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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #356344
Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Controlled release spatial repellent devices (CRDs) as novel tools against malaria transmission: a semi-field study in Macha, Zambia

Author
item STEVENSON, JENNIFER - Johns Hopkins School Of Public Health
item SIMUBALI, LIMONTY - Macha Research Trust
item MUDENDA, TWIG - Macha Research Trust
item CARDOL, ESTHER - Radboud University
item Bernier, Ulrich
item VAZQUEZ, AGUSTIN - Institute Technology Of Buenos Aires (ITBA)
item THUMA, PHILIP - Johns Hopkins School Of Public Health
item NORRIS, DOUGLAS - Johns Hopkins School Of Public Health
item PERRY, MELYNDA - Natick Soldier Center
item Kline, Daniel - Dan
item Cohnstaedt, Lee
item GURMAN, PABLO - Gearjump Technologies, Llc
item D'HERS, SEBASTIAN - Institute Technology Of Buenos Aires (ITBA)
item ELMAN, NOEL - Gearjump Technologies, Llc

Submitted to: Malaria Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/30/2018
Publication Date: 11/26/2018
Citation: Stevenson, J.C., Simubali, L., Mudenda, T., Cardol, E., Bernier, U.R., Vazquez, A.A., Thuma, P., Norris, D.E., Perry, M., Kline, D.L., Cohnstaedt, L.W., Gurman, P., D'Hers, S., Elman, N. 2018. Controlled release spatial repellent devices (CRDs) as novel tools against malaria transmission: a semi-field study in Macha, Zambia. Malaria Journal. 17(1):437. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2558-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2558-0

Interpretive Summary: Mosquito-borne diseases represent a global public health threat. More than one million people die annually due to vector-borne diseases. Malaria alone is responsible for 400,000 deaths a year and mainly affecting children under 5 years old. Considerable gains have been made in the past 15 years in reducing malaria transmission globally, largely due to widely applied vector control measures, including insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). Despite intensive scale up of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs) and annual IRS since the early 2000s, malaria remains one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 years in Zambia. Unfortunately, these mainstays of vector control are threatened by mosquito resistance to insecticides and changes in mosquito behavior that may result in increased outdoor foraging. Therefore, new population managemnt tools are needed. Spatial repellents (SRs) have been suggested as a possible alternative control tool. SRs interfere with the host seeking process and biting of mosquitoes, and drive mosquitoes away from a treated space. This work describes the development of a novel device for controlled passive release of SRs. A semi-field evaluation of a novel CRD was conducted in Macha, Zambia. Presence of CRDs in huts was associated with significant reductions in indoor counts of mosquitoes.

Technical Abstract: Insecticide resistance in mosquito vectors in Zambia threatens to undermine the efficacy of insecticide-based malaria control such as treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying, and the requirement for high coverage of these tools pose operational challenges. Spatial repellents are being assessed to supplement these vector control tools, but limitations exist in the residual effect of the repellent and the need for external power or heat for diffusion of the volatiles.