Background: People frequently experience discomfort with immediate wheal, delayed papules, and pruritus from mosquito bites. A topical cream product containing zinc oxide is commercially available for the management of insect bites, but there has been no published evidence for its effectiveness and safety.
Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of this product in symptoms caused by mosquito bites.
Methods: An open-label, controlled study was performed on 41 healthy participants. All subjects received Aedes aegypti mosquito bites on the forearm. Then test product was randomly applied to the bitten areas of the left or right arm. The other arm was left untreated (control). The onset of pruritus relief was noted. The severity of pruritus was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS), ranging from 0 mm (no pruritus) to 100 mm (severe pruritus), and a 4-point pruritus score (0 = none; 1 = mild, not affecting normal activities; 2 = moderate, affecting normal activities to some extent; 3 = severe, significantly affecting activities) at four time points: 15 minutes after the mosquito bite (baseline), as well as 1 hour, 24 hours, and 48 hours after initiating treatment. The size of the bite reaction lesion was also measured at all time points. Any local cutaneous adverse reactions observed during the study were documented.
Results: The onset of pruritus relief in the treated group (25 ± 21.7 minutes) was significantly faster compared to the untreated group (118.7 ± 304.8 minutes). The reduction in VAS score at 1 hour was significantly greater in the product group (30.5 ± 16.22) compared to the control group (14.9 ± 9.9). Moreover, there was a significant difference in the reduction of pruritus score at 1 hour, with the product group (1.1 ± 0.5) showing a higher reduction compared to the control group (0.3 ± 0.4). However, there was no significant difference in the reduction of bite lesion size between the two groups. Throughout the study, no adverse events were reported.
Conclusion: Our preliminary findings indicate that the product effectively reduces pruritus caused by mosquito bites but does not have a significant impact on the size of the bite lesions. The product was found to be safe and may be an option for managing mosquito bites pruritus.
Keywords: Mosquito bites; pruritus; zinc oxide.