Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne diseases

Abstract

Mosquito-borne diseases are an increasing global health challenge, threatening over 40% of the world's population. Despite major advances in malaria control since 2000, recent progress has stalled. Additionally, the risk of Aedes -borne arboviruses is rapidly growing, with the unprecedented spread of dengue and chikungunya viruses, outbreaks of yellow fever and the 2015 epidemic of Zika virus in Latin America. To counteract this growing problem, diverse and innovative mosquito control technologies are currently under development. Conceptually, these span an impressive spectrum of approaches, from invasive transgene cassettes with the potential to crash mosquito populations or reduce the vectorial capacity of a population, to low-cost alterations in housing design that restrict mosquito entry. This themed issue will present articles providing insight into the breadth of mosquito control research, while demonstrating the requirement for an interdisciplinary approach. The issue will highlight mosquito control technologies at varying stages of development and includes both opinion pieces and research articles with laboratory and field-based data on control strategy development. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne diseases'.

The effect of resource limitation on the temperature dependence of mosquito population fitness

“…Without such datasets, it will not be possible to link temperature-and resource-dependent fitness to vector abundance dynamics and VBD dynamics. Semi-field systems offer a way to track the entire mosquito life cycle under ambient environmental conditions [78]. Such systems are generally being used to test the effectiveness of novel biocontrol strategies, such as transgenic fungi [79], but they also could allow for the effects of temperature × resource interactions on fitness and abundance to be explored under conditions that more closely resemble natural environments.…”

Editing the wild

“…Genetic engineering of wild species is also well advanced in human public health. There is a significant investment in genetically modifying mosquito vectors for malaria, dengue, and Zika (Jones et al., 2021). In the case of Aedes aegypti , over a billion genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in Brazil, Panama, the Cayman Islands and release in Florida has been approved (Oxitec, 2021).…”

Finding Novel Strategies to Overcome the Impact of Malaria Vector Resistance in Limited-Resources Settings. The Case of Cameroon as a Basis for Reflection

“…Financial and other constraints are likely to prevent the need to conduct necessary field trials to evaluate novel vector control tools; nevertheless, some authors proposed that new products within the same product category be evaluated through smaller scale experiments, especially where links between entomological and epidemiological indicators are well-known [34]. Other authors tested the utilization of mathematical modeling that may reduce the need for phase III studies in some instances but conclude that a better understanding is required to inform predications of impact [34].…”