Clove Bud Oil – A Solution to House mites?

Lifestyle and housing construction changes have improved the living conditions for house dust mites over the last few decades. The installation of central heating, airtight windows, and fitted carpets has led an increase in the frequency and density of dust mites in the average home. This has been linked to an intensifying epidemic of allergies from asthma to allergic rhinitis. The house dust mite is ubiquitous in almost every home and is a major source of many potent allergens associated with asthma and other disorders and even sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Clove bud oil offers hope of an enviromentally freindly solution. (for more information on Clove Bud Oil check here)

DEET presents danger and little hope

Fumigation chemicals to eradicate the mites are not popular and even where they are used, their repeated application is leading to resistance.

The mites may be eliminated with potent chemicals such as benzenehexachloride, pirimiphos-methyl, benzyl benzoate, N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide(DEET), and dibutyl phthalate.

Emerging evidence shows that repeated use can lead to the development of resistance as well as having unwanted side-effects on non-target organisms. Of more concern to the average parent hoping to protect their offspring from the mite is that these compounds may represent serious environmental and human health concerns.

Clove bud oil may be the answer

Extracts of clove bud oil could lead to an environmentally benign approach to reducing house dust mites, according to scientists in the Republic of Korea. Until now, little research had been done on extracts of clove oil although it has been commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine and its insecticidal activity was known in stored foods. The present work could ultimately lead to an acceptable recipe for fumigating against house dust mites.

Clove bud oil more effective than DEET

A recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry investigated the effectiveness of extracts of Clove bud oil on dust mites. Agricultural biotechnologist Young-Joon Ahn and his colleagues at Seoul National University in Korea, have shown that extracts of clove bud oil, are more effective than DEET at killing adults house dust mites, the American house dust mite and the European house dust mite.

The most potent extracts eugenol and its related components are stronger even than the commonly used DEET. Indeed, one component is toxic at less than one microgram per square centimeter while DEET requires a concentration of 37.59 micrograms per square centimeter to be effective

Reference: Eun-Hee Kim, Hyun-Kyung Kim & Young-Joon Ahn. Acaricidal activity of clove bud oil compounds against Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Acari: Pyroglyphidae). J Agric Food Chem 2003, 10.1021

You can buy some clove bud oil to experiment on your own

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