Empa develops plastic thread to combat resistant malaria-carrying mosquitoes
Keystone-SDA
A new plastic thread is also set to combat resistant malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have developed a novel fibre for this purpose that releases insecticides over a prolonged period.
The fibres contain liquid insecticides which gradually rise to the surface, EMPA announced on Tuesday.
This development has been driven by the increasing resistance of Anopheles mosquitoes to conventional insecticides. For malaria-endemic areas, repellents are fused directly into the plastic threads of mosquito nets. However, so far this has worked almost exclusively with pyrethroids, to which an increasing number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes are becoming resistant.
Other insecticides can hardly be used in this way because they evaporate at the high temperatures involved in fibre production.
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A research team at EMPA in St Gallen has now found a way to get round this problem. To do this, the researchers encapsulate the insecticide in a carrier fluid inside the fibre. The active ingredient gradually reaches the surface through the plastic sheath.
According to EMPA, this liquid-core fibre makes it possible to incorporate novel insecticides into the fibre that could not be used with the previous approach – for example, those that would evaporate at high temperatures.
According to EMPA, the encapsulated insecticide could be gradually released to the surface of the net over a period of around three years. Even multiple washes are not expected to impair its effectiveness. However, this still needs to be confirmed in larger-scale tests.
The research team developed the fibres as part of the Innosuisse project “MalCoFil” in collaboration with the Swiss industrial partners Vestergaard and Monosuisse.
According to EMPA, it remains to be seen whether the fibres can be produced on a large scale and whether the mosquito nets made from them can be marketed.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
