Worldwide, over one million people die from mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, malaria, and lymphatic filariasis every year.
"You really must know the biology of your target." Toxorhynchites rutilus is a beneficial mosquito species because it feeds on Aedes larvae and other insects. And that's where the details, the weeds, are in mosquito control," Schiller explains. "In the pragmatic world, you have to know your enemy before effectively reducing them or eliminating them. Schiller and her team work on researching and developing multiple biocontrol agents that are effective against mosquitoes but won't disrupt the environment. So that's why we investigate various tools to help us against them," explains Anita Schiller, director of the Harris County Precinct 4 Biological Control Initiative (HCP4-BCI) in Houston, Texas. "There's not a single agent or single silver bullet that will eliminate them all. If all went according to plan, the Aedes mosquito species, known for their transmission of yellow fever, dengue and other viruses, would die after digesting her homemade larvicide, while beneficial mosquito species like Toxorhynchites rutilus, which feed on Aedes larvae and other insects, would be spared.Ī larvicide that targets disease-spreading mosquitoes but not beneficial species is a delicate balance entomologists have spent decades trying to understand. Anderson High School in Austin, Texas-had done the research needed to make an informed hypothesis. The 17-year-old was running an experiment: Would her inexpensive, eco-friendly concoction of baker's yeast and essential oils kill the wiggling larvae? Tiny paper cups filled with water and floating mosquito larvae occupied space in Aseel Rawashdeh's bedroom for months as she monitored the juvenile insects for changes in their behavior and structure.
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