Repellent effect of Eucalyptus detergent against house dust mites (Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus)

The exposure to house dust mites is closely connected with allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma. Control of house dust mite populations has been principally achieved by using chemical insecticides. But the risk to human health would be a potential problem. Moreover, house dust mite remain as allergens even after death. Therefore, repelling the house dust mites is more effective method than killing them. The use of plant-derived repellents has been considered as a promising alternative to chemical repellents. Eucalyptus oils are regarded as safe compounds, there have been attempts to commercialize and market the insecticides/repellent products containing Eucalyptus oil as such or based upon them. For that reason, we experimented repellent activity against these mites using laundry detergent with Eucalyptus oil in this experiment. House dust mites (Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus) were exposed at different concentrations (4, 8, 16, $32{\mu}L/mL$) in fabric treated laundry detergent with Eucalyptus oil for 24 hours. The repellent effects (%) of laundry detergent with Eucalyptus oil exposed at 4, 8, 16, and $32{\mu}L/mL$ were 48.16%, 74.62%, 52.67%, and 44.47%, respectively. These results suggest that laundry detergent with Eucalyptus oil have potential effect to repel the house dust mites.

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