When a national health crisis occurs it can leave the masses feeling helpless, disempowered and fearful. That was exactly how I felt when the news of the Philippines Dengue Fever outbreak hit my social media feed.
This outbreak parralled our travel schedule for the next 4 weeks, as we were embarking on a work tour throughout the Philippines. And I couldn’t help but want to cancel EVERYTHING and hide inside.
Not. Realistic. And if you’re reading this article, you may have initially felt the same way.
Over the last few days you may have found yourself asking if anything that can actually be done to prevent Dengue fever?
Unfortunately, preventive options are scarce in the world of conventional medicine. But when conventional options offer nothing, it can be an invitation to explore natural support.
My favorite place to explore natural options while also looking for supporting research is www.pubmed.gov .
To be honest, I’d be lathering pure essential oils onto my skin with or without supporting research. However with such a rampant outbreak, and Dengue being nothing new to the tropics, I figured I’d take the time to see what’s already been shown to work well.
We were SHOCKED at what modern research
has shown in regards to essential oils and Dengue Fever.
The International Journal of Mosquito Research summed up their findings (which actually sums up our own findings after reading through several other studies) beautifully:
“Essential oils can kill mosquito larvae by causing biochemical and histopathological alterations”.
Please note that none of this information should be used in lieu of conventional medicine. ALWAYS be sure to talk with your prescribing doctor before implementing anything new into your healthcare regiment.
So let’s dive into which oils won out as most popular!
The Top Researched Essential Oils to Support Immunity in the Midst of Dengue Fever
Peppermint:
The Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine found Peppermint essential oil to be a very helpful repellant and larvicide. The application of the oil was found to be 100% effective for 150 minutes.
I actually LOVE to apply Peppermint throughout my day, so application every 2 hours or so would be no problem for me. I find that Peppermint helps me to feel refreshed and alert during the hot summer days.
Geranium and Lemongrass: The International Journal of Advances in Biology conducted a study looking at the repellancy of Citronella essential oil, linalool (found in Lavender and Magnolia essential oils) and geraniol (found in Geranium, Rose and Lemongrass essential oils) in both diffusers and candles.
The study not only found that diffusers were markedly more effective compared to candles, but also found that geraniol was the most effective repellant compared to both Citronella and linalool. In fact, the study reported that geraniol was 5x more effective compared to Citronella! Linalool was reported as the weakest repellant of the three essential oils.
This means that oils like Geranium, Lemongrass and Rose would typically be much more effective then the Citronella essential oils and that the weak linalool oils like Lavender or Magnolia wouldn’t be great repellant choices.
Oiling Tip: The combination of Geranium and Lemongrass smells quite nice and would be a really yummy and protective “pure-fume to apply daily when trying to avoid mosquito bites.
Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil: Cinnamomum zeylancium, the phytochemical constituent high in Cinnamon Bark essential oil, was a powerful repellant.
Turmeric Essential Oil: Turmeric essential oil was found to be profoundly more effective than the commercial repellants . The study found that oviposition (the laying eggs of mosquitos) deterrent activity was 94.7% “whereas deet and IR 3535 had no repellency.”
Oiling Tip: I whipped out our Cinnamon Bark, Turmeric and Peppermint essential oils and combined them in a roller bottle to see what the blend would smell like.
The trio had an enjoyable spicy-musky-minty scent, leaving me feeling awakened yet grounded after the application.
I hope after reading some of this information that you feel a little more hopeful about preventative options. If you’d like to purchase any or all of these essential oils from us, you can do here: