Thanks Cincin for accepting me into your advocacy. Earlier posts.... Had a >2hour long dicussion with Mr Gerald Marten, a retired ecology professor. It was a quite a learning experience and a pleasure to interact with an expert with 50 years of hands on field work and published bench work in ecology globally. Our talk included topics anywhere from protecting marine sanctuaries, the BT cotton industry in India, the agro-forestry in Thailand, problems with GMO seeds and pesticides/non-organic fertilizers etc. but amongst all this we touched on mosquito control. He has given me his word and full support in my small mosquito control project. Why mosquito control? Dengue fever/hemorrhagic fever and Chikungunya are important health concerns right now in the Philippines and in many parts of the world and I have seen quite a bit of devastating cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) Encephalitis here in the US. Not to mention that I ended up with Chikungunya while my nephew was hospitalized with Dengue Fever during our recent trip and medical mission post-Haiyan. As you probably know mosquitos transmit other diseases like malaria, yellow fever, filaria (elephantiasis), epidemic polyarthritis, Rift Valley fever, Ross River Fever, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis and several other encephalitis type diseases are carried by several different mosquitoes. Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Western equine encephalitis (WEE) occurs in the United States where it causes disease in humans, horses, and some bird species. Because of the high mortality rate, EEE and WEE are regarded as two of the most serious mosquito-borne diseases in the United States. To say the least malaria is a leading cause of premature mortality, particularly in children under the age of five, with around 2 million deaths annually (CDC). In the US what is hot right now is WNV. This mosquito-borne viral illness was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1999 and by 2003 had spread to almost every state with over 3,000 cases in 2006 and in the past year has caused significant havoc especially in Texas and in several states. But dont forget malaria. Despite its eradication in the early 1900s with agressive public health campaigns pockets of this have been reported as recently as 1986 in Sand Diego, CA. (cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000814.htm). And did you know that there are cases of Dengue Fever acquired endogenously in the US?(foxnews/health/2013/11/25/dengue-fever-why-its-becoming-more-common-in-us-and-what-americans-should-know/). The potential emergence of Chikungunya in the US has also raised some concerns. (livescience/43241-what-is-chikungunya-fever-virus-mosquito.html). What is key to mosquito control is limiting the number of breeding places like old tires, clogged gutters, plant dishes, or any stagnant water and in many cases it is not accomplished by simple community efforts as there are simply large bodies of water out there that serves as mosquito breeding ground. Other measures include fumigation and application of pesticides which however can pose significant health risks and environmental issues not to mention development of resistance to these agents such as mosquitos now transmitting genes for DEET resistance (nature/news/2011/110705/full/475019a.html) and the emerging) and now the issues with pyrethroid resistance in the Anopheles mosquito in Africa (nature/news/2011/110705/full/475019a.html). Hence, theres a call for more sustainable, eco-friendly, and innovative measures to control the mosquito population. Some measures are in existence and some needs improvement and the list also includes those in research and in development. Here are the measures that are TOP TEN in my list (in no particualr order): 1) use of mosquito dunks - contains the environmental bacteria Bacillus thuriengensis israelensis (Bti) that produces a crystal toxin that disrupts the gut of larval mosquito; mosquito dunks or bits are available in garden stores and online (Amazon); 2) mosquito fish - western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) or the eastern mosquitofish (G. holbrooki) or the edible - Oreochromis niloticus L. (Perciformes: Cichlidae) (formerly Tilapia nilotica) ; several counties in California distribute mosquito fish at no charge to residents with man-made fishponds and pools as part of their Mosquito Abatement programs; 3) use of turtles - Juvenile turtles have the capacity to eat more than 500 3rd and 4th instar mosquitos per day. Keeping one turtle in each water-storage tank during field trials for a dengue-control project in Honduras eliminated all mosquito production from the tanks. (gerrymarten/publicatons/pdfs/GM_Turtles.pdf) 4) invisibility cloak - the Kite Mosquito Patch -blessthisstuff/stuff/living/misc-living/kite-mosquito-patch/; quite promising.. 5) use of attractants/mosquito magnets - most of them use octenol and CO2 (mosquitomagnet/advice/all-about/compare-traps-commander); 6) using attractive toxic sugar bait (ATBS) - males feeds on nectarine and plant juices and females needs blood to lay eggs but also needs sugar rich food ;(afpmb.org/sites/default/files/pubs/dwfp/publications/FY13/QuallsXue,2013Florida.pdf); ATSB bait solution used in the sugar-rich and sugar-poor oases consisted of ~75% juice of over-ripe to rotting prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica, Cactaceae), 5% V/V wine, 20% W/V brown sugar, 1% (W/V) BaitStab™ concentrate (a product containing antifungal and antibacterial additives produced by Westham Innovations LTD, Tel Aviv, Israel) and boric acid 1% (W/V). The ATSB was sprayed on Acacia raddiana trees. (malariajournal/content/11/1/31). Others have used guava juice or melon laced with boric acid.; 7) use of technology to protect against nuclear missile attack - SDI - create a backyard using gadgets that detect mosquitos and zap them with lasers. (spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/backyard-star-wars); 8) development of other attractants/traps or deterrent - >dirty socks - getting funding - (cnn/2011/WORLD/africa/07/26/tanzania.malaria.socks/index.html) >Trap Tricks Pregnant Mosquitoes With Enticingly Lethal Maternity Ward - a Tulane University project (tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_1220010.cfm) >identification of substances that attract or deter mosquitos affinity to human breath/skin odorants (mosquito palp) by identifying substances that block or activate the cpA neruon receptors (ucrtoday.ucr.edu/19377) 9) Wolbachia Aedes aegypti - Wolbachia is a commonly occurring bacterium or symbiont that lives inside the cells of insects. Recently, Wolbachia was artificially introduced into the mosquito vector dengue virus that was naturally Wolbachia-free. Wolbachia limits the growth of a range of pathogens transmitted to humans, including viruses, bacteria and parasites inside the mosquito. This “pathogen protection” forms the basis of field trials to determine if releasing Wolbachia into wild mosquito populations could reduce dengue virus incidence in humans. (plosntds.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0002362) (eliminatedengue/program) (nature/nature/journal/v476/n7361/full/nature10355.html) 10) Last but not the least which was the topic of my lengthy discussion with Mr Marten is the use of Mesocylops (copepods) a natural freshwater crustaceans that feeds on mosquito larvae. This measure has eradicated Aedes aegypti (main venctor of Dengue Fever) in several villages in Vietnam (gerrymarten.org/publicatons/pdfs/GM_Aedes-Aegypti.pdf) (gerrymarten/publicatons/pdfs/GM_Copepod-Production.pdf). The production is simple and not as costly and can be duplicated in the field but needs quite a bit of community effort to be successful. Mr Marten has emphasized the need to visit Vietnam and learn from their efforts if we can duplicate their success in the Philippines. This will be quite a task but certainly not impossible. Thank you Cincin for allowing me to join the MDFA (Mosquito Dengue Fighters Association).
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 03:53:03 +0000
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