Evaluation of the mosquito Repellency properties and antibacterial effects of lemon grass (Cymbopogon Citratus) extracts

Abstract

The incidence of malaria infection from infected female Anopheles mosquito is a global health challenge. Insect repellency is used to force back insect; preventing insect borne diseases. The antibacterial and repellency property of lemongrass extracts was determined using microbiological methods. The leaf of the plant was air-dried, blended and extracted using methanol and isolates of Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. The repellency property was tested on shaved albino rats for a period of 6 hours. The results showed that the methanol extract exerted the highest inhibitory property with diameter of 22.44± 0.51mm, 17.21±0.51mm and 14.28± 1.12mm on Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli respectively. The chloroform extract exerted the highest zone of inhibition on Bacillus cereus having a diameter of 13.66± 0.33mm. Comparatively, the methanol extract was more effective than most of the commercial antibiotics used, which also repelled female anopheles mosquito for 5½ hours before any landing was observed. Observations from this research shows that lemongrass has antibacterial effect against the bacteria used and can be used to design new antibacterial or to fortify the existing ones. The extract can also be used for repelling insects and mixed with creams to repel vectors mosquitoes.