#Israel malaria-fighters exploit mosquito's own sweet tooth

2010-11-10 08:38:18

A field sample of mosquitoes. (Xinhua/AFP File Photo)

JERUSALEM, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) researchers have come up with a way to eliminate malaria-bearing mosquitoes by exploiting the bloodthirsty insect's own insatiable sweet tooth, according to a press release sent to Xinhua on Tuesday.

Malaria, a common disease caused by parasites and transferred via mosquito bite, is responsible for nearly two million deaths worldwide every year, many of them Africans living south of the Sahara Desert.

The Attractive Toxic Sugar Bait Method (ATSB), developed at HU' s Kuvin Center for the Study of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, was tested in the semi-arid Bandiagara District of Mali, West Africa, according the press release.

Detailed in a recent issue of the Malaria Journal, ATSB integrates attractants of plant origin (fruit or flowers) with toxic sugar bait to reduce the populations of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in infested areas.

The Israeli researchers, assisted by local scientists, selected control and treatment sites along villages and man-made ponds that are the primary breeding grounds of Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes.

The Israeli team, headed by Yosef Schlein and Gunter Muller, concluded that even a single application of the new solution can significantly reduce malaria-bearing mosquito population densities and longevity.

Guava and honey melons, two local fruits that have been found to be attractive to both species of mosquitoes, were used to prepare solutions of Attractive Sugar Bait (ASB) and ATSB, the latter containing an additive of boric acid as an oral insecticide. Both solutions, sprayed on patches of vegetation, included a color dye to mark the mosquitoes feeding on the solutions.

Following the application of ATSB and ASB, the mosquito population in the treated sites declined by about 90 percent and remained low during one month of monitoring, which showed that most of the mosquitoes fed on the sprayed solutions.

"It is likely that ATSB methods can be used as a new, powerful tool for the control of malaria insect carriers, since the approach is highly effective, technologically simple, inexpensive and environmentally safe," Schlein said.

The research may give new hope of successfully countering the proliferation of malaria in afflicted regions of the world. It is one of the first new dimensions to control the spread of African malaria, and provides indications that use of ATSB in outdoor environments will complement current measures to control mosquitoes inside houses.

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