Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Università di Roma Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012;6(8):e1793. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001793. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
The main constraint to the fight against container-breeding mosquito vectors of human arboviruses is the difficulty in targeting the multiplicity of larval sources, mostly represented by small man-made water containers. The aim of this work is to assess the feasibility of the "auto-dissemination" approach, already tested for Aedes aegypti, as a possible alternative to traditional, inefficient control tools, against Ae. albopictus in urban areas. The approach is based on the possibility that wild adult females, exposed to artificial resting sites contaminated with pyriproxyfen, can disseminate this juvenile hormone analogue to larval habitats, thus interfering with adult emergence.
We carried out four field experiments in two areas of Rome that are typically highly infested with Ae. albopictus, i.e. the main cemetery and a small green area within a highly urbanised neighbourhood. In each area we used 10 pyriproxyfen "dissemination" stations, 10 "sentinel" sites and 10 covered, control sites. The sentinel and control sites each contained 25 Ae. albopictus larvae. These were monitored for development and adult emergence.
When a 5% pyriproxyfen powder was used to contaminate the dissemination sites, we observed significantly higher mortality at the pupal stage in the sentinel sites (50-70%) than in the controls (<2%), showing that pyriproxyfen was transferred by mosquitoes into sentinel sites and that it had a lethal effect.
The results support the potential feasibility of the auto-dissemination approach to control Ae. albopictus in urban areas. Further studies will be carried out to optimize the method and provide an effective tool to reduce the biting nuisance caused by this aggressive species and the transmission risk of diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya. These arboviruses pose an increasing threat in Europe as Ae. albopictus expands its range.
与人类虫媒病毒的容器滋生蚊媒作斗争的主要限制因素是难以针对多种幼虫来源进行靶向处理，这些幼虫来源主要是小型人造水容器。本研究旨在评估“自动传播”方法的可行性，该方法已针对埃及伊蚊进行了测试，作为一种可能的替代传统低效控制工具的方法，用于控制城市地区的白纹伊蚊。该方法基于这样一种可能性，即暴露于含有吡丙醚的人工栖息场所的野生成年雌蚊可以将这种保幼激素类似物传播到幼虫栖息地，从而干扰成虫的出现。
我们在罗马的两个典型高度滋生白纹伊蚊的地区进行了四项野外实验，即主要的公墓和一个高度城市化社区内的一个小绿地。在每个地区，我们使用了 10 个吡丙醚“传播”站、10 个“监测”站和 10 个覆盖的对照站。每个监测和对照站都包含 25 只白纹伊蚊幼虫。这些幼虫被监测发育和成虫出现情况。
当使用 5%吡丙醚粉末污染传播站点时，我们在监测站点（50-70%）观察到明显更高的蛹期死亡率，而在对照站点（<2%）则观察到死亡率较低，表明吡丙醚被蚊子转移到监测站点，并且具有致死作用。
结果支持在城市地区控制白纹伊蚊的自动传播方法的潜在可行性。将进一步进行研究以优化该方法，并提供一种有效工具，以减少这种侵袭性物种的叮咬困扰以及登革热和基孔肯雅热等疾病的传播风险。随着白纹伊蚊的分布范围扩大，这些虫媒病毒对欧洲构成的威胁日益增加。
