Vol. 3, Issue 4, Part A (2016)

Author(s): Koech Peter Kiplang’at

Abstract: Aedes aegypti mosquito females transmit diseases such as Dengue, Yellow fever, Zika fever and Chikungunya associated with mortality in many developing countries. Zika fever has neither treatment nor vaccine. Personal protection by application of the skin repellents is the major control approach. Though synthetic skin repellents are effective, they are toxic however the natural mosquito repellents such as Ballet® are not effective. The purpose of the study was to develop a natural repellent formulation that can provide 100% repellency. A formulation was developed from a combination of Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus citriodora, Ocimum basilicum and Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium extracts. They were applied thinly on rabbit ears and tested with starved Aedes aegypti females. Observations were made on the effect of the test combination, frequency of mosquito landing and blood engorgement. The combination that worked on rabbits was then tested on human skin of volunteers. The formulation provided complete protection, had mosquito paralytic effect and had higher repellent activity than Ballet® (p<0.001). The final formulation that may scale up and applied for human use is a combination of Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus citriodora, Ocimum basilicum and Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium extracts.

Related Graphics: Click here for more related graphics