TY - JOUR
KW - Plant Oils
KW - Onchocerciasis control
KW - Onchocerciasis elimination
KW - Simulium damnosum s.l.
KW - black flies
KW - essential oils
KW - onchocerciasis
KW - repellence
AU - Maduka CF
AU - Opara KN
AU - Ubulom PME
AU - Yaro CA
AU - Akpan AU
AU - Udoidung NI
AU - Chikezie CP
AU - Ezihe EK
AU - Udoh DI
AB - <jats:p>Black flies of the Simulium damnosum complex transmit both animal and human onchocerciasis (River blindness), a neglected tropical disease (NTD) of public health importance in Nigeria. Efforts have been made for decades to control and eliminate onchocerciasis, mostly focusing on the use of ivermectin chemotherapy targeted on the Onchocerca parasite in infected humans. However, studies have shown that vector control can help fast-track onchocerciasis elimination. The present study investigated the repellent potentials of essential oil extracts of Eryngium foetidum and Eugenia uniflora against black flies in the field using topical application on study volunteers in a repeated-measures experimental design. The chemical composition of these oils extracted by hydro-distillation were determined using GC-MS analysis. Essential oils of E. foetidum and E. uniflora showed 73.0% and 84.3% average repellency at 20% concentration respectively, after 5 hours of exposure. Repellence activities decreased with increase in time of exposure. The two plant oil extracts were more effective repellents when compared with a commercial product, N,N-Diethylbenzamide, which served as a positive control. The average repellence of the positive control was 61.5 % (P&lt;0.05). The characterization of E. foetidum essential oil indicated an abundance of monoterpenes (29.2%), sesquiterpenes (25.0%) and triterpenes (4.2%), while E. uniflora was principally composed of sesquiterpenes (91.0%). The two plant oil extracts proved to be more effective repellents when compared with the positive control. These plants could be exploited in the development of plant-based, natural repellents against black flies. A synergy between Mass Drug Administration (MDA) with ivermectin and vector control using plant-based natural repellents from E. foetidum and E. uniflora would help realize onchocerciasis elimination targets faster than with MDA alone</jats:p>
BT - Nigerian Journal of Entomology
DA - 12/2025
DO - 10.36108/nje/5202/14.0270
IS - 2
LA - ENG
M3 - Article 
N2 - <jats:p>Black flies of the Simulium damnosum complex transmit both animal and human onchocerciasis (River blindness), a neglected tropical disease (NTD) of public health importance in Nigeria. Efforts have been made for decades to control and eliminate onchocerciasis, mostly focusing on the use of ivermectin chemotherapy targeted on the Onchocerca parasite in infected humans. However, studies have shown that vector control can help fast-track onchocerciasis elimination. The present study investigated the repellent potentials of essential oil extracts of Eryngium foetidum and Eugenia uniflora against black flies in the field using topical application on study volunteers in a repeated-measures experimental design. The chemical composition of these oils extracted by hydro-distillation were determined using GC-MS analysis. Essential oils of E. foetidum and E. uniflora showed 73.0% and 84.3% average repellency at 20% concentration respectively, after 5 hours of exposure. Repellence activities decreased with increase in time of exposure. The two plant oil extracts were more effective repellents when compared with a commercial product, N,N-Diethylbenzamide, which served as a positive control. The average repellence of the positive control was 61.5 % (P&lt;0.05). The characterization of E. foetidum essential oil indicated an abundance of monoterpenes (29.2%), sesquiterpenes (25.0%) and triterpenes (4.2%), while E. uniflora was principally composed of sesquiterpenes (91.0%). The two plant oil extracts proved to be more effective repellents when compared with the positive control. These plants could be exploited in the development of plant-based, natural repellents against black flies. A synergy between Mass Drug Administration (MDA) with ivermectin and vector control using plant-based natural repellents from E. foetidum and E. uniflora would help realize onchocerciasis elimination targets faster than with MDA alone</jats:p>
PB - Lujosh Ventures Limited
PY - 2025
SP - 92
EP - 107
T2 - Nigerian Journal of Entomology
TI - FIELD STUDIES OF SELECTED PLANT ESSENTIAL OILS FOR ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL AND ELIMINATION
UR - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Friday-Chikezie/publication/401213922_FIELD_STUDIES_OF_SELECTED_PLANT_ESSENTIAL_OILS_FOR_ONCHOCERCIASIS_CONTROL_AND_ELIMINATION/links/699f40395d60ab4835716ac5/FIELD-STUDIES-OF-SELECTED-PLANT-ESSENTIAL-OILS-FOR-ONCHOCER
VL - 41
SN - 0331-0094
ER -