Vector Control Advisory Group
Independent evaluation of the public health value of innovative new tools, technologies and approaches for vector control is needed to enable WHO to provide evidence-based advice to Member States on whether their deployment is justified. This is essential to ensure that scarce resources available for disease control are used to maximum impact. In order to assist WHO in developing public health policy on new tools, the Vector Control Advisory Group (VCAG) assesses the public health value of new interventions and provides guidance on developing the evidence base required to inform such assessments.
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Vector traps

Traps are commonly used in vector surveillance to monitor the distribution, abundance and infection rates of vector populations. Several traps have been developed recently with the aim of disease management rather than surveillance. Vector traps are devices into which vectors enter or with which vectors make contact, resulting in their death or sterilization. Two intervention classes are currently in this category: adulticidal oviposition and larvicidal traps, and auto-dissemination devices.

Adulticidal oviposition and larvicidal traps

How the intervention works: An adulticidal oviposition trap is designed to attract egg-laying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to deposit their eggs in the trap. When the mosquitoes come into contact with the trap, they are killed by an insecticide inside it. Larvicidal traps, on the other hand, aim to kill mosquitoes that are still in their larval stage, for example by destroying eggs by regular drainage of water from the trap. Both approaches reduce the number of mosquitoes and consequently control transmission of Aedes-borne diseases.

Autodissemination devices

How the intervention works: An example of a product being evaluated under this intervention class is the In2Care® mosquito trap which lures egg-carrying Ae. aegypti adult females seeking a place to lay their eggs. The trap uses “autodissemination”, a process by which mosquitoes are contaminated with larvicide powder when they land on the biocide-treated static netting in the trap and then spread the larvicide to nearby breeding sites; the mosquitoes themselves are killed by a slow-acting fungus. The trap also contains slow-killing larvicide in the water to prevent any adults forming from the eggs laid but allowing larvae to develop and augment trap attraction.

 

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In2Care Org (https://www.in2care.org/)
In2Care® mosquito trap for disease management
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Disease(s) that may be reduced in prevalence or prevented: Aedes-borne arboviral diseases such as Zika virus disease, dengue and chikungunya.

Population(s) intended to be protected: Populations living in areas endemic for vector-borne diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.

Status of review: The traps are at various stages of review. The ALO larvicidal trap was presented to VCAG for the first time in May 2019 and the adulticidal oviposition trap was reviewed by VCAG last in 2017. Epidemiological trials with the In2Care® mosquito trap are under way.

Last update: 18 June 2020