New Attract and Kill Strategies for Malaria Control

Daniel Swale of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in the U.S. will develop a trap to attract and kill pregnant Anopheles mosquitoes and their larvae, which transmit malaria. They will identify the best compound for attracting pregnant females based on either the known attractant Cedrol, a sugar-based attractant, or CO2. They will also test whether the larval development inhibitor triflumuron, alone or in combination with a potassium ion channel inhibitor, can be effectively transferred to the traps by mosquitoes from resting chambers, and destroy the residing larvae. The most promising combinations will be evaluated in a semi-field environment with the common malaria mosquito in southeast United States.