Herbal essential oils as the alternative repellent against mosquitoes

Abstract

Mosquitoes are vectors of serious human diseases, i.e., dengue fever, malaria, and yellow fever. The number of dengue fever cases has seen 30 times increase in the previous 50 years. The research and development of mosquito repellents as personal care products is an approach for preventing diseases spread by mosquitoes, besides others for killing larvae. Most commercial mosquito repellents today are derived from chemical synthesis associated with many risks of adverse effects on human health, particularly for the nervous system. Natural products are appraised to be a tremendous means of overcoming these restrictions and shortcomings. The ability of essential oils extracted from herbs to repel mosquitoes has drawn much more attention recently. In this review, we have summarized the chemical composition, the mosquito repellent capacity, and the application of essential oils.

Keywords

• essential oil
• natural repellents
• mosquito repellent
• citronella oil
• mint oil