A lotion made from catnip oil has proven as effective as DEET at repelling mosquitoes in field trials conducted in eastern Uganda, according to research presented at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Florence. The study, led by a team from Cardiff University and Ugandan partners, found that a 6% catnip oil lotion matched the performance of DEET (the world's most widely used insect repellent) in preventing mosquitoes from landing on volunteers, while a 2% formulation was only marginally less effective. The finding is significant for malaria prevention — the disease kills around 610,000 people a year, mostly young children in Africa — as catnip, a common herb from the mint family, can be grown and processed locally at a fraction of the cost of commercially available repellents, which are out of reach for many rural communities.