NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, April 11, 2016

A Canadian-led research team has taken a form of trash that promotes the spread of mosquitoes and turned it into a potential weapon against the disease-carrying insects.

The scientists have repurposed used tires — which can fill with rain water and provide an ideal breeding chamber for female mosquitoes — by fashioning chunks of the rubberized material into traps for their eggs.

“What we are aiming at is destroying the second generation of mosquitoes, by destroying the eggs and the larvae,” said Gerardo Ulibarri, a professor of biochemistry at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont.

Ulibarri and his fellow researchers tested the trap — dubbed an ovillanta — in Guatemala, where species of the Aedes mosquito can carry dengue, chikungunya and Zika. The insects transmit the viruses among people through their bites.