We Should be Optimistic about Mosquito-Borne Diseases Control

Abstract

Mosquito-borne diseases are those spread by the bite of an
infected mosquito, and they include Zika, West Nile fever,
Chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever, malaria, etc. Nearly 700 million
people worldwide get a mosquito-borne illness each year resulting
in over 1 million deaths.1 Vaccination is proved cost-effective
in decreasing the burden of diseases. Candidate vaccines against
dengue, Chikungunya and West Nile fever are being discussed,
and malaria vaccine, RTS,S, was approved as of 2015 with further
studies being expected in Africa in 2018.2 Moreover, a continued
research and development of new vaccines are underway for controlling
these mosquito-borne diseases.
Alternative efforts have been focused on the control of
mosquito populations. The traditionally widely used approaches
include larval control by eliminating mosquito breeding sites, and
adult control by mosquito traps and/or spraying residual insecticides.
However, the practice of breeding sites elimination is difficult
to manipulate/perform; the use of insecticides is not ecologically
friendly which can hard bees and other insects; and mosquito
traps do not work well and they attract other insects as well. On the
other hand, the trap might not work in some unfavorable conditions.