Artemisia vulgaris efficacies against various stages of Aedes aegypti

Background and aim: Aedes aegypti is the vector of dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, chikungunya, and, most recently, Zika. Dengue fever is one of Indonesia's endemic diseases. The principal tool for preventing dengue is controlling Ae. aegypti by chemical insecticides since vaccine against dengue is still under research. However, Ae. aegypti developed resistance to various chemical insecticides worldwide. Therefore, research on alternate compounds as mosquito insecticides is urgently needed. This study demonstrated the efficacy of Artemisia vulgaris extract as larvicidal, ovicidal, adulticidal, repellency, and oviposition deterrent activity against Ae. aegypti.

Materials and methods: A. vulgaris was obtained from Temanggung, Indonesia, while the eggs of Ae. aegypti were collected from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and were hatched in Laboratory of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Larvicidal activity was evaluated according to the WHO protocol; adulticidal activity was performed using the Centers for Disease Control protocol. Oviposition activity was evaluated using ovitraps added with A. vulgaris extract, complete protection time in the repellent assay was defined as the number of minutes elapsed between compound application and the landing of the first mosquito.

Results: A test of the larvicidal activity of A. vulgaris extract returned an LC₅₀ of 65.8 ppm (r²=0.9014) in 1 h and 18.6 ppm (r²=0.575) in 24 h. A. vulgaris was effective as an adulticidal, demonstrating LC₅₀ values of 11.35 mg (r²=0.875) in 90 min, 9.63 mg (r²=0.924) in 105 min, and 6.46 mg (r²=0.925) in 120 min. A. vulgaris at a concentration of 1000 ppm was able to reach 96% of oviposition deterrent effect. The ovicidal assay, a concentration of 1000 ppm resulted in 82.67% of eggs remaining unhatched. An extract concentration of 80 mg/ml achieved 63.3±3.5% biting repellency in adults.

Conclusion: This study gives a clear indication that A. vulgaris extract acts on Ae. aegypti at various developmental stages and is a potential alternative bioinsecticide for controlling this disease vector.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti; Artemisia vulgaris; bioinsecticide.