Repellency properties of oils from plants traditionally used as mosquito repellents in Longido district, Tanzania

Authors: Ismail Athuman, Ester Innocent, Francis Machumi, Suzana Augustino, William Kisinza
Chemical composition and repellency potential of essential oils from Tagetes minuta and Lippia javanica traditionally used in Longido district to repel mosquitoes when formulated and topically applied as repellents were investigated in this study. The GC-FID analysis of essential oil from T. minuta showed presence of limonene (14.31%), camphene (1.95%), and verbenone (5.63%) whereas L. javanica essential oils indicated presence of limonene (5.38%), camphene (25.04%), DL-menthol (1.79%) and verbenone (1.41%) as main constituents. A topical formulation of 40% T. minuta essential oil in cow butter showed 80.9% protection against mosquito bites for up to 3 hrs 15 min whereas the unformulated oil exhibited only 52% protection for 1 hrs 52 min. Likewise, a formulation of 40% L. javanica essential oil in cow butter had 74% protection for up to 2 hrs 50 min, as compared to the unformulated oil that gave 47% protection by 1 hrs 15 min. Topical application of cow-butter-essential oil formulation is more effective in repelling mosquitoes than unformulated essential oils hence can provide alternative prevention measures of expelling mosquitoes during evening time before bedtime.

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