Overview
- Researchers report moving from lab validation to barrel-based tests that mimic household breeding sites such as tires, buckets and containers.
- The patent-pending product targets chitin production and the ecdysone hormonal pathway to halt larval molting.
- Formulations include firm flakes that larvae ingest and a version that can be diluted in breeding water.
- The team, led by Dr. Erick de Jesús de Luna Santillana with collaborator Javier Alfonso Garza Hernández, says the compound is species-specific and harmless to humans and other insects.
- Investigators stress that community source reduction remains necessary as rainy-season conditions drive dengue risk in states including Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Veracruz, Morelos, Colima and the Michoacán coast.