Barrier bednets target malaria vectors and expand the range of usable insecticides

Transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites occurs when nocturnal Anopheles mosquito vectors feed on human blood. In Africa, where malaria burden is greatest, bednets treated with pyrethroid insecticide were highly effective in preventing mosquito bites and reducing transmission, and essential to achieving unprecedented reductions in malaria until 2015. Since then, progress has stalled and with insecticidal bednets losing efficacy against pyrethroid-resistant Anopheles vectors, methods that restore performance are urgently needed to eliminate any risk of malaria returning to the levels seen prior to their widespread use throughout sub-Saharan Africa.  Here we show that the primary malaria vector Anopheles gambiae is targeted and killed by small insecticidal net barriers positioned above a standard bednet, in a spatial region of high mosquito activity but zero contact with sleepers, opening the way for deploying many more insecticides on bednets than currently possible.  Test...

恶性疟原虫（Plasmodium falciparum）疟疾寄生虫的传播发生在夜间按蚊（Anopheles）媒介吸食人血时。在疟疾负担最重的非洲，经拟除虫菊酯（pyrethroid）杀虫剂处理的蚊帐曾在预防蚊虫叮咬和减少传播方面效果显著，且对于2015年前实现疟疾史无前例的减少至关重要。此后，进展陷入停滞；由于杀虫蚊帐对耐拟除虫菊酯的按蚊媒介的效力下降，迫切需要恢复其性能的方法，以消除疟疾回到撒哈拉以南非洲广泛使用蚊帐前水平的风险。本文表明，主要疟疾媒介冈比亚按蚊（Anopheles gambiae）可被置于标准蚊帐上方的小型杀虫网屏障靶向杀灭——该区域蚊虫活动频繁，但与睡眠者无接触，这为在蚊帐上部署比目前更多的杀虫剂开辟了道路。Test...