The excito-repellent activity of five essential oils extracted from local plants against dengue and malaria vectors in Burkina Faso

Using chemical insecticides remains the main way to prevent and manage dengue and malaria, two main mosquito-borne diseases. However, the vectors of these diseases have developed resistance to chemical insecticides. Essential oils (EOs) could be used as alternatives because besides their larvicidal and adulticidal properties, they have repellent properties. In Burkina Faso, studies on the repellent properties of essential oils on mosquitoes remained limited. The EOs extracted from five plants (Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon nardus, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Lippia multiflora, and Ocimum americanum) collected in Ouagadougou were tested on populations of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae s.l collected in Bobo-Dioulasso and the Kou of Valley, respectively. Susceptible strains of the two species were also tested. DEET and permethrin were used as positive controls. Most of the 5 EOs tested produced irritant effects on adults of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae. The irritant effects on mosquito adults were significantly influenced by the concentration of the EOs and species of mosquitoes. On Anopheles gambiae s.l, the repellent-irritant effects of Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon nardus, and Eucalyptus camaldulensis EOs were very close to DEET. On Aedes aegypti, all our EOs had higher repellent-irritant effects and some of them were very close to DEET. EOs could be used as alternative repellents to pyrethroids in vector control.