Mosquitoes responsible for spreading disease are increasingly
becoming resistant to synthetic insecticides. Now research
published in the online open access journal BMC Complementary
and Alternative Medicine suggests that the berries of a weed
common to India, Solanum villosum (S villosum), have potential
for keeping mosquitoes at bay. S. villosum is a member of the
nightshade family known for its medicinal properties and
commonly used as an ayurvedic herb. Nandita Chowdhury, Anupam
Ghosh and Goutam Chandra from Burdwan University, West Bengal,
India used juice and extracts from the berries of S. villosum,
on Stegomyia aegypti, (S. aegypti), which can spread a number of
viruses including dengue fever and yellow fever and is commonly
known as the yellow fever mosquito. The authors found that S.
villosum was particularly effective at eliminating S. aegypti
larvae. Although it was not as potent as a chemical insecticide
such as Malathion, the authors suggest that plant extracts from
S. villosum have the potentia