Plant Extracts, Isolated Phytochemicals, and Plant-Derived Agents Which Are Lethal to Arthropod Vectors of Human Tropical Diseases - A Review

Abstract

The recent scientific literature on plant-derived agents with potential or effective use in the control of the arthropod vectors of human tropical diseases is reviewed. Arthropod-borne tropical diseases include: amebiasis, Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), cholera, cryptosporidiosis, dengue (hemorrhagic fever), epidemic typhus (Brill-Zinsser disease), filariasis (elephantiasis), giardia (giardiasis), human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), isosporiasis, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease (lyme borreliosis), malaria, onchocerciasis, plague, recurrent fever, sarcocystosis, scabies (mites as causal agents), spotted fever, toxoplasmosis, West Nile fever, and yellow fever. Thus, coverage was given to work describing plant-derived extracts, essential oils (EOs), and isolated chemicals with toxic or noxious effects on filth bugs (mechanical vectors), such as common houseflies (Musca domestica Linnaeus), American and German cockroaches (Periplaneta americana Linnaeus, Blatella germanica Linnaeus), and oriental latrine/blowflies (Chrysomya megacephala Fabricius) as well as biting, blood-sucking arthropods such as blackflies (Simulium Latreille spp.), fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild), kissing bugs (Rhodnius Stål spp., Triatoma infestans Klug), body and head lice (Pediculus humanus humanus Linnaeus, P. humanus capitis De Geer), mosquitoes (Aedes Meigen, Anopheles Meigen, Culex L., and Ochlerotatus Lynch Arribálzaga spp.), sandflies (Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz & Neiva, Phlebotomus Loew spp.), scabies mites (Sarcoptes scabiei De Geer, S. scabiei var hominis, S. scabiei var canis, S. scabiei var suis), and ticks (Ixodes Latreille, Amblyomma Koch, Dermacentor Koch, and Rhipicephalus Koch spp.). Examples of plant extracts, EOs, and isolated chemicals exhibiting noxious or toxic activity comparable or superior to the synthetic control agents of choice (pyrethroids, organophosphorous compounds, etc.) are provided in the text for many arthropod vectors of tropical diseases.

Terpenes: Natural Products for Controlling Insects of Importance to Human Health—A Structure-Activity Relationship Study

“…In addition, terpenes also affect components of the epicuticular waxes of insects, which could be a mechanism of pesticidal activity [79]. Repellent and ovicidal activities were also observed for different extracts from Schinus molle [80], and Eucalyptus urograndis essential oil had high insecticidal and repellent activities for R. neglectus nymphs [76,77]. DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) is a synthetic compound that is used as repellent against mosquitoes and other Diptera, with the repellency of DEET on the bug vectors of Chagas disease having been tested by other authors [78,81,82].…”

“…Essential oils are an alternative to synthetic pesticides for controlling blood sucking bugs [43,[76][77][78], with Hedeoma mandoniana and Minthostachys andina having been used as insecticides on the bugs Rhodnius neglectus and Triatoma infestans, and topical application revealing an insecticidal activity of 33% and 50% for H. mandoniana and M. andina, respectively. However, the evaluation of these essential oils as a fumigant produced different results, with H. mandoniana oil combined with 25.5% menthone and 33% isomenthone showing a mortality between 30 and 50% for the bugs, while M. andina with pulegone as the main component (44.6%) had no effect.…”

Plants of the Araceae family for malaria and related diseases: a review

“…), solvent extracts and isolated chemicals (chrysanthamic acid, nicotine, etc.) that have given rise to the pyrethroid, neonicotinoid and other insecticides and repellents (Pohlit et al, 2011a;2011b).…”

Adulticidal Activity of Dillapiol and Semi-synthetic Derivatives of Dillapiol against <i>Aedes aegypti</i> (L.) (Culicidae)

“…Research on the use of plant-derived chemicals to control mosquitoes and other insects has increased in recent years. This is especially true for the use of natural products based on plant essential oils (EOs) as insecticides and repellents (Shaalan et al, 2005;Georges et al, 2008;Nerio et al, 2010;Pohlit et al, 2011a;2011b). It is firmly established that substances which contain a methylenedioxyphenyl nucleus such as synthetic piperonyl butoxide or components of EOs such as safrole, sesamolin, sesamin, myristicin and dillapiol (1) (Figure 1) have insecticide synergist and other properties which are important for insect control (Cassida, 1970;Alibhai, 1999).…”