Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association,9(3):359-360' 1993

Copyriehi @ 1993 by the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc'

MOSQUITO REPELLENT ACTION OF NEEM

Malaria ResearchCentre, 22 Sham Nath Marg, Delhi 110 054' India

ABSTRACT. Two percent neem oil mixed in coconut oil, when applied to the exposedbody parts of
human volunteers, provided complete protection for 12 h from the bites of all anopheline species.
Application of neem oil is safe and can be used for protection from malaria in endemic countries.

Mosquito coils and mats containing synthetic of the volunteers between 1745 and I 800 h, and
pyrethroids have been employed in many areas simultaneouslyother volunteersapplied coconut
ofthe world for protection againstmosquito bites. oil alonefor comparisonasa control. Mosquitoes
The relative efficacyof each method varies con- were collected from 1800 to 0600 h for 5 nights
siderably(Curtis et al. 1987).Prolongeduse of each in Ramgarh and Bhel-Akbarpur villages.
insecticidesin repellentsmay alsoproduceharm- For an all-night collection, a volunteer servedas
ful results (Liu et al. 1987) and requires stan- bait from 1800 to 2400 h and was replaced by
dardization and quality control (Coene et al. another volunteer until 0600 h. For each dosage
1989),which is seldom the case.A variety of ofneem oil and coconut oil, volunteers occupied
natural and synthetic repellents have been used a separateroom and were allowed to lie on a cot.
for protection from biting insects (Curtis et al. Mosquitoes landing on the exposed body were
1989). We report the results of field studies on collected by another person (untreated, without
the repellent action ofneem oil in India. This is any oil) using a flashlight and a suction tube.
the first report ofthe repellent action ofneem oil Volunteers, insect collectors and experimental
(extracted from the seedsof Azadirachta indica rooms were randomized each night and collec-
A. Juss [Meliaceae])on mosquitoes. tions were made on the treated and control vol-
The repellent action of neem oil was tested in unteers concurrently on l0 diferent nights in
the villages of Ramgarh and Bhel-Akbarpur, September-October 1992. Results of these ob-
which are about 30 km east of Delhi. These ex- servationsand percentageprotection from mos-
perimental villages have a high malaria trans- quito biting are given in Table l. The percentage
mission rate,with many larval mosquito habitats protection from man-mosquito contact was cal-
producing largeanopheline populations.Anoph- culated by subtracting the total number of mos-
elesculicifaciesGiles is the vector of malaria in quitoes in the experimental group from the con-
this area and it has been incriminated again in trol, divided by mosquitoes in the control and
recentyears(Subbaraoet al. I 988). In this region, multiplied by 100.
the vector hasbecomeresistant to DDT and HHC Neem oil produced a strong repellent action
and there are no practical and sustainablemeth- on An. culicifacies(the major vector of rural ma-
ods for vector control. Baseline data collectec laria in India) and other nuisance anopheline
during l99l on the mosquito fauna of Ramgarh mosquitoesev€n at concentrationsas low as 0.5
and Bhel-Akbarpur villagesrevealedthat it com- and 1.0ol0.At a concentration of 2ol0,there was
prised 7 speciesof anophelines(650/o) and 2 culi- no anophelinebiting and the protection provided
cines (350/o).Mosquito densitieswere monitorec was l00o/oduring a l2-h period.
at fortnightly intervals by hand catchingmethods Neem is an insect antifeedant that has been
in 8 rooms and 8 cattle sheds. Based on these testedagainstat least 26 speciesofinsects (Ladd
data, the yearly average man-hour densities of et al. 1978).A wide rangeof developmental and
anophelines and culicines were 183 (range 39- behavioral changesare also induced by neem
641) and 137 (range 69-210), respectively. alkaloids (Kubo and Kloche 1982). Neem oil is
Among the anophelines, 60-700/oof the speci- extractedfrom seedsmechanicallyusing a crush-
mens were,4n. culicifacies,20-3 5olowereAnoph- er and is marketed throughout the country at a
eIes subpi ctus Grassi and I 0- I 5o/owere A nopheIes price of about U.S. $1.0G-3.00/kg.Neem alka-
annularisYan der Wulp. Other anophelines,viz., loids are safeto humans (Bhide et al. 1958, Gai-
AnophelesstephensiListon, Anophelesaconitus tonde and Bhide 1959) and neem oil is edible
D6nitz, Anophelespulcherrimus Theobald anc after processing(Rukmini 1987).It can be mixed
Anopheles nigetimus Giles, were encounterec in coconut or any other oil for application on the
only occasionally. skin to repel mosquitoes.
Neem oil was mixed at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.00/o Malaria is endemic in India with at least 2
strength in coconut oil. Three to 5 ml of this oi- million casesreported each year. In most areas
mixture was applied to the face, arms and legs the mosquito nuisance is unbearable.Although
359
360 JounN,cr,or rnr Allenrcnx Mosquno CoNrnot AssocrlrroN Vor,. 9, No. 3

Table l. Results of neem oil mixed in coconut oil and applied on the exposedbody parts of
volunteers in relation to the biting rate of mosquitoes.
Neem Total no. of mosquitoes landing in indoor human baits
oil (o/o) in l0 nights during September4ctober 1992
miwezl

in
An. cuuctJuctes
^r.. culicifacies Total
lotal anophelines
anophelrnes
coconut Neem Percent Neem Percent
oil oil Control protection oil Control protection
0.5 ll 74 8 5 .I t4 87 83.9
1.0 l0 167 94.O 30 408 92.6
2.O 0 48 r00.0 0 t44 100.0

residual spraying of insecticides is the mainstay Curtis, C. F., J. D. Lines, J. Ijumba, A. Callaghan,N.
of malaria control, there are epidemics in areas Hill and M. A. Karimzad. 1987. The relative ef-
undergoing spraying. Malaria control has be- ficacy of repellentsagainstmosquito vectors of dis-
come highly complex and problematical, inter ease.Med. Vet. Entomol.l:109-119.
alia, due to vector resistance, exophilic or exo- Gaitonde,B. B. and U. K. Seth. 1958. Pharmaco-
phagic vector behavior, widespread chloroquine logicalstudiesof sodium nimbidinate. Indian J. Med.
R e s .l 2 : 1 5 6 - 1 6 1 .
resistance in P/as modium falciparum, operation-
Kubo, I. and J. A. Kloche. 1982. Azadirachtin,insect
al failures and financial constraints (Sharma and ecdysisinhibitor. Agric. Biol. Chem. 46:810-813.
Mehrotra 1986). In this context, the repellent Ladd, T. L., Jr., M. Jacobsonand C. R. Buriff. 1978.
activity of neem oil in providing complete pro- Japanesebeetles:extracts from neem tree seedsas
tection from the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes feedingdeterrent.J. Econ. Entomol. 77:810-813.
can be of great help in our fight against malaria. Liu, W. K., M. H. Wong and Y. L. Mui. 1987. Toxic
effectsof mosquito coil (a mosquito repellent)smoke
on rats I. Properties of the mosquito coil and its
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