Control of vectors and incidence of malaria in an irrigated settlement scheme in Sri Lanka by using the insect growth regulator pyriproxyfen.

An evaluation of pyriproxyfen as a larval control agent with the aim of reducing malaria vector populations and incidence of malaria was conducted in 12 villages in an irrigated settlement scheme in the dry zone of central Sri Lanka. In these villages, there are many pools in the beds of rivers, streams, and irrigation ditches during the dry season of the year. These are the major breeding places of the malaria vectors Anopheles culicifacies and An. subpictus. Collections of adult mosquitoes were carried out by using standard methods and parasitological data were collected by daily malaria clinics set up for the project and through the 2 government hospitals. All villages in the study area were under residual house spraying with lambdacyhalothrin water-dispersible powder. Using the 1st year's baseline data collection, the villages were stratified into 6 villages with high malaria incidence and 6 villages with low incidence. Within each group, 3 villages were randomly assigned for larval control by treating all the pools in the beds of rivers, streams, and irrigation ditches and agricultural wells with a granular formulation of the insect growth regulator pyriproxyfen at the rate of 0.01 mg active ingredient/liter. The field bioassays indicated that a single treatment of pyriproxyfen effectively inhibited the emergence of adult mosquitoes in the riverbed pools for a period of 190 days. The treatment caused significant reduction of the adult populations of An. culicifacies (78%) and An. subpictus (72%). Similarly, incidence of malaria was reduced in the treatment villages by about 70% (95% confidence interval 58-78%) compared with the controls. The conclusion is made that pyriproxyfen can be a very effective means of malaria control if all possible vector breeding places in the area can be located.