The anti larval method. Rational control of mosquito populations
This method is used by all public mosquito control services in the world, as it has many advantages, but also certain conditions.
Fundamentally, it consists of controlling the larval phase of the mosquito species that, due to their bite, cause discomfort to humans.
The advantages are:
- Reduction of the territory to be controlled (only the breeding sites).
- High efficiency, since the mosquito is controlled in its aquatic phase (larval), at which time it is fixed to the substrate and the adult has not developed, which is what causes the damage.
- Use of a clean methodology, biological products (endotoxin from the bacterium Bacillus thurigiensis) very selective for certain mosquito-biting species and with a very low environmental impact consequence.
- Possibility of developing a whole set of techniques (integrated control) that minimize breeding sites
The conditions are:
- Deep knowledge and management of the environment (biology of mosquitoes, hydrogeology, limnology, geobotany, etc).
- High technical qualification of the staff.
- Thematic plant mapping that delimits the breeding areas of the different species of mosquitoes, as well as their constant review.
- Entomological analysis of the samples, to decide if the species in question is a mincer and should be controlled or not.
- Cartographic databases that allow us to save and analyze all the information, both collected in the field and in the laboratory.
- The rapidity of larval development of certain species (3-4 days) requires us to have a large staff and the corresponding vehicles to be able to prospect all existing larval foci.
- Important chapter on personal.
- Important chapter in products, since biological products being of a new generation have very high prices.
- Important chapter on the execution of the treatments. The considerable extension of the larval foci and the little time available to treat them, forces us to use air treatment means.
- Ultimately this has conditioned that the application of this technology has fallen, throughout the world, in the public sector. Non-profit organizations that manage a territory, apply the most advanced technologies in order to make the wealth of the territory and its conservation compatible with the socioeconomic well-being of its inhabitants and visitors.
