Insecticidal Bednets for the Fight Against Malaria – Present Time and Near Future

摘要

Malaria is to-day a tropical disease that especially has major impact in Subsahelian Africa. The current largescalecampaign against malaria focuses on better first line use of medication and prevention: (1) the combined use of anArtimisin derivative and one of several synthetic anti-malarials; and (2) the use of insecticidal bednets for transmissionprevention, since the disease is transmitted between humans by female mosquitoes. The change from nets that were to betreated and often re-treated to factory pre-treated nets about 7 years ago, made the change from a promising research toolto a major campaign tool. However, once the first line problem of fast disappearance of insecticide treatment was solved,other problems appeared such as physical net durability and low use rate of bednets among people that do not see only theadvantages of the nets, but also experience the inconvenience of their use in the daily life. Finally, resistance toinsecticides is appearing, probably originating from agricultural use of the same insecticides, but now amplified by theextensive use of insecticides for malaria control. A call for use of common sense and diversified use of insecticides isconcluded.