Mosquito control technologies nowadays mainly target on mosquito’s chemosensory system. Chemicals such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid are commonly associated with mosquito traps, while DEET, Picaridin, and so on are confirmed to be effective mosquito repellents. Unfortunately, chemical mosquito repellents target not only mosquitoes. Insects, aquatic lives and even terrestrial animals may be adversely affected. Therefore, the use of chemicals as mosquitoes trap or repellent is not sustainable.

This research investigated the effect of optical frequencies, including UVA and visible light on the development of larval Aedes albopictus by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) inside larva’s body. ROS was effective in increasing the mortality rate of the larva by 83.7% and reducing the nu...[ Read more ]

Mosquito control technologies nowadays mainly target on mosquito’s chemosensory system. Chemicals such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid are commonly associated with mosquito traps, while DEET, Picaridin, and so on are confirmed to be effective mosquito repellents. Unfortunately, chemical mosquito repellents target not only mosquitoes. Insects, aquatic lives and even terrestrial animals may be adversely affected. Therefore, the use of chemicals as mosquitoes trap or repellent is not sustainable.

This research investigated the effect of optical frequencies, including UVA and visible light on the development of larval Aedes albopictus by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) inside larva’s body. ROS was effective in increasing the mortality rate of the larva by 83.7% and reducing the number of female mosquitoes by 77.6% when 370nm at 90µW/cm² was applied. Since the larval mosquitoes of different species are only affected by particular frequencies and the ovitrap is effective in collecting larval mosquitoes, the use of ROS induced by low powered LED inside ovitrap is a low-cost and target-specific physical mosquito control technology, minimizing the adverse effect to other organisms.