Research Article Larvicidal Activity of Nerium oleander against Larvae West Nile Vector Mosquito Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae)

Copyright © 2015 Fouad El-Akhal et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Outbreaks of the West Nile virus infection were reported in Morocco in 1996, 2003, and 2010. Culex pipiens was strongly suspected as the vector responsible for transmission. In the North center of Morocco, this species has developed resistance to synthetic insecticides. There is an urgent need to find alternatives to the insecticides as natural biocides. Objective. In this work, the insecticidal activity of the extract of the local plant Nerium oleander, which has never been tested before in the North center of Morocco, was studied on larval stages 3 and 4 of Culex pipiens.Methods. Biological tests were realized according to a methodology inspired from standardWorld Health Organization protocol.Themortality values were determined after 24 h of exposure and L