Repellency of the Origanum onites L. essential oil and constituents to the lone star tick and yellow fever mosquito

Abstract

The oregano, Origanum onites L., essential oil (EO) was tested in laboratory behavioural bioassays for repellent activity against Amblyomma americanum (L.) and Aedes aegypti (L.). The O. onites EO was characterised using GC-FID and GC-MS. Carvacrol (75.70%), linalool (9.0%), p-cymene (4.33%) and thymol (1.9%) were the most abundant compounds. At a concentration of 0.413 mg oil/cm(2) of filter paper, O. onites EO repelled 100% of the ticks tested and at 0.103 mg oil/cm(2) of filter paper, 66.7% of the ticks were repelled. At 0.075 mg oil/cm(2) filter paper, thymol repelled 66.7% of the ticks compared to 28.7% by carvacrol at that same concentration. Against Ae. aegypti, O. onites EO was repellent at the minimum effective dosage (MED) of 0.011 (+/- 0.00) mg/cm(2) in the cloth patch assay compared to the reference control, N, N-dimethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) with a MED = 0.007 +/- (0.003) mg/cm(2).