Ecofriendly Repellent-A Study of Control of Mosquito Vectors

Abstract

Repellents such as Allethrin,Diethyltoluimide etc are widely used in India to combat mosquito nuisance and malaria. These repellent is commonly used in different formulations like mats ,coils,lotions and aerosols under different company brand names,are posing tremendous health hazards.Looking to the health hazard problem, a field study was carried out to evaluate the mosquito repellent action of essential oils viz,Citrus sinensis oil,Cymbopogon winterianus oil,Cymbopogon flexuosus oil and Azadirachta indica oil in a large room against mosquito vectors. Azadirachta indica oil and Cymbopogon winterianus oil show the remarkable most effective repellent properties and other essential oil are also show effective effect. These essential oils was then employed as active ingredients in the preparation of cream and tested on 40 human volunteers of the age group between 18-40 years. Most of the volunteers reported 80% mosquito repellency. This study demonstrates the potential of essential oils as repellents against both day and night biting of mosquitoes. It was found to be safe and suitable alternative to DEET (N, Ndiethyl-3-methyl Benzamide), the most common currently available repellent

KEY WORDS:- DEET, Clevenger Apparatus, Repellent Cream