Emerging Technologies for Urban Mosquito Management - Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies - page 23

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Emerging Technologies for Urban
Mosquito Management

Julian Entwistle*
Xenex Associates Ltd, UK

Introduction List of Emerging Technologies

Existing approaches to the management of
urban mosquitoes have failed to prevent the
resurgence of dengue, which now threatens
40% of the world's population (WHO,
2012). West Nile Virus continues to be
transmitted in many cities in North America
and the Asian tiger mosquito ( Aedes
albopictus ) has become a serious global
urban problem as a nuisance species and
disease vector. Malaria still occurs routinely
in many African cities (De Silva and
Marshall, 2012) and transmission of
lymphatic fi lariasis by mosquitoes persists
in urban areas in South-east Asia and Africa
(WHO, 2013a). Added to these are a lack of
new chemical insecticides available for
mosquito control, increased evidence of
resistance development to existing insecti-
cides and stricter regulatory restrictions. All
of this indicates there is room for new
technologies to be developed and deployed
that could offer new and improved methods
for urban mosquito management.
Mosquito management also needs to
adapt to the changing patterns of the
distribution of the key urban mosquito
species and the diseases they transmit as
summarized in Table 3.1.
This chapter reviews emerging technolo-
gies and their potential to improve the
management of urban mosquitoes and
associated diseases.

The emerging technologies reviewed in this
chapter are approaches that are not yet in
widespread use but there is evidence that
they could contribute to the management of
urban mosquitoes. Some have been de-
veloped recently and others are older but
have not yet been adopted by many control
programmes. They are listed in Table 3.2 in
terms of their phase of development and
mosquito life-cycle stage affected.

Description and Key Characteristics
of Emerging Technologies

Impregnated fabrics (apart from
mosquito nets)

Fabrics, such as curtains, treated with
insecticide have been used to control
mosquitoes indoors. The principal objective
is to reduce the transmission of dengue by
Aedes aegypti . The approach in Latin
America has been termed the 'Casa Segura'
('Safe House').
In trials in Trujillo, Venezuela and in
Veracruz, Mexico, Kroeger et al. (2006)
found that insecticide-treated curtains and
insecticide-treated water container covers
were effective in reducing Ae. aegypti
abundance. Also a serological study in
Trujillo suggested the curtains signifi cantly