Understanding alternative control methods and their mode of action for the control of outdoor biting mosquitoes

Malaria transmission is ongoing regardless of well-designed and implemented vector control programs with an increased frequency of epidemics and the geographical spread of several arboviruses. To maintain the gain resulting from the current control tool for malaria and arboviruses prevention it is critical to focus on the measures that may provide effective protection on the peridomestic spaces. Moving forward with how to deploy these tools it is important to understand how they work, the species of mosquitoes that they affect, and where can be deployed for maximum efficacy. This thesis explores how transfluthrin-treated device “push “ and odor-baited trap “pull” may be evaluated in the field, whether push and pull are needed, whether traps can be used to measure protective efficacy offered by the push-pull, whether resistance reduces the efficacy of push device and designing additional bioassay to adequately evaluate the effect of transfluthrin. The findings indicate that 1) for the control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, transfluthrin-treated devices known as the push are sufficient to reduce human-mosquito contact for approximately two months 2) traps can be used to measure the efficacy of transfluthrin-treated emanators provided that no human is nearby 3) resistant and susceptible mosquitoes are equally repelled by transfluthrin treated emanator and 4) to adequately assess other endpoints of spatial repellent bioassay that allow the collection of all released mosquitoes are important. It is recommended that transfluthrin-treated emanators be used to reduce human-mosquito contact as they protect users and non-users all around the clock with minimal human behavior modification. These can be deployed in overcrowded spaces such as airports, markets, schools, and university spaces during the arbovirus outbreak.