A Review on the Potential and Efficacy of Plant-Based Mosquito Repellents Against DEET-Based Mosquito Repellents

• Main Authors: Bacolor, Andrea Ysobel T., Guno, Jenmond Alphine V., Rodriguez, Dominic Kyle S., Santos, Paula Justine F., Tizon, Eula Kathrina M.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: DEET; terpenes; mosquito repellent; repellent-active compounds; efficacy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2021/paper_see/25; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/conf_shsrescon/article/1663/viewcontent/SEE__A_Review_on_the_Potential_and_Efficacy_of_Plant_Based_Mosquito.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The number of insect-borne diseases has brought many health-related issues, prompting the search, discovery, and formulation of insect repellents to prevent the acquisition of diseases. However, the preferred and conventional chemical-based repellent has downsides contrary to the benefits, such as the concern towards human and environmental safety. Meanwhile, scientific understanding of plants is mainly underexplored, resulting in people’s preferences for chemical-based insect repellents. The main objective of this review was to evaluate the efficacy of N, N-diethyl-3-methyl-benzamide (DEET), found in chemical-based repellents, and terpenes, found in plant essential oil-based repellents, to show the potential of both, along with the possibility of using plant-based repellents as an alternative to the conventional ones. The review was done by comparing and analyzing the fundamental data obtained from previous studies, focusing on the DEET or essential oil concentration, repellency rate, protection time for the efficacy, and the mosquito species that the tested repellents have shown to repel. After reviewing and comparing the results from primary sources, the researchers concluded that DEET-based and plant-based repellents both have potential depending on the concentration and the process of repellent formulation, as some plant-based repellents demonstrate longer protection times and thus greater potential than some of the DEET-based ones.