– Killing mosquitoes with asparagus –
Before Zika hit the region, Latin American countries had developed various techniques for fighting these mosquitoes, which also carry fevers such as dengue and chikungunya.
In Peru, biologist Palmira Ventosilla in 1992 devised an organic insecticide made from coco, yucca, asparagus and potatoes – a recipe endorsed by the World Health Organization.
Natural so-called biolarvicides “are cheap and non-toxic and can be used by the public,” Ventosilla told AFP.
The treatment devised by her team at Peru’s Cayetano Heredia University uses the vegetable mixture to nourish and multiply a bacteria that destroys the larvae.
A kit developed by the university including a sprinkler to apply the insecticide costs about a dollar and can kill off larvae in 10 minutes, Ventosilla said.
“It is a simple method that we are showing to the public so they can produce it themselves.”
In neighboring Colombia, the second worst-hit country in the Zika outbreak after Brazil, scientists are fighting mosquitoes with mosquitoes.
Tropical disease specialists at Antioquia University are trying to spread among mosquitoes a bacteria known as Wolbachia, which blocks their ability to pass on disease to humans.
“No one is really thinking they can eradicate the Aedes Aegypti mosquito completely. The aim is to keep its numbers so low that it does not pass on the illness,” said the director of the project, Ivan Dario Velez.
Teams in Brazil and Panama meanwhile are experimenting with male mosquitoes that are genetically modified in such a way that when they mate, the resulting larvae die off.
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