This Simple Mosquito Trap Could Help Fight Zika Virus Daniel Pinelo - CBC Radio
go to original April 8, 2016

The design is so simple, you can build one yourself. Here's how: take an old tire, cut it in half, fill it with recycled water, add a cloth filter and hang it on a wall.

Developed in Canada with government funding, the 'ovillanta,' as it's called, is proving to be an incredibly effective mosquito trap.

And now, the team of Canadian and Mexican researchers who invented it plan to use it to combat the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne viruses. Gerardo Ulibarri of Laurentian University is the lead researcher on the project. He explains to As it Happens host Carol Off that mosquitoes need water to lay their eggs. That's where the ovillanta comes in.

"We create an artificial pond in the tire," he says."During the dry season, the mosquitoes will not have many choices where to lay their eggs. So by providing this artificial pond, the mosquitoes will go there. Then we have the rainy season, where mosquitoes have other places where they can go. For that we can use specific attractants to lure the mosquitoes to the ovillanta, or artificial tire."

Once the insects take the bait, so to speak, they "come in and lay their eggs on a wet surface — made out of paper or wood," he explains.

"All mosquitoes, when they lay their eggs, within the egg there is a microgram of a pheromone. That's what is called an 'oviposition' pheromone. When the larva hatches, it liberates the pheromone into the water — which helps indicate to other female mosquitoes that that's a good place for their babies to be born."

Then, all that's left to do is remove the eggs from the water. The now-pheromone rich trap will continue to attract more mosquitoes.

...Of course, the do-it-yourself simplicity of the trap is also a great advantage - not to mention that it requires no chemicals.

Read the rest at CBC Radio



Photos: Daniel Pinelo

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