Abstract
BackgroundThis study was initiated to establish whether any South African ethnomedicinal plants (indigenous or exotic), that have been reported to be used traditionally to repel or kill mosquitoes, exhibit effective mosquito repellent properties.MethodsExtracts of a selection of South African taxa were tested for repellency properties in an applicable mosquito feeding-probing assay using unfed female Anopheles arabiensis.ResultsAlthough a water extract of the roots of Chenopodium opulifolium was found to be 97% as effective as DEET after 2 mins, time lag studies revealed a substantial reduction in efficacy (to 30%) within two hours.ConclusionsNone of the plant extracts investigated exhibited residual repellencies >60% after three hours.
Highlights
This study was initiated to establish whether any South African ethnomedicinal plants, that have been reported to be used traditionally to repel or kill mosquitoes, exhibit effective mosquito repellent properties
Selection and collection of plant material A survey of relevant literature on ethnomedicinal plants used in East and Southern Africa revealed that a number of taxa have been reported to be used as mosquito repellents, or to repel or kill other invertebrates
Stringent criteria were used to assess the biological activity, in order to determine their potential as plantderived repellents. Since these were crude plant extracts, a mosquito repellency effect of 80% was considered significant for further investigation
Summary
This study was initiated to establish whether any South African ethnomedicinal plants (indigenous or exotic), that have been reported to be used traditionally to repel or kill mosquitoes, exhibit effective mosquito repellent properties. Extracts of a selection of a number of such taxa were tested for their mosquito repellency properties in a suitable bioassay, which assesses the potency of the test substance when applied topically to the skin. The plant organ(s) selected for extract preparation was based largely on availability at the time of collection.
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