Nanotechnology has vast applications in virtually all the fields including health and environment. Nanomaterials have different origins like plants, animals, metals, and microorganisms. They have larvicidal activities against mosquito larvae that cause malaria and dengue fever which are most malicious parasitic diseases of human beings. Multidrug resistance of malaria has been reported in different parts of Southeast Asia especially to the first line of antimalarial drugs. Nanomaterials having different origin, sizes, concentrations, and shapes, have varied efficacy against the vectors which are comparable with the commercially available insecticides and even have better results than the same. Nanomaterials can be used as an alternative to commercially available insecticides for the eradication of vectors causing both the diseases. In this chapter, types, sources, composition, larvicidal potential against vectors of nanomaterials have been discussed along with possible toxicity and future recommendations on the eco-friendly approach for the control of mosquito-borne diseases.
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Nanotechnology is not definite and restricted to a single discipline, instead it is interdisciplinary field including different disciplines like natural sciences, engineering science and lately toxicology field. Through application of molecular biology with engineering have produced new multifunctional structures for higher biological assessment with significant qualities such as higher specificity, sensitivity and recognition rate. The significant study of nanotechnology is the incorporation of several types of nanoparticles (NPs) in diverse compositions, sizes and shapes with specific differences (Ullah Khan et al., 2018). Lately, the production of metallic NPs, i.e., silver, gold, iron, titanium, palladium, copper, zinc, platinum, and cobalt from natural sources has obtained significance (Goodsell, 2004; Rahman et al., 2019). The biosynthesis of metallic NPs is commonly based on the reducing and stabilizing potential of plant extracts and other metabolites. The key factors that influenced the NPs size, shape, and their stability; are the concentration of metal ions and the plant extract (Rajan et al., 2015).
Recently, the awareness of researchers in nanotechnology has increased exaggeratedly to synthesized nanoparticles for their biomedical and environmental applications like drug delivery, gene delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering, imaging, artificial implants and especially for the mosquito-borne diseases and other pest management (Amerasan et al., 2016). Several reliable plant-mediated and chemical composites have been anticipated for effective and prompt synthesis of metallic nanoparticles that exhibit exceptional anti-plasmodial activity, as well as larvicidal potential, in laboratory and field conditions.
Mosquito is an insect belongs to Family Culicidae, order Diptera. More than 3500 species of mosquito have been identified throughout the world (Harbach, 2013). In these species the major genus is Aedes which has more than 900 species. Some of them are vectors for several pathogens including arboviruses, protozoans, filariae and few bacteria that cause serious infectious diseases (Becker et al., 2010; Dieme et al., 2015). Pathologically most significant genera are Aedes, Anopheles, Culex (Ghosh et al., 2012). Aedes mosquitoes are the best-known vectors of dengue and yellow fever. Several Aedes species also act as vectors of other viral and filariasis diseases. Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus are causal agents of diseases like dengue and hemorrhagic fever (Gubler, 2002).
The four types of viruses (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4) belonging to the family Flaviviridae causes viral infection, dengue fever. It is either transmitted by biting the Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti (female mosquitoes) from dawn to desk (ECDC, 2019a, 2019b). Malaria is often caused by parasites named, Plasmodium. The parasite is transferred to other people and animals through the biting of infected Anopheles mosquitoes, the Plasmodium mainly bite during dawn and dusk (Jensen & Mehlhorn, 2009). According to malaria control program, 177 million people in Pakistan are at danger of malaria, and 3.5 million are confirmed cases annually. It was aimed to reduce the disease burden by 75% in 2020 (DMC, 2020) but still there is need to work more to control the spread of this disease along with dengue fever as 998 cases of dengue fever appeared in 48 week of 2019 (WHO, 2019). In 2019, 52485 cases of dengue fever were reported including 91 related deaths in almost all provinces of Pakistan(WHO, 2019).