Defining Challenges and Proposing Solutions for Control of the Virus Vector Aedes aegypti

T he mosquito Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of three important viral diseases-dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya-and is capable of transmitting a number of others. Ae. aegypti, which bites during daylight, is uniquely domestic among mosquito vectors: it mates, feeds, rests, and lays eggs in and around human habitation. Control of this mosquito should lead to control of disease, and there are well-documented historical examples of both yellow fever and dengue being eliminated or significantly reduced through Ae. aegypti control [1]. Construction of the Panama Canal was possible only after US Army Surgeon General William Gorgas stopped yellow fever transmission among workers by eliminating Ae. aegypti breeding sites. Fred Soper, of the Rockefeller Foundation, led the highly successful Ae. aegypti eradication program during the 1950s and 1960s that extinguished yellow fever and dengue transmission from most of Central and South America. More recently, Singapore and Cuba greatly reduced risk of dengue transmission by means of anti-Ae. aegypti legislation and actions. Use of the predatory crustacean Mesocyclops is preventing dengue transmission in parts of Vietnam [2].