Potential of medicinal plants in mosquito control.

Medicinal plants have long history as important components in traditional medicine, and food of humans since ancient Egyptians and Chinese. Naturally occurring botanical compounds contain a broad range of chemical active ingredients can intervene in all biological processes of the mosquito, thus interrupt its life cycle and dispersal and reduce harms to humans and animals. Many medicinal plants were tested for their pesticide and repellent potential, as crude material, essential oils or individual active ingredients. This article reviewed studies on the efficacy of many well known and commonly used safe medicinal plants or their products in controlling the mosquitoes; Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae, An. stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus and the ticks, Dermacentor variabilis, Amblyomma americanum, Ixodes scapularis and I. ricinus. Promising and encouraging results were obtained against these arthropod-vectors of zoonotic diseases.