[Experimental evaluation in mice of vitamin B complex repellent activity against Culex quinquefasciatus]. / Avaliação experimental em camundongos da atividade repelente do complexo vitamínico B, em relação ao Culex quinquefasciatus.

One untested but widely held opinion in Brazil is that oral use of vitamin B complex is useful as a mosquito repellent. We exposed Balb-C mice to a large number of Culex quinquefasciatus females, after giving vitamin B complex to mice (drops by mouth). There was no difference between mice attractiveness to mosquitoes in the vitamin B group compared to normal, but very few of the females bite mice in both groups, so the experiment was inconclusive. We suggest further experiments in this subject, using other models were the animals are more attractive to mosquitoes.