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BackgroundThe sandfly, Phlebotomus duboscqi is a vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) that is an important public health problem in Eastern Africa. Repellents have been used for protection of humans against vectors of ZCL and other vectors that transmit killer diseases including malaria, Rift Valley fever, dengue, and yellow fever. The repellent effects of different doses of the essential oils from the lemon grass, Cymbopogon citratus and Mexican marigold, Tagetes minuta were evaluated in a two-chamber bioassay against 3- to 7-day-old unfed females of P. duboscqi in the laboratory. The results were compared with those that were obtained when test animals were treated with an equivalent dose of diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, which is a repellent that is commonly used as a positive control.ResultsOverall, percentage repellency increased with increasing doses of the essential oils while biting rates decreased with increasing concentrations of the oils. Further, the oil of C. citratus was more potent than that of T. minuta with regard to protection time and biting deterrence. The effective doses at 50% (ED50) and at 90% (ED90) for the oil of C. citratus, were 0.04 and 0.79 mg/ml, respectively. Those of the oil of T. minuta were 0.10 and 12.58 mg/ml. In addition, the percentage repellency of 1 mg/ml of the essential oils of C. citratus and T. minuta against sandflies was 100% and 88.89%, respectively. A lower dose of 0.5 mg/ml of the oils, elicited 89.13% repellency for C. citratus and 52.22% for T. minuta. ConclusionThe laboratory tests showed that the essential oils of the two plants were highly repellent to adult sand flies, P. duboscqi. Thus, the two essential oils are candidate natural repellents that can be used against P. duboscqi due to their high efficacy at very low doses, hence, the envisaged safety in their use over chemical repellents. It remains to carry out clinical studies on human subjects with appropriate formulations of the oils prior to recommending their adoption for use against the sandflies.

Leishmaniasis, one of the highly neglected diseases is currently a significant health problem in northern Africa with a rising concern in western Africa because of co-infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In this review, we present a summarized analysis of the epidemiology, infective species, parasites reservoirs, diagnosis, treatment and control measures of leishmaniasis in northern and western Africa region. In northern Africa, the disease is prevalent in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Comparatively, there are low prevalence rates of the disease in West African countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. In North Africa, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by L. infantum and transmitted by Phlebotomus perniciosus and P. longicuspis. On the other hand, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is mainly caused by L. major and transmitted by P. papatasi, P. duboscqi and P. pedifer with L. infantum and L. tropica causing lower incidences of the disease. Notably, Algeria is one of the countries that constitute 90% of CL cases worldwide. In Western Africa; CL is caused by L. major while VL is caused by L. donovani. In these regions, zoonotic and anthroponotic cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis is a health problem that should be addressed urgently.

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