Attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSBs) are oral

insecticides Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, in ...

designed to reduce

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

infections by killing the host vector – the

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

– rather than the parasite itself. Attractive toxic sugar baits are manufactured from readily available, inexpensive ingredients in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...

areas. They broadly consist of an oral toxic component, a sugar component to encourage feeding on the ATSB, and a scented component attractive to mosquitos or other target vectors. Typical ATSBs consist of

boric acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen orthoborate, trihydroxidoboron or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white ...

as the oral toxin, unrefined cane sugar as the sugar source, and fruit, flowers, seeds and other scented material taken from local plants known to be popular feeding sources for mosquitos. Mosquitoes require sugar as their main source of energy. By mimicking the scent of sugar-providing plants that are naturally attractive to mosquitoes, it is possible to attract the mosquitoes to insecticide-laden traps. The traps can be set next to areas with significant mosquito populations (e.g., reservoirs, roadside drainage ponds and culverts). This use of traps attractive to mosquitoes prevents the need for indiscriminate insecticide spraying. Attractive toxic sugar bait sprayed on vegetation has been successful in controlling ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes in outdoor environments. Additionally, indoor ATSB shows promise as a supplement to mosquito nets for controlling mosquitoes. Indoor ATSB constitute a novel application method for insecticide classes that act as stomach poisons and have not hitherto been exploited for mosquito control. Combined with long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), indoor use of ATSB has the potential to serve as a strategy for managing insecticide resistance. Mortality rates of indoor ATSB were comparable to LLINs previously tested against the same species in the same area. Boric acid is only marginally more toxic to most lifeforms than normal

table salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as ro ...

, with exposure in humans and other mammals widely regarded as being safe. Its use as an insecticide in malarial control (instead of compounds which demonstrate high levels of mammalian toxicity or

carcinogen A carcinogen () is any agent that promotes the development of cancer. Carcinogens can include synthetic chemicals, naturally occurring substances, physical agents such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and biologic agents such as viruse ...

icity) is thus seen as advantageous. ATSBs can affect insects that are not the target. In one instance, bees collected sugar from attractive non-toxic sugar baits dyed with food coloring, and the honey they produced was a different color. To avoid killing bees, it has been suggested that the ATSBs could have nets to keep the bees out, while letting harmful insects to fall for the baits.

References

{{insecticides Malaria Environmental effects of pesticides Insecticides