The long arc of mosquito control

Excerpt

This chapter provides an overview of the deep history of mosquito control from an early era of rudimentary mosquito repellency up to the present era of synthetic insecticides and genetically modified mosquitoes. Over time, human beings drained wetlands and reduced mosquito habitat. In some regions, these transformations may have limited the transmission of mosquito-borne disease. By the beginning of the twentieth century, scientific knowledge about the major vector species that transmitted malaria and yellow fever allowed for the targeted destruction of mosquito populations. The use of synthetic insecticides such as DDT in agricultural pest control as well as human disease control programmes dramatically decreased local mosquito densities. The profligate use of these insecticides in the agricultural sector, however, produced broad, distressing ecological impacts and helped to build support for environmentalism as a political movement. Since the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, different attitudes about mosquito control have developed between environmentalists largely based in the Global North and public health specialists concerned with disease control, whose largest challenges are in the Global South.