Assessment of Trinidad community stakeholder perspectives on the use of yeast interfering RNA-baited ovitraps for biorational control of Aedes mosquitoes.

Nikhella Winter,Jessica Igiede,Rachel M Wiltshire,Akilah T M Stewart,Lester D James,Molly Duman-Scheel,Limb K Hapairai,David W Severson,Azad Mohammed,Pedro L Oliveira

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252997

Nikhella Winter, Jessica Igiede + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252997

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Abstract

Dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses continue to be a major public health burden. Aedes mosquitoes, the primary vectors responsible for transmitting these viral pathogens, continue to flourish due to local challenges in vector control management. Yeast interfering RNA-baited larval lethal ovitraps are being developed as a novel biorational control tool for Aedes mosquitoes. This intervention circumvents increasing issues with insecticide resistance and poses no known threat to non-target organisms. In an effort to create public awareness of this alternative vector control strategy, gain stakeholder feedback regarding product design and acceptance of the new intervention, and build capacity for its potential integration into existing mosquito control programs, this investigation pursued community stakeholder engagement activities, which were undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. Three forms of assessment, including paper surveys, community forums, and household interviews, were used with the goal of evaluating local community stakeholders’ knowledge of mosquitoes, vector control practices, and perceptions of the new technology. These activities facilitated evaluation of the hypothesis that the ovitraps would be broadly accepted by community stakeholders as a means of biorational control for Aedes mosquitoes. A comparison of the types of stakeholder input communicated through use of the three assessment tools highlighted the utility and merit of using each tool for assessing new global health interventions. Most study participants reported a general willingness to purchase an ovitrap on condition that it would be affordable and safe for human health and the environment. Stakeholders provided valuable input on product design, distribution, and operation. A need for educational campaigns that provide a mechanism for educating stakeholders about vector ecology and management was highlighted. The results of the investigation, which are likely applicable to many other Caribbean nations and other countries with heavy arboviral disease burdens, were supportive of supplementation of existing vector control strategies through the use of the yeast RNAi-based ovitraps.

Highlights

Mosquito-borne illnesses present a continuing threat to global health security
In the World Health Organization (WHO)-defined Americas region, which includes North, Central and South America plus the Caribbean, the number of infections recorded during the first half of 2020 exceeded 1.75 million, with >600 deaths resulting from severe dengue [16]
For the design of questions included in this assessment tool, as well as the engagement forum and interview questions described below, questions were written on the basis of the scientific aims of the study, following a general review of the vector literature on this topic, and through refinement of the questions by the research team, MoH staff, and by non-scientist community stakeholders

Summary

Introduction

Mosquito-borne illnesses present a continuing threat to global health security. Despite implementation of disease management strategies, including preventive chemotherapy, vector control, and social mobilization, that seek to reduce the clinical burden, more than 3.5 billion people worldwide are still at risk of contracting vector borne diseases [1,2,3]. The incidence of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) has increased dramatically due to multiple interconnected factors, including rapid urbanization and population growth These factors generate transmission settings conducive to the emergence [5,6,7,8,9] and re-emergence [10, 11] of mosquito-borne epidemic outbreaks [12]. Recent arboviral outbreaks in Trinidad and Tobago follow similar patterns to those observed across the WHO-Americas region These outbreaks resulted from the establishment of Ae. aegypti, the primary arboviral vector, and Ae. albopictus, the secondary vector [17], as a result of the close association of these mosquitoes with densely populated urban environments in which rainwater-filled, artificial containers (e.g. tanks, drums, tires) provide breeding sites in which Aedes favor oviposition [18]

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