China to Produce Cuban-Made Dengue Mosquito Killer

[Gert van der Hoek]

China to Produce Cuban-Made Dengue Mosquito Killer

Por / Martes, 17 de Julio del 2007 / 11:13:07 /

China is expected to mass-produce a Cuban pesticide effective against dengue-carrying mosquitoes, Cuba's foreign ministry announced Sunday.

According to a statement by the Cuban foreign ministry, scientists developed and patented Bactivec, a biolarvicide which kills larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the dengue vector.

Based on the recently signed agreement, China will defray the cost of building the factory in China, and Cuban Labiofam scientists will provide the technology and know-how to build it, as reported by the Caribbean news website.

The accord says Cuba will purchase six million units annually of the insecticide, while China will donate another half million to the island.

Cuba suffered four dengue outbreaks during 1977-2002. In the most recent occurrence 14,524 cases were reported between June 2001 and March 2002, including 81 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, three of which were fatal.

Dengue fever affects all tropical areas throughout the world. The World Health Organization (WHO)estimates there could be some 50 million cases each year, and 500,000 cases of more dangerous dengue hemorrhagic fever.

A WHO's report reads that the Aedes aegypti mosquito causes 200,000 cases of yellow fever every year, resulting in 30,000 deaths, 95 percent of them in Africa.

Cuba, the only country that produces Bactivec, struck a similar deal in 2000 with the state of Amazonas in Brazil, which produces and sells the bio-larvicide to other countries.

http://www.ahora.co.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3658

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China to Produce Cuban-Made Dengue Mosquito Killer

Today’s report from Sri Lanka on going to use bacteria in controlling dengue fever, made me curious. I wanted to know a little more on this.
The bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis Israelensis (Serotype H-14), (produced under the name of “Bactivec”) seems to produce interesting results. It kills larvea of mosquito’s, without being poisonous to humans, animals, butterflies.

However the “Cuban method” is not just based on the use of these bacteria, very important seems to be house-to-house visits, to check houses and gardens for stagnant water. In some area’s in Havana it was reported they did this every week.

So I do not expect miracles from the use of the bacteria, it seems something additional.

We hear the bacteria is used in several countries, among them: Brasil, Argentina, Angola, and now Sri Lanka. China invested in more production capacity in Cuba.

I found two studies on “Bactivec” mentioned in Pubmed. Also a short summary of a Chinese Study.

Other bacteria seem to be used to control the Malaria Mosquito’s . (Productname: “Griselef”)



Sri Lanka to follow Cuba in the use of bacteria in disease control

Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 5:04 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 26, Colombo: Cuban Embassy in Colombo is providing expert assistance to Sri Lanka to arrest the rising trend of diseases spread by mosquitoes and rats.

A discussion was held recently between the Cuban Ambassador and Sri Lanka Minister of Health and Nutrition in this regard to introduce Cuban method of pest control through bacteria in Sri Lanka.

The island is now undergoing fatal bouts of rat fever and mosquito spread diseases like dengue.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/November2650447KA.html



- snip -

Another Cuban contribution to the fight against dengue being adopted internationally is the application of bacteria to kill mosquito larvae. In Brazil, for example, Bactivec, the Cuban-produced Bacillus thuringien (BT) bacteria, has shown good results in controlling the Aedes aegypti mosquito in Rio de Janeiro, with infection rates falling from 1.8% to 0.4% in the nine municipalities tested, according to reports in Prensa Latina. This is below the WHO’s minimum recommended infection rate of 1%.

http://www.medicc.org/publications/medicc_review/0705/headlines-in-cuban-health.html




New Havana Plant to Produce Ecological Bio-Larvicide for Vector Control

At a cost of nine million convertible pesos and five million Cuban pesos, a new bio-larvicide production plant is being built in Havana to meet the growing demand in Cuba and abroad for biocontrols for mosquitoes and other disease vectors.

The new plant, which is expected to come online at the end of this year, will have the capacity to produce three million liters of Bactivec®. The Cuban bio-larvicide has been shown to be effective in killing larvae of mosquito species Aedes, Culex, Anopheles, Mansonia, and the blackfly. The principal active ingredient in Bactivec® is Bacillus thuringiensis Israelensis (Serotype H-14) which kills mosquito larvae by paralyzing their digestive systems. For maximum effectiveness in fighting vectors, Bactivec® is used in combination with a fumigation program to eliminate adult mosquitoes.

The new plant will also produce Griselef® which poisons the larvae of the mosquitoes which spread malaria, human filariasis, and encephalitis. Since these products are biodegradable and harmless to humans, plants and animals, they represent an ecological alternative to the use of toxic chemical larvicides in the fight against vector transmitted diseases.

http://www.medicc.org/cubahealthreports/chr-briefs.php?a=0&d=05/13/08




Comparison of two commercial formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis for the control of Anopheles aquasalis (Diptera: Culicidae) at three salt concentrations.

Osborn FR, Herrera MJ, Gómez CJ, Salazar A.
Instituto de Investigaciones en Biomedicina y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Oriente, Estado Sucre, Venezuela. fosborn2001@yahoo.com

Anopheles aquasalis larvae are salt water tolerant, preferring concentrations between 10 and 20 parts per thousand (ppt).

The larvicidal efficacy of two formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Vectobac-12AS and Bactivec), was investigated against An. aquasalis at salinities of 0, 10, and 20 ppt.

A probit analysis was used to calculate the lethal concentrations (LC50 and LC95) for each product at each salinity.

The LC50 and LC95 were higher for Bactivec than Vectobac-12AS, and for Bactivec, the LC50 and LC95 increased with salinity. Vectobac-12AS should thus be preferred to Bactivec for An. aquasalis control, especially in saline breeding habitats.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17294002

More detalils on the comparison: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/mioc/v102n1/5674.pdf




Rev Cubana Med Trop. 2004 May-Aug;56(2):145-7.
[Use of the restriction analysis in the quality control of the strain of Cuban biolarvicide BACTIVEC]

[Article in Spanish]
Suárez-Moreno O, Lagos GM, Maestre Mesa JL, Pérez MD, Suárez OL.
Instituto de Medicina Tropical "Pedro Kouri" Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba. odelaisy@ipk.sld.cu

The genomic characterization of the strain used in manufacturing biolarvicide BACTIVET was shown in this paper. Digestion patterns of Bacillus thuringiensis reference strain 266 from the collection of Pushkin Institute located in former Leningrad and of two strains isolated from 2 batches of biolarvicide were compared. Chromosomal DNA digestion was performed by enzymes Hindlll and EcoRI. The same restriction pattern was observed in all cases, which is indicative of genetic stability of the active ingredient of biolarvicide BACTIVET

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum




google translated: (“child” is Larvae, I suppose)

"Chinese media, biology and control of the magazine>> 2002 Vol.13 No. 05 Author: Peng Bo, Jianghai quarter, Zhao Yan, Bai Danfeng,

Journal - Journal of the core QCode: zgmjswxjkzzz200205010

Objective: To evaluate the child must grams of frog and biological effects of anti-child, anti-mosquito explore the effect of David comprehensive evaluation method.

Methods: laboratory and field tests to investigate 2 methods.

Results: The scene from the pilot, David will grams in 5 ml / m2 dose, the No. 3 d David mosquito density decreased by 97.5%, pupae density decreased rate of 92.7 percent. 5,7,15 d from other observations, David mosquito density has always been to maintain the rate of decline in more than 97%. biological 10 ml/m2 frog in the dose, the No. 3 d David mosquito density occurred 96% decline in the rate of decline in the pupa and a lower rate of only 20%. But 5 ~ 15 d after the results of the approach will grams of David . The results from the laboratory, and field test results.

Conclusion: 2 kinds of preparations for the larva have a clear role in killing the former better than the latter.

http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-QCode~zgmjswxjkzzz200205010.html




Google translated:

Cuban program reduces the incidence of malaria in Brazil

Havana, Nov 17 (PL) Cuba today contributes to the reduction of malaria cases in Brazil, with a program of prevention and control advised by specialists from the Enterprise Group LABIOFAM.

According to the weekly Trabajadores, so far this year the project helped reduce the incidence in the state of Amazonas by 30 percent.

The program coordinator for the Cuban side, Jorge Lugo, explained that these statistics mean that about 80 thousand people not sick.

In Manaus, capital of the state, the index fell to 50 percent, said Lugo.

The project, jointly with the Brazilian Foundation for Health Monitoring and Enterprise Bioamazona, began in late 2007 and is to apply the biolarvicidal Bactivec produced by LABIOFAM.

About 45 Cubans have worked in 41 of the 62 municipalities that make up the state of Amazonas, where the disease is endemic to the environmental conditions governed by heavy rains, thick vegetation and high temperatures, explained Lugo.

By 2009 it is planned decrease in another 40 percent the incidence of malaria in the region, so LABIOFAM provide 150 thousand liters of Bactivec, accurate workers.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/article.asp?ID={947EEFA6-4BA1-461C-BA44-F4634A841ACD}&language=ES