Mosquito Bio-Control

Mosquitoes are, in addition to being a nuisance, dangerous transmitters of diseases. According to statistics published by the World Health Organization (1997), every year 300 million people are infected with Malaria by mosquito bites and one million people, mainly small children, die. Other well-publicized diseases are west Nile fever, dengue and more.

Worldwide, extensive measures are made for mosquito control and more than 50,000 tones of chemical insecticides are used annually. These chemicals have nevertheless, considerable toxic and environmental risks. Being nonselective, they kill together with the target insects, many beneficial organisms including the natural enemies of mosquito larvae, and disrupt the ecological balance. Furthermore, they produce resistance of the insects to the biocides, leading to growing use of new chemicals with higher concentration and toxicity.

One of the "cleaner" ways to exterminate these pests is by using host specific biopesticides. Unlike oils or chemicals, this method doesn't affect diversely plant life or animals within the ecosystem -it will only work on the pests themselves.

Bacterial insecticides have been the subjects of intensive research work for many years. In 1976, Goldberg and Margalit isolated from a sample originating from mosquitoes breeding ponds in the Negev desert of Israel, a Bacillus thuringiensis strain that is very toxic to mosquito larvae. It was classified as Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis, Serovar H-14 (Bti).

Microbiological preparations based on Bti have proved to be effective in the battle against mosquitoes. They are very selective and kill off only the target larvae. They are safe for all non-target organisms.