerun the results to double-check them.

Health officials in Uganda and leaders at the World Health Organization have expressed interest, and the researchers said several steps are needed before any rollout, including evidence the intervention works in other settings and confirmation of safety.

Key Topics

Health, Permethrin, Lesus, Malaria, Kasese, Uganda