Technologies and methods: Wolbachia, attractive targeted sugar baits, emanators, genetic control.
A Hillsborough County (Florida, US) release of 8 October 2026: during the dengue outbreak, County Mosquito Management reminds brick-and-mortar businesses to check the alley behind the shop, loading areas, dumpsters and outdoor storage and remove anything that collects rainwater.
WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE published on 8 October 2026 international application WO/2026/211873 “Air conditioning device and pest control agent module” (PCT/JP2026/013521, filed 31 March 2026): an air conditioning device fitted with a pest control agent module.
A study published in PLOS One on 9 October 2026 by China Jiliang University and the Hangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention built a deep learning system that recognises mosquitoes from both adult and larval morphology and runs directly on Android phones.
The Times Sierra Leone published an article by a health promotion officer of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health: from 6 to 20 October 2026 the Ministry, through the National Malaria Control Programme and partners, is deploying 101,862 spatial emanators in Sittia and Dema chiefdoms (Bonthe District) and Yoni Mabanta and Poli chiefdoms (Tonkolili District).
eBioMedicine (volume 132, October 2026) has published the second set of results from a cluster-randomised trial led by the Environmental Health Institute of Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA): residential clusters where male Aedes aegypti carrying Wolbachia were released had clearly lower dengue incidence than control clusters.
A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases on 21 September 2026 (Indiana University School of Medicine, the University of Notre Dame and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago) tested attractive targeted sugar baits (ATSBs) containing the genetically engineered yeast strain Sh.463, which produces RNAi molecules, in three baits: soda (Coca-Cola), 10% sucrose and the commercial mosquito bait BaitStab.
The Daily Record (Maryland) published a Washington Post story on 1 October 2026: Bee Safe Mosquito Control (Silver Spring) is among the first companies in the USA to sell Wolbachia male mosquito releases directly to households. In summer 2026 it released 600,000 mosquitoes across 25 properties in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The City of Anápolis (Goiás state, Brazil) announced on 5 October 2026 that it has started the Wolbachia method, with a launch at the Municipal Theatre attended by representatives of Brazil’s Ministry of Health, Fiocruz, Wolbito do Brasil and the Goiás state government. More than 5,000 sites have been mapped for containers holding eggs of Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti.
A paper of 4 February 2026 in PLOS ONE evaluated larval source management (LSM) using drone imagery and an AI model that ranks the risk of water bodies, in eight sub-districts of Kwaebibirem District, Eastern Region, Ghana: identified breeding sites rose more than threefold, larvicide use fell by over 60% and labour by about 50%. Malaria case trends were comparable with control sub-districts.
A paper of 30 July 2026 in PLOS ONE: a randomised trial in Tambai, central Mozambique, sprayed IR3535 as a spatial repellent in 40 households and compared them with 40 control households. Indoors, 765 female An. funestus were caught in the repellent group and 1,432 in the control group; 18.6 versus 35.0 per household on average. Malaria prevalence in children under five fell similarly in both groups.
The Guardian reported on 17 September 2026 (a Climate Central story) that the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, east of Los Angeles, is releasing about 30,000 male Aedes aegypti carrying Wolbachia bacteria each week, nearly half a million in all. Males do not bite; eggs from wild females that mate with them do not hatch.
Wits University reported on 8 September 2026 that the SIT programme of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Wits ran a 12-week trial in Mamfene, KwaZulu-Natal, releasing about 50,000 sterile males every two weeks. The target population declined during releases and rebounded when they stopped. The findings are not yet published or peer-reviewed.
WHO Prequalification of Vector Control Products updated on 2 June 2026 Module 5 – Long-term community studies for ITNs (Implementation guidance of August 2025, revised 2 June 2026). ITNs must show durability and entomological efficacy under about 36 months of routine use, with chemical–physical analyses and semi-field efficacy at months 0, 12, 24 and 36.
The World Mosquito Program reported on 16 April 2026 that a five-year project in the Paraopeba River Basin (Minas Gerais) began releases in Brumadinho — the first of 22 planned municipalities. The project aims to protect more than 1.1 million people over about 350 km²; a Wolbachia biofactory in Belo Horizonte (Gameleira) is expected to produce about two million mosquitoes a week with Fiocruz and the state health secretariat.
The World Mosquito Program reported on 17 August 2026 that in Comas, northern Lima, Peru’s Ministry of Health (MINSA) leads a Wolbachia programme with WMP, the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust and the US CDC. Peru is the first country to adopt WMP’s Strategic Partnership Model in full. MINSA authorised the strategy by Ministerial Resolution No. 485-2025-MINSA.
The World Mosquito Program reported on 11 August 2026 that releases in Dili covered the entire urban population, about 240,000 people over about 20 km², with the Ministry of Health, Action on Poverty and the Menzies School of Health Research, supported by the Australian Government (ANCP) and the Macquarie Group Foundation.
The World Mosquito Program reported on 11 August 2026 that Wolbachia mosquitoes are being released in Vientiane Capital, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Champasak, in a partnership with the Lao Ministry of Health and Save the Children that began in 2022.
On 13 March 2026 the National Environment Agency said Project Wolbachia – Singapore will expand to Bukit Panjang, Little India, Pioneer, Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio from April to October 2026, covering more than 800,000 households, about 50% of households.
On 30 July 2026 in Jakarta, Indonesia’s Ministry of Health and the World Mosquito Program signed a memorandum of understanding on Wolbachia technology, toward a goal of no dengue deaths by 2030.
The PQT/VCP bulletin of 21 July 2026 said that, as of June 2026, 85 sources covering 37 active ingredients were on the WHO specification list. From 30 May 2026, new product dossiers and variation dossiers must be filed through the ePQS portal.
VectorIS, citing CDC, notes that mosquitoes bite day and night and lay eggs where water is held. With an adult, children can each week empty, scrub, turn over or cover tyres, buckets, toys, tanks, bird baths, pot saucers and bins. They should not handle chemicals themselves.
A VectorIS item citing EPA says rodents may not be seen until numbers are already high. Signs include droppings, nests, gnawed packaging, holes in walls or floors, and odour. Prevention means sealing holes (steel wool can be used), clearing nest sites, and cutting off food and water.
VectorIS summarises a CDC surveillance toolkit: the autocidal gravid ovitrap uses a hay packet and 8–10 litres of water to attract females about to lay eggs (Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus). It can be left for up to about two months without constant checking.
In September 2026 Portugal released sterile male Asian tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) in Alvalade, Lisbon — the city’s first field trial of the sterile-insect technique. A controlled trial is expected in May 2027.
SenesTech (United States) said it was placing the Evolve rodent fertility-control line on the Grove Collaborative online retail channel, widening access for consumers.
WHO released the Operational manual on larval source management (173 pages, ISBN 978-92-4-012321-2), a practical guide for breeding-site management of malaria mosquitoes and Aedes mosquitoes that transmit arboviruses.
Exterminators PLC introduced the third generation of its Smart Missile termite bait station, with artificial-intelligence detection and an IoT connection.
WHO reported progress in reviewing the evidence for Wolbachia population replacement against diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.
Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) allowed Flyttr (the new name of Oxitec) to produce and sell a Wolbachia mosquito solution for the national arbovirus-control programme. The company says this is the first commercial licence for Wolbachia population replacement.
After a successful pilot in Larnaca, Cyprus is building a large facility to produce sterile male mosquitoes, with IAEA support, in order to remove Aedes aegypti from the island.
Researchers built a process to predict and test gene-drive-resistant variants, then designed a drive aimed at several gene sites in Anopheles gambiae.
Using the germline promoters spo11 and vasa1, researchers developed a system that biases offspring toward males and spreads beyond Mendelian inheritance.
A large cluster-randomised trial covering more than 700,000 residents found 71–72% protective efficacy after at least three months of intervention.
WHO’s vector-control prequalification unit (PQT/VCP) added the Synera DuoForte net to the prequalified list on 25 February 2026. The July 2026 bulletin says it was the only product prequalified in the first half of the year.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and the city of Graz published the first results of a mark–release–recapture study with more than 800,000 male Asian tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) sterilised by radiation.
A field trial in 24 camps for displaced people in Maiduguri, north-east Nigeria, provides the first epidemiological efficacy data in West Africa for spatial emanators in a humanitarian setting.
A six-month trial in Maiduguri found that sugar-bait stations inside and outside tents clearly reduced the density of Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes taking blood meals indoors.
WHO issued a recommendation on spatial emanators and prequalified the first two products.
