A bunch of Brazilian researchers introduced this Wednesday that they’ve launched a technique to fight the mosquito that transmits dengue: they use the identical insect as a Malicious program to unfold a larvicide the worst epidemic of this illness within the historical past of the nation.
It’s a approach developed by the general public laboratory Instituto Fiocruz and consists of a container full of water wherein a material impregnated with larvicide is positioned Though it doesn’t kill mosquitoes, it does kill the larvae in breeding websites..
“Attracted by the water and the black shade of the container, the insect involves the station and is contaminated with a larvicide that spreads it in all places. Who might discover higher breeding grounds than the mosquito itself?” says Professor Rodrigo Gurgel, coordinator of the College of Brasilia laboratory accountable for this mission.
Brasilia is town with the best an infection fee Within the historic epidemic that Brazil is experiencing this 12 months, and some of the affected areas of the capital is the Structural Metropolis, a poor neighborhood constructed round a landfill and the place a big a part of the inhabitants lacks primary sanitation .
Yr after 12 months, neighbors like Manoel dos Santos face a rise in dengue circumstances throughout the wet season.
“On this avenue, the bulk already had dengue fever. My neighbor and a number of other different folks. There are only a few individuals who haven’t had it,” explains Santos.
The experiment
In 2020, researchers from the College of Brasilia carried out a mission: funded by the World Well being Group (WHO) Put in larvicide stations and tubes to gather and analyze mosquitoes in 150 properties on this neighborhood, the place they returned for monitoring for the next 11 months.
Though they’re nonetheless analyzing the outcomes, Professor Gurgel believes they’ll “battle the mosquito with the identical effectiveness” as one other research they carried out in 2017 within the São Sebastião area, additionally in Brasilia, the place the presence was lowered by 66% of mosquitoes.
In reality, some residents of the structural metropolis, like Reginaldo Lima, declare to have seen it an enchancment since these stations had been put in.
“As soon as they began this course of, the scenario improved considerably. Earlier than there have been lots of mosquitoes and we couldn’t sleep at night time,” explains Lima.
Gurgel explains: “The benefit over different applied sciences, comparable to genetically modified mosquitoes, is that enormous laboratories usually are not required. Any well being service can produce such a bottle at a really low value.”
As a consequence of its effectiveness, the Ministry of Well being advisable its use in Brazilian communities to fight the inhabitants of the Aedes aegypti species and has already been carried out in cities in 5 states.
Brazil registered at first of April a brand new annual file of dengue deathswith 1,116 deaths within the first fourteen weeks of the 12 months, exceeding the full of 1,116 deaths in all of 2023.
For Gurgel, local weather change is likely one of the apparent causes of this example.
“The upper the temperature, the quicker the mosquitoes develop and the extra rain, the extra breeding websites. In recent times now we have noticed a major improve in temperature and a change in precipitation cycles,” says Gurgel.
Then again, it additionally factors to the well being system's lack of management work all year long lack of understanding among the many inhabitants.
Based on the professor, “75% of breeding websites are positioned inside homes, which signifies that many breeding websites would possible be eradicated if residents had been extra cautious with their properties.”