Organic remedies for malaria from Germany in Africa

Organic funds from the Rhine in the fight against malaria in Africa

29/07/2013

While the mosquitoes in this country are an annoying, but from a health point of view rather harmless plague, they are responsible in Africa as the main transmitter of malaria annually indirectly for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Here is a biological larvicides, which has proven itself in the Rhine-Neckar area, will be used in the future to combat the malaria vectors, the local community to combat snoring (KABS) and the Institute of Public Health at the University of Heidelberg in a current press release.

„The decades of experience in the fight against the all-summer mass multiplication of mosquitoes along the Upper Rhine will help in the future to curb the spread of malaria in West Africa“, so the message of the University Hospital Heidelberg. The KABS and the Institute for Public Health at the University Hospital Heidelberg have started a corresponding scientific project with the research center in Nouna, Burkina Faso. It should be the „biological larval destruction agent BTI, which has proven itself in the Rhine-Neckar area for years“, Find application. Risk maps based on the evaluation of satellite imagery enable the targeted, economical use of the bio-agent.

Organic funds should prevent the development of mosquito swarms
The participating researchers hope for much of the use of biological larvicides in the malaria risk areas. „The project is the successful transfer of a technique that has been used extensively and routinely along the Rhine for many years. The method is effective, safe and harmless to humans and the environment“, stressed the director of the Institute for Public Health at the University Hospital Heidelberg and head of the project, Professor Dr. med. Rainer Sauerborn. By supplementing the methods previously established in Burkina Faso for combating malaria with biological larvae, it is possible to prevent „develop in the breeding waters barely controllable mosquito swarms (and) fewer mosquitoes also mean a lower risk of infection“, so the conclusion of the expert.

Biological larva killer without unwanted side effects?
According to the researchers, the biological larva killing agent BTI is based on a protein from the soil bacterium „Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis“, almost exclusively kills larvae of mosquitoes. „„In contrast to many other insecticides, it is harmless to humans, other animals and plants and, since it is degraded within a few hours in the water, very environmentally friendly“, explained the Scientific Director of KABS, Professor Norbert Becker. Also would have „In the course of more than thirty years of operation on the Rhine no resistance to this remedy has yet developed.“ In addition, the agent also has the advantage of ease of use, as the protein „sprayed from the shore areas or from the boat into the waters“ could be.

Quantum leap in malaria control
„The project can become a quantum leap for malaria control“, hopes Dr. h.c. Manfred Lautenschläger, Chairman of the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation, which finances the current project with around 425,000 euros. „ I am particularly pleased that scientific research from our region also benefits the health of the people in Burkina Faso“, so Lautenschläger on. In a large model district around the city of Nouna, the project must now show in, „whether the new method meets expectations, reduces the number of people infected with malaria, facilitates mosquito control and also saves healthcare costs“, reports the University Hospital Heidelberg. An interesting question in this context would also be the effect that a drastic reduction in the mosquito population can have on other creatures to which they serve as food source. Otherwise, the well-intentioned approach could eventually lead to undesirable side-effects, which in some circumstances may affect the livelihoods of local people. (Fp)

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Image: Henrik Gerold Vogel