Phased Conditional Approach for Mosquito Management Using Sterile Insect Technique

• Published in: Trends in parasitology Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 325 - 336
• Main Authors: Bouyer, Jérémy, Yamada, Hanano, Pereira, Rui, Bourtzis, Kostas, Vreysen, Marc J.B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: area-wide-integrated pest management; Biotechnology; dengue; Life Sciences; malaria; mosquito-borne diseases; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Zika; mosquito-borne diseases; malaria; dengue; area-wide-integrated pest management; Zika; zika
• ISSN: 1471-4922; 1471-5007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.01.004

Mosquito-borne diseases represent a major threat to humankind. Recently, the incidence of malaria has stopped decreasing while that of dengue is increasing exponentially. Alternative mosquito-control methods are urgently needed. The sterile insect technique (SIT) has seen significant developments recently and may play an important role. However, testing and implementing SIT for vector control is challenging, and a phased conditional approach (PCA) is recommended, that is, advancement to the next phase depends on completion of activities in the previous one. We herewith present a PCA to test the SIT against mosquitoes within an area-wide-integrated pest-management programme, taking into account the experience gained with plant and livestock pests and the recent developments of the technique against mosquitoes.
Recent progress on the development of the SIT package against mosquitoes allows envisaging its larger-scale deployment. Four phases are presented, that is, from preparatory activities to operational deployment, with some milestones highlighted that include go/no-go criteria.Phase 0 is a preintervention phase in which stakeholder commitment is secured;Phase I includes the collection of all relevant baseline data that are required to develop an appropriate intervention strategy against target mosquito populations;Phase II includes all necessary activities for a successful small-scale field trial;Phase III includes the necessary activities to upscale the intervention;Phase IV corresponds to the area-wide deployment of the intervention (including the release of sterile mosquitoes) that is guided by an adaptive management approach and the evaluation of the SIT programme.