Cost Effective ~ Safe ~ Mosquito Solutions
Background1
With
approximately 20 million dengue cases a year and 100 countries
affected, the World Health Organization considers dengue the most
important mosquito-borne viral disease. A vaccine is not currently
available and mosquito control is a critical element of dengue disease
prevention. There are reports that conventional ground and aerial
application of insecticides are not providing adequate control of the
mosquitoes that transmit dengue. Dengue is primarily transmitted by the
Aedes
species of mosquito. The Aedes
mosquito is a container breeder and, therefore, the female Aedesmosquito will
only lay eggs in a container holding water.
Chemical mosquito control has relied on area treatment of the
mosquitoes' habitat. For example, large outdoor areas or the space
within a home are treated with an insecticidal fog or spray in an
attempt to deposit a lethal dose of insecticide on individual
mosquitoes.
The water used as mosquito breeding habitats has also been treated with
insecticide which is designed to kill the developing larva. Adult
resting places have been treated with an insecticide deposit designed
to kill adult mosquitoes as they stand on the resting places.
The oviposition trap has been used as a surveillance tool for
Aedes mosquitoes. The ovitrap consists of a pint-sized water
container, filled with water to within 1 inch of the top, with a wooden
or velour paper paddle projecting above the water surface. Aedes females are
attracted to the ovitrap and deposit eggs on the paddle. The
number of eggs deposited provides an indication of the Aedes mosquito
population.
US Military research scientists Michael Perich and Brian Zeichner
believed that they could use the "female mosquito's irrepressible urge
to oviposit" to develop a trap with advantages over conventional
methods of controlling the population of container-breeding mosquitoes.
By killing adult female container-breeding mosquitoes, the population
of biting mosquitoes is substantially reduced, thus reducing both the
potential for disease transmission and the breeding stock for the next
generation. This approach is superior to simply trapping and removing
eggs laid by female container breeding mosquitoes, which may then go on
to lay additional eggs in a natural site which allows complete
development of the larvae to adults.
Dengue Outbreaks in 2005 - CDC Dengue Factsheet
Since a portion of the insecticide can leach into the water, any
mosquito larvae which hatch may not survive because the water can be
toxic to mosquito larvae. Furthermore, any mosquito adults
drinking from the insecticide-contaminated water may also
perish. In this way, mosquitos which may bypass the
insecticide treated egg laying structure can be killed. In
caged laboratory tests, up to 100 percent adult mosquito mortality has
occurred.
The Trap-N-Kill®
(TNK) containers can easily be made child safe because a
very small quantity of insecticide is required. For example,
a 20 pound child can consume ten egg laying structures containing the
insecticide and drink the insecticide contaminated water of ten 1 pint
containers per day without any effects when using
bifenthrin as the insecticide.
The TNK containers can be made environmentally sound;
because the amount of insecticide required is low, the mortality rate
of mammals is very low and the threat of contamination to ground water
or soil is also very low.
The TNK container can be made simple such that
community-based control programs can be used to maintain them. In some
cases, the only action required will be to periodically replace the
insecticide treated egg laying structure, and to add water when
evaporation is significant. In this manner, the manufacturing
and maintenance cost of very large numbers of the TNK containers can be
made very low because the raw material cost
of the insecticide and container is very low.
SpringStar Inc. is the exclusive, world-wide licensee of the
intellectual property and patents developed by the Perich-Zeichner Team.
1U.S.
Pat. 6,389,740
SpringStar Inc.
- PO Box 2622 -
Woodinville, WA 98072
(425)-487-6011 or toll-free in
the US or Canada (800) 769-1043
