Plantas medicinais tropicais e mediterrânicas com propriedades biocidas no controlo de insetos vetores

For millennia plants and their therapeutic qualities have been used by civilizations to prevent and fight against diseases. The progressive increase of resistance in target insects lead to restrictions on the application of chemical insecticides and/or on increases the search on the use of new synthetic compounds. The reduced number of safe compounds marketed new natural compounds more effective against targets and environmentally harmless. Market requirement, and international legislation pressure, makes imperative to look for such new products. Natural plant products re-emerge as promising sources of biologically active compounds to the control of mosquito vector species. Since its synthesis is often associated to natural plant defense mechanisms against pests, plant-derived compounds generally exhibit greater specificity to target organisms, are in general biodegradable and present less environmental risks. The present study aims to develop new safe measures to control vectors through the evaluation of the biocidal properties of tropical and Mediterranean medicinal plants (Sambucus nigra, Melia azedarach, Azadirachta indica, Foeniculum vulgare and Mentha pulegium), and on their usefulness to control mosquitoes that are vectors of pathogens of diseases such as malaria and arboviruses, namely, Anopheles arabiensis and Aedes aegypti in Cape Verde.