Sale of Citronella Candles Grow Amid Zika Outbreak
SAO Paulo – Brazil has seen a surge in demand for citronella candles as a natural repellent against mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, as a public health emergency spreads across the Americas.
The AD candle factory in Sao Joao da Boa Vista in the interior of Sao Paulo says demand for citronella products has risen by 25 percent since the start of the epidemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that almost 100 percent of cases of Zika are transmitted by the bite of a mosquito, leading to panic buying of insect repellent in outlets across the country.
According to the owner of AD Candles, Antonieta Cunha, a similar trend has been seen with regards to citronella which provides a natural alternative to spray repellents.
“Citronella candles are the best option in the market right now. In comparison to other chemical products, the candle is a natural repellent against the mosquito which carries dengue, chikungunya and Zika, against all insects,” said Cunha.
Brazil’s biggest retailer, the Pao de Acucar Group , said supermarket sales of repellant were up 120 percent in the first weeks of 2016, compared to the same period a year earlier.
The rise was sharpest in the Northeast region at the centre of the outbreak, where sales rose fourfold, and in Brazil’s second city of Rio de Janeiro, where they tripled.
Even at small local pharmacies in Rio, waiting lists for the most sought-after repellant, Exposis, stretch to hundreds of names.
Concerns are particularly high since Brazilian authorities flagged a potential link between Zika and suspected cases of microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size in newborns that can result in developmental problems.
Cunha said the spike in demand has significantly affected her production pattern.
“Citronella candles used to make up a very small portion of our turn over, but after everything with dengue and Zika, there was much greater demand, so we have had to meet this demand and produce more citronella. It went from five percent of our turn over to 25 percent, so each month I work a whole week producing only citronella in order to supply my city and other states,” said Cunha.
The Brazilian military began a public action operation on Saturday (February 13), aimed at educating the population on how to eliminate holdings of stagnant water in their homes which provide breeding grounds for the mosquito to proliferate.
On February 15, members of the army, navy and air force will begin a phase of residential visits distributing insecticide and larvicide.
According to locksmith, Claudionor da Silva, using citronella candles is another good way for residents to protect their homes.
“It is an option to tackle the problem we have with the Zika virus, it is something we can use at home and it works well to scare off the mosquito which is causing the population so much harm,” said da Silva.
Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly. Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,300 suspected cases of microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems.
Researchers have confirmed more than 460 of these cases as microcephaly and identified evidence of Zika infection in 41 of these cases, but have not proven that Zika can cause microcephaly. —Agence France-Presse