Biodart-M Bio-control Agent

Malaria is one of the major insect transmitted diseases, claiming 1.4 to 2.6 million deaths worldwide every year. Although choloroquine is an effective drug to control the disease and is the mainstay for malaria control, resistance to it has been reported, making control of the disease more difficult. Vaccination against the disease has so far not been successful. Hence Vector Control is the only logical solution today to prevent the disease.

These vectors belong to 'Anopheles' genus among mosquitoes. The female

mosquitoes bite to have blood meal to produce a batch of eggs. These eggs are generally found in relatively clean stagnant waters such as marshes, puddles, wells, ponds, irrigation canals and water tanks and the eggs float on the surface of the water.

If one can control larvae of mosquitoes soon after the eggs hatch, the reduced mosquito population would mean lower malaria incidence and better health for the people.

Chemical control of mosquitoes at larval stage has been practiced with disastrous results for the eco-system. BIODART-M has been developed from naturally occurring Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti), which works as larvaecide. The mosquito larva ingest the delta endotoxin crystals, which after hydrolysis in the guts, paralyze the mosquitoes. The death of the larva follows within 2 to 24 hours. Bti provides effective control of the mosquitoes at larval stage.