Mosquitoes are a serious threat to public health transmitting several dangerous diseases for over 2 billion people in the tropics[1]. Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti), the primary carrier for viruses that cause dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever and yellow fever is widespread over large areas of the tropics and subtropics. Mosquito control and personal protection from mosquito bites are currently the most important measures to control these diseases. Many approaches have been developed and tried to tackle mosquito menace. The use of larvicides and repellents is an obvious practicality and economical means of preventing the transmission of these diseases to humans.
The common approach for the control of mosquito vectors and reducing the transmission of human pathogens is based on the chemical insecticide-based intervention measures[2]. However, in the past, the frequent and repeated use of chemical insecticides has resulted in the worldwide development of insecticide resistance, destabilisation of the ecosystem and toxic effects on human beings and nontarget organisms[3]. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new insecticides for controlling mosquitoes which are more environmentally safe, biodegradable and target-specific against the mosquitoes. In recent years, much effort has, therefore, been focused on plant extracts or phytochemicals as potential sources of mosquito control agents or as lead compounds[4,5]. Many researchers have reported the effectiveness of plant extracts or essential oils as efficient mosquito larvicides and repellents without posing hazards of toxicity to humans[6-10]. Several extracts and compounds from different plant families have been evaluated to show new and promising larvicides[11-13]. Further, repellency is known to play an important role in preventing the vector borne diseases byshow that in some village communities, the use of plant repellents to reduce human vector contact is a common practice[14]. Essential oils are natural volatile substances found in a variety of plants. Commercially, essential oils are used in four primary ways: as pharmaceuticals, as flavor enhancers in many food products, as odorants in fragrances, and as insecticides. The plant oils have received much attention as potentially useful bioactive compounds against insects showing a broad spectrum of activity, low mammalian toxicity and degrading rapidly in the environment.