Dengue fever is heading towards epidemic proportions. The country's health service providers are struggling to cope, and people at every level of society are spending their days and nights in fear. At such a moment, Rabishankar Maitri, a Bangladeshi writer and researcher living in France, has explained how to make a medicine that drives away the mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus.

Here is how to make a mosquito repellent at home.

Take a small tin or glass jar. Grate 200 grams of wax from a candle and put it in the tin, glass bottle or jar. Add 30 ml of neem oil and 30 ml of glycerine, and pour in 50 ml of water as well. Heat 1 litre of water in a basin for 10 minutes, then stand the container of neem oil, wax and water in the hot water. Watch whether the wax is melting inside the container. If it does not melt, heat the water in the basin once more.

Carefully lift the container of neem oil, glycerine, wax and water out of the hot water and put it on a table. After 5 to 7 minutes, add 5 drops of lemon juice and 5 drops of any perfume or scent. Then stir the mixture with a small spoon for 5 to 7 minutes, and the mosquito repellent cream is ready.

Even though it smells a little unpleasant, rub a small amount of the cream on your hands and feet and mosquitoes will not come near you. The cream should be kept in a fridge or somewhere relatively cool. It can be used for up to six months from the day it is made.

Not just the Aedes mosquito: no mosquito or fly will settle on your body if you rub on neem leaf paste or use neem soap. As long as the smell of neem stays on your body, you will be free of mosquitoes and flies.

You can also scatter neem leaves in the corners of your rooms, and mosquitoes and flies will not come into the house.

Source: Online Desk. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.