Water bacteria found to kill mosquito larva

MANILA, Philippines — A type of water bacteria has just been found to have the potential of killing mosquito larva, and is now the subject of further discussions and extensive studies at the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).

Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the DoST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), told the Manila Bulletin that they are now reviewing the study recently done on the bacteria, and deciding whether or not to fund a deeper study on it.

Montoya said the initial study, which was done at UP Los Banos, drew their interest because of the practicality of using the bacteria to reduce mosquito population.

If the bacteria have larvicidal potentials indeed, he said, they could be cheaper to produce.

“If the bacteria works, they’re supposed to be cheaper because bacteria are in nature. You just have to culture them and they multiply very fast so you don’t even have to manufacture. They kill the larva,” Montoya said.

The type of bacteria, he said, is abundant in the country, especially in bodies of water.



Hence, if cultured, it could develop faster unlike the plant which has been the source of the compound used by the DoST in its ovicidal-larvicidal trap, Montoya said

As the bacteria come from water, he added, they could be brought back on the water once processed to kill mosquito larvae.

“It has been tested in the water. In fact, they (researchers) have a mechanism of putting it on river beds and possible breeding sites of mosquitoes,” Montoya said.

Whether massive application of the bacteria could affect marine life, Montoya said is still to be determined.

“But so far, wala naman nakikitang impact [no impact has been seen],” he said.

source: Manila bulletin