Essential Oil from Bush Mint, Hyptis suaveolens, is as Effective as DEET for Personal Protection against Mosquito Bites

Concern about the deleterious effects associated with synthetic chemicals has revived interest to explore plants as a source of natural insecticides for mosquito control. Ethnobotanical studies conducted in Kenya on plant species including bush mint, Hyptis suaveolens Poit., showed that many of them repel mosquitoes effectively when burned overnight in rooms. Recent field works conducted with H. suaveolens essential oil have demonstrated the potential of this essential oil as mosquito repellent. The present work is a comparative study on the persistence of 30% DEET and 10% H. suaveolens essential oil for personal protection against mosquitoes in field conditions. Twenty volunteers who have given their informed consent have been involved for each of the products and control (no treatment). Results showed that the mean number of mosquitoes that landed on treated volunteers 6 hours post-application was 0.50 and 0.45 for 10% H. suaveolens essential oil and DEET respectively, against 6 mosquitoes for the control people. Statistical analysis revealed that there is no significant difference between 10% H. suaveolens essential oil and DEET indicating that both products are similarly effective. The possibility to use H. suaveolens essential oil as integrated malaria vector management has been discussed.