Screening for adulticidal bioactivity of South African plants against <it>Anopheles arabiensis</it>

Abstract

Abstract Background This study was conducted to evaluate whether a selection of South African ethnomedicinal plants included in this study displayed insecticidal properties when screened against adult stages of the mosquito. Methods 381 crude extracts of 80 plant taxa in 42 families were sprayed onto ceramic tiles and screened using the cone bio-assay method for insecticide efficacy testing. Blood-fed, female Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes were exposed to the treated tiles for a period of sixty minutes. Mosquito mortality was monitored for twenty-four hours. Results Of all the extracts analysed, the highest activity was observed in Ptaeroxylon obliquum (Ptaeroxylaceae) and Pittosporum viridiflorum (Pittosporaceae), a single extract from each, exhibiting more than 50% mortality. A large proportion (81.63%) of the extracts tested displayed low levels of mosquitocidal activity. The remainder of the extracts (17.85%) exhibited no bioactivity (0% mortality). Conclusions The screening results have shown that in accordance with WHO standards, none of the crude extracts tested had exhibited greater than 60% mortality against the adult stages of the malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis.