Kills Mosquitoes

It's Revolutionary

A Fungus That

• A revolutionary approach to the control of mosquitoes is to he tried out with the help of the World Health Organisation in the isolated Tokelau Islands.

It all began when a New Zealand scientist found that certain “fungus parasite” was lethal to mosquitoes.

The following, most interesting article comes from the New Zealand Director of Information Services.

The only trouble about it is that there is therein no clue to what a ",fungus parasite”—as it applies to mosquito control — is, or looks like.

The human disease, variously called tinea, ringworm, dhobi’s itch, etc., could perhaps be called a fungus parasite. But it is just a little dif ficult for a layman to imagine how something similar could affect mos quitoes.

THE New Zealand-administered Tokelau Islands, one of the Pacific areas infested with a mosquito which carries germs of the disease filariasis (with its occasional aftermath, elephantiasis) will shortly be the scene of an at tempt by the World Health Organ isation to control, and if possible, eradicate the mosquitoes by a fungus parasite.

One of New Zealand’s most noted entomologists, Dr. Marshall Laird, will play a prominent part in the project, which is regarded by the World Health Organisation as “of extremely important significance”.

WHO is sure that the results will provide data which will be of im mense value in the control of in sect carriers of diseases affecting man.

The development of resistance to insecticides by disease-carrying in sects has focused attention on alternative means of control.

Normally, biological control by para sites does not give sufficiently de cisive results, but previous experi ence in the agricultural field has shown that on isolated islands biological control is quite frequently completely effective.