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Linking Young Minds Together
   Volume 3 | Issue 21 | May 29, 2011 |


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News Snap

The Mosquito Menace

The researchers have found a new way to control the mosquito menace.
Courtesy: Jahangirnagar University

Mosquito menace is one of the most bitter and intolerable experiences that may occur every day in our lives. To get rid of this menace two researchers of Jahangirnagar University have discovered a new way to control the mosquito problem by using weeds.

Mosquitoes are one of the most medically significant vectors and they transmit parasites and pathogens, which have devastating impacts on human beings. Culex quinquefasciatus is the most prevalent mosquito species in Dhaka city. Some say that 90% of the mosquitoes of Dhaka belong to this species.

Professor Dr A J Howlader and Assistant Professor Kabirul Bashar of Department of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University, have discovered a new way to control the menace.

The experiment was conducted in Insect Rearing and Experimental Station (IRES) in Jahangirnagar University. They used botanicals and plant extracts to kill mosquito larvae. Later, Nasrin Jahan, an MPhil researcher and H M Al-Amin, MSc student joined them as researchers in this project.

They used more than 75 plants to evaluate the larvicidal properties. In search of an environment friendly and economically cheap method, Surja Kannya gives a new opportunity to mosquito control tactics. The researchers also conducted experiments against Aedes mosquito larvae and found similar toxic properties of Surja Kannya.

Researcher Kabirul Bashar said that they started extraction and artificial synthesis of the chemical compounds of this plant which is the active ingredient for killing mosquito.

 

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