Essential oils of Cupressus funebris, Juniperus communis, and J.

chinensis
(Cupressaceae) as repellents agains ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) and mosquitoes
(Diptera: Culicidae) and as toxicants against mosquitoes
Mosquito and tick-borne illnesses exact a considerable toll in human misery and
financial expenditure. Problems with ticks and tick borne illnesses have continued to
grow during the past three decades. (Parola and Raoult 2001). There are several
different types of ticks and mosquitos here in America such as the lone star tick which
not only bites but causes an infectious bacterial disease known as human monocytic
ehrlichiosis. Mosquitoes are just as annoying as ticks and also can cause several
serious diseases such as dengue/yellow/rift valley fever, malaria, and chikungunya
fever. All these diseases have several symptoms such as nausea, headaches, joint
pains and respiratory issues just to name a few. One of the main reasons why these
researcher wanted research the effectiveness of essential oils as insect repellant is due
to the fact that ticks and mosquitoes are growing a resistance to the insecticides we use
today.
The researchers used several different types of essential oils were used to see
what effects they had against ticks and mosquitoes. The essential oils were broken
down and their chemical composition was analyzed into over 50+ different compounds
were discovered in the J. communis, J. chinensis and C. funebris oils and compared to
current insecticides that are used today and if more natural insecticides would be more
effective and if these insects build a resistance to the essential oils. The tests were
conducted at Oklahoma State University in a controlled lab where the mosquitoes and
ticks were grown from larvae/pupae and tested against essential oils from China,
insecticides and a control group which didnt receive any type of repellant.
When the results came back the researchers found that all three of the essential

oils worked well as repellants against ticks and that only a much smaller concentration
of the essential oils were needed to be effective compared to the concentration of
insecticide needed for the same result. With the mosquitoes though, the C. funebris
and J. chinensis were not consistently effective at repelling female mosquitoes even at
the highest concentration used, but the J. communis and a small effect at a medium
concentration used. On the other hand, when it came to the mortality of the female
mosquitoes the essential oils were more consistent at killing the mosquitoes then
repelling them but the concentration was at a much higher rate than that of the
insecticides.
In the end the results of the study were pretty interesting. The essential oils were
comparable to insecticides commonly used today. The essential oils were more
effective against ticks even at lower concentrations than those of the insecticides but
when it came to the mosquitoes, the results were much less favorable. The
concentration of oils needed to be slightly effective were much higher than what used
against the ticks and even higher than the insecticides and the consistency against the
mosquitoes were very inconsistent. Also overall the ticks and mosquitoes built no
resistance to the essential oils as they have been building to our current insecticides.
I think overall the study was very fascinating. I do feel like they could have used a
broader range of ticks and mosquitoes and they should have contained more of the
diseases they mentioned than just malaria and even a bigger sample size. Also they
only used 3 different types of oils, which have been proven to be a repellant but they
were used individually. It would have been interesting to see the results if they
combined the 3 oils to see if that made any difference. If you like more natural products,
essential oils would be a great alternative to try if you dont like the current insecticides
we have today.

Bibliography
(n.d.).
Carroll, J. F., Tabanca, N., Kramer, M., Elejalde, N. M., Wedge, D. E., Bernier, U. R., . . .
Zhang, S. (2001). Essential oils of Cupressus funebris, Juniperus communis,
and J. chinensis (Cupressaceae) as repellants against ticks (Acari: Ixodidae)
and mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and as toxicants against mosquiteos.
Vector Ecology, 258-268.