• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.377-380
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• 2009

Growing patterns of pediculocidal drug resistance towards head louse laid the foundation for research in exploring novel anti-lice agents from medicinal plants. In the present study, various extracts of Pongamia pinnata leaves were tested against the head louse Pediculus humanus capitis. A filter paper diffusion method was conducted for determining the potential pediculocidal and ovicidal activity of chloroform, petroleum ether, methanol, and water extracts of P. pinnata leaves. The findings revealed that petroleum ether extracts possess excellent anti-lice activity with values ranging between 50.3% and 100% where as chloroform and methanol extracts showed moderate pediculocidal effects. The chloroform and methanol extracts were also successful in inhibiting nymph emergence and the petroleum ether extract was the most effective with a complete inhibition of emergence. Water extract was devoid of both pediculocidal and ovicidal activities. All the results were well comparable with benzoyl benzoate (25% w/v). These results showed the prospect of using P. pinnata leave extracts against P. humanus capitis in difficult situations of emergence of resistance to synthetic anti-lice agents.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.4
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• 2023

The increasing resistance of head lice Pediculus humanus capitis to many drugs has highlighted the need for new alternatives to control head lice in adults. The effect of two types of extracts (aqueous and alcoholic) of Citrullus colocynthis fruit on adult lice was tested in vitro. The results showed that the alcoholic extract with a concentration of 20% showed similar efficacy in killing adult lice to that of Natroba 9% w/w, with values ranging between 87% to 98% within 18 minutes, followed by a 20% aqueous extract with a 44% to 79% death rate. A 10% concentration of both types of extracts had moderate lethality for lice, while a 5% concentration did not show strong lethality for adult lice. These results revealed significant differences between the control group and those treated with alcoholic and aqueous extract concentrations of C. colocynthis fruits at the probability level p ≤ 0.05.