This video is from Brazil:
The city of Maringá, in Brasil, has an epidemic of dengue; I collected approximately 500 larvae of the mosquito Aedes aegypti that is transmitting the dengue.
From AFP news agency:
China to make Cuban dengue mosquito killer
China will mass-produce a Cuban pesticide effective against dengue-carrying mosquitos, Cuba‘s foreign ministry said Sunday.
Cuban scientists developed and patented Bactivec, a biolarvicide which kills larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the dengue vector, the ministry statement said.
According to the agreement, China will defray the cost of building the factory in China, and Cuban Labiofam scientists will provide the technology and know-how to build it.
Cuba will purchase six million units annually of the insecticide, and China will donate another half million to Cuba, the statement said.
Cuba suffered four dengue outbreaks during 1977-2002. In the most recent outbreak 14,524 cases were reported between June 2001 and March 2002, including 81 cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever, three of which were fatal.
Dengue fever is found in the tropics throughout the world, and the World Health Organization estimates there could be some 50 million cases each year, and 500,000 cases of more dangerous dengue haemorrhagic fever.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito likewise causes 200,000 cases of yellow fever a year, resulting in 30,000 deaths, 95 percent of them in Africa.
Cuba, the only country that produces Bactivec, struck a similar deal in 2000 with Amazonas state in Brazil, which produces and sells the biolarvicide to other countries.
See also here.
Fear is gripping people in Sri Lanka about an uncontrolled outbreak of deadly dengue fever spreading throughout the country. According to official statistics updated on Sunday, during the first six and half months of this year, 103,114 suspected dengue cases were reported. At least 290 people have died from the disease: here.
Related articles
- Dengue Fever….. (bellahdengidisease.wordpress.com)
- Dengue Fever Cases in Florida Confirmed (blogs.browardpalmbeach.com)
- South China reports 63 dengue fever cases (theglobaldispatch.com)
- US: 3 local dengue cases in Florida (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
- Dengue outbreak alert (dominicanewsonline.com)
- Singapore dengue outbreak tops 12,000 cases (theglobaldispatch.com)
- Three dengue fever cases confirmed in TC (wptv.com)
- Dengue fever sweeps southeast Asia (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
- Dengue fever may convert into epidemic (nation.com.pk)
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/08/25/2666389.htm
Fewer mosquitoes may be a bad thing
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 Anna Salleh
ABC
* Water storage may spread dengue fever, Science Online, 28 Jan 2009
* Dengue mosquitoes kick the bucket, Science Online, 17 Mar 2005
* Mozzie eating shrimps control dengue, Science Online, 06 Nov 2008
* Map: Darwin 0800
Mosquitoes grow bigger and become more of a disease threat when there are less of them around, Australian researchers have found.
They say the findings are important for authorities trying to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like Ross River fever.
Sibohan de Little of the University of Adelaide presented her PhD research at an international ecology conference in Brisbane last week.
In the first Australian study of its kind, de Little studied the population dynamics of Aedes vigilax mosquitoes, under the supervision of Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw.
In a large field experiment in Darwin, she found direct evidence that the density of mosquitoes affects their size.
“In the higher density plots there were smaller mosquitoes than in the lower density plots,” says de Little.
She says a reduction of density from 50 to 5 larvae per square metre resulted in an 8% increase in the size of the female adult.
These bigger females lived 48% longer and lay 67% more eggs, says de Little.
She says the fewer mosquitoes, the bigger they are, because the larvae have less competition for food and can grow into larger adults.
“The bigger the mosquito, the longer it can live and the further it can fly and the more blood meals it might take so therefore it might be a better vector for disease,” says de Little.
Control programs
De Little says current mosquito control programs tend to target high density populations of mosquito larvae after spring rainfall or high tides.
“Often mosquito control programs might target high density areas because it’s easy to identify those from a survey point of view and it’s easy to know you’re controlling them,” says de Little.
But she says her findings mean authorities must also look for the low densities of larvae.
“It’s important for control programs to make an effort to detect these low density larval habitats that might slip under the radar,” says de Little.
“Otherwise you might end up with a whole lot of much bigger mosquitoes.”
Making matters worse
De Little says the findings also mean that ineffective control reduces the density of a mosquito population resulting in the remaining mosquitoes being larger.
“If you’re not controlling 100%, then the ones that are left could be bigger and better vectors,” she says.
Given that total control is difficult, the findings suggest it might be best to time the control when the larvae are in late development, says de Little.
The idea is to reduce the population density at a time when the larvae have almost reached their maximum size and there is less possibility they will become ‘super mosquitoes’.
“Then the ones that are left will also be small,” says de Little.
Mosquito lovers “sing” in harmony:
The insects responsible for the most malaria deaths
find mates by using their wingbeats to produce tones
that agree, a study reports.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/091231_mosquito
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