Author(s): S Selvadurai, V Swetha, S Anbazhagan and P Shanmugapandiyan

Abstract: Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest insects in the world which cause number of vector-borne diseases (e.g Dengue, malaria, Zika virus fever, yellow fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis) in human being. In recent years, interest in plant based products has been revived because of the development of resistance, cross-resistance and possible toxicity hazards associated with synthetic insecticides and their rising costs. Presently most of the mosquito repellents available in markets are based on chemical and they are toxic against the skin and nervous system like rashes, swelling, eye irritation, and other health problems. Hence herbal mosquito repellents were preferred than chemical based mosquito repellents. Herbal materials belonging to various plant species and their mixtures have been seen to act as effective repellent against various mosquitoes and pests. The easy availability and less adverse environmental impact have led to the increased interest in plant origin repellants which are safe and biodegradable alternatives to synthetic chemical repellants for use against mosquitoes. Hence attempts have been made to find out the novel formulations containing fixatives with combination of different essential oils for mosquito repellent stick In this paper an effort has been made to develop economically affordable herbal mosquito repellent sticks comprised entirely of herbal ingredients. Since ingredients used were almost herbal hence it has low side effect on inhalation.

DOI: 10.22271/flora.2023.v11.i4a.873