title: Indoor use of attractive toxic sugar bait (ATSB) to effectively control malaria vectors in Mali, West Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attractive toxic sugar bait (ATSB) solutions containing any gut toxins can be either sprayed on plants or used in simple bait stations to attract and kill sugar-feeding female and male mosquitoes. This field study in Mali demonstrates the effect of ATSB bait stations inside houses as a vector control method that targets and kills endophilic African malaria vectors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The studies were conducted in five villages located near the River Niger, Mali. Baseline village-wide assessments of densities for female and male Anopheles gambiae sensu lato were performed by pyrethrum spray collections (PSC) in ten houses in each of five villages. To determine the rate of mosquito feeding on bait stations, one bait station per house containing attractive sugar bait (ASB) (without toxin) plus a food dye marker, was set up in ten houses in each of the five villages. PSC collections were conducted on the following day and the percentage of female and male mosquitoes that had fed was determined by visual inspection for the dye marker. Then, a 50-day field trial was done. In an experimental village, one bait station containing ATSB (1% boric acid active ingredient) was placed per bedroom (58 bedrooms), and indoor densities of female and male An. gambiae s.l. were subsequently determined by PSC, and female mosquitoes were age graded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the five villages, the percentages of An. gambiae s.l. feeding inside houses on the non-toxic bait stations ranged from 28.3 to 53.1% for females and 36.9 to 78.3% for males. Following ATSB indoor bait station presentation, there was a significant reduction, 90% in female and 93% in male populations, of An. gambiae s.l. at the experimental village. A 3.8-fold decrease in the proportion of females that had undergone four or more gonotrophic cycles was recorded at the experimental village, compared to a 1.2-fold increase at the control village.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The field trial demonstrates that An. gambiae s.l. feed readily from ATSB bait stations situated indoors, leading to a substantial reduction in the proportion of older female mosquitoes. This study demonstrates that ATSB inside houses can achieve impressive malaria vector control in Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA. w.qualls@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Whitney A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Qualls
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine, Kuvin Centre for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. guntercmuller@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Günter C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontostomatology, Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Bamako, BP 1805, Bamako, Mali. cheick@icermali.org.
authors.forename: Sekou F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Traore
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontostomatology, Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Bamako, BP 1805, Bamako, Mali. mohamedmoumine@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohamed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Traore
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA. KArheart@biostat.med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Kristopher L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Arheart
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontostomatology, Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Bamako, BP 1805, Bamako, Mali. sdoumbi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Seydou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doumbia
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine, Kuvin Centre for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. yosefs@ekmd.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Yosef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Schlein
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. vasiliy1953@yandex.com.
authors.forename: Vasiliy D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Kravchenko
authors.affiliation: Anastasia Mosquito Control District, St. Augustine, FL, USA. xueamcd@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rui-De
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA. jbeier@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Beier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000502:physiology*; D002241:Carbohydrates; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005505:Food Coloring Agents; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008302:Mali; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D005505:Food Coloring Agents