No Evidence That Salt Water Ingestion Kills Adult Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

Author:

Yee Donald A1,Dean Catherine1,Webb Cameron23ORCID,Henke Jennifer A4,Perezchica-Harvey Gabriela4,White Gregory S5,Faraji Ary5ORCID,Macaluso Joshua D6,Christofferson Rebecca6

Affiliation:

1. School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS

2. Discipline of Medicine, Westmead Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

3. Medical Entomology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia

4. Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, Indio, CA

5. Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District, Salt Lake City, UT

6. Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rough, LA

Abstract

Abstract Various products and insecticides are available that purport to reduce wild populations of adult mosquitoes. Recently, several manufacturers and general public comments on the internet have promoted devices that claim that ingestion of salt will significantly reduce populations of wild mosquitoes to near zero; there are no known scientific efficacy data that support these claims. We tested the survival of nine mosquito species of pest and public health importance across four adult diets: Water Only, Sugar Water Only (8.00%), Salt Water Only (1.03%), and Sugar + Salt Water. Species included the following: Aedes aegypti (L.), Aedes albopictus (Skuse), Aedes dorsalis (Meigen), Aedes notoscriptus (Skuse), Aedes vigilax (Skuse), Anopheles quadrimaculatus (Say), Culex pipiens (L.), Culex quinquefasciatus (Say), and Culex tarsalis (Coquillett). Male and female mosquitoes were placed in cages and allowed to feed on liquid diets under controlled environmental conditions for 1 wk. For seven of the nine species, adult survival was significantly higher in the presence (Sugar Water, Sugar + Salt Water) versus the absence (Water Only, Salt Only) of sugar, with no indication that salt had any effect on survival. Anopheles quadrimaculatus showed intermediate survival in Sugar + Salt to either Sugar Only or no sugar diets, whereas Aedes dorsalis showed low survival in Salt Only versus other diets. Based on our data and coupled with the fact that mosquitoes have physiological and behavioral adaptations that allow them to avoid or process excess salt (as found in blood meals), we conclude that there is no scientific foundation for salt-based control methods of mosquitoes.

Funder

National Institutes of Health

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Infectious Diseases,Insect Science,General Veterinary,Parasitology

Reference29 articles.

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2. Efficacy of commercial attractive toxic sugar bait station (ATSB) against Aedes albopictus;Aryaprema;J. Fl. Mos. Cont. Assoc,2020

3. Use of ordinary table salt against breeding of mosquitoes in artificial containers;Banez;Philipp J. Sci,1963

4. Physiology of osmoregulation in mosquitoes;Bradley;Annu. Rev. Entomol,1987

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