Adulticide and repellent activity of essential oils against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) – A review

Abstract

Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) is responsible for the spread of diseases that compromise public health such as dengue fever, urban yellow fever, chikungunya and zika. Synthetic insecticides are used to control Ae. aegypti, however, this substance use results in vector resistance and environment contamination. Essential oils (OEs) derived from plants are natural alternatives to replace the commercial synthetic insecticides and repellents, since they present components that may be toxic to this vector. This review had as its objective to research the literature surrounding the repellent and adulticide action of essential oils against Ae. aegypti, using electronic research databases (Pubmed, Science Direct and Scielo), to provide an overall view on the plant species used to obtain EOs, the plant parts, extraction methods and analytical techniques used as well as the major components in the EOs. The data showed 16 families, 35 genera and 49 species, with Lamiaceae, Zingiberaceae, Myrtaceae and Rutaceae families being the ones with the most species. Moreover, all plant parts were shown to be used to extract essential oils, especially with hydro-distillation and steam-distillation methods, with Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) as the main analytical technique. The data revealed the chemical composition of EOs, especially of terpenes. Therefore, essential oils are promising options for the production of natural insecticides due many reasons: they are less harmful to human beings and to the environment; they can be used in association with synthetic insecticides and repellents, reducing the concentration used of the last ones; and can be produced in a perennial manner by producers, using subproducts from the crop industries. By all these reasons, they can be used in insect vector control programs, rather than using synthetic insecticides.