KUALA LUMPUR: The battle against dengue fever in Malaysia is set to get a booster shot, with the development of a product to starve the Aedes mosquito larvae to death.
The product, Mousticide, was specifically developed by national leading bio-technology company, Entogenex Industries Sdn Bhd (Entogenex) to control the epidemic.
Eight years ago, the company took the challenge to carry out research and development on the product, and spent millions to arrive at the right solution to fight dengue.
Entogenex executive chairman Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Ja’afar said the challenge to end the dengue epidemic rested in controlling aedes mosquito reproduction, which he described as "not an easy task" to do as the vicious seven-day life cycle seemed unstoppable.
"From only 50 adult female mosquitoes, over 90 million mosquitoes can emerge after just 60 days.
"Mousticide is the most effective method of control because it targets mosquitoes at the source where they are most vulnerable," he told a press conference here today, to introduce Mousticide.
He said Mousticide was developed in two package formats, namely Mousticide RH and Mousticide WP. However, the latter was only sold in bulk because it needed to be dissolved into water before it could be used, using misting or spraying machine.
"Mousticide RH is with the active ingredient coated on to dry rice husks.
All one needs to do is drop a pinch of the rice husk into the water retaining containers such as pots, ponds or drains and it would be eaten by the larvae, making it extremely easy for daily usage purposes."
Elaborating, Tunku Naquiyuddin said Mousticide contained Trypsin Modulating Oostatic Factor (TMOF), which was a natural mosquito peptide hormone that stopped digestion in mosquito larvae.
"TMOFs breakthrough biolarviciding functions are aimed at stopping the release of the crucial digestive enzyme trypsin in mosquito larvae and without trypsin, digestion cannot occur and mosquito larvae starve to death," he added.
He said Mousticide also contained another natural mosquito larvicide known as Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis to enhance its effect, resulting in a super biolarvicide that killed 100 per cent of larvae within one hour, with a single application lasting about four weeks.
As TMOF was a naturally occurring hormone, it was environmentally friendly and could not harm other organisms, including pets, plants and human, he noted.
Meanwhile, Entogenex founder-director Marcus Francis said Mousticide had undergone field trial at three blocks of 17-storey apartments in Setapak which was listed as a 'dengue hotspot'.
"The result showed no dengue case recorded over a five-week monitoring period," he said, adding that Malaysians could buy the product via online at www.Entogenex.com.
He said the product had entered the Singapore while plans were afoot to distribute it to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Malaysia has recorded 44,518 dengue cases from January to June 28, this year, a rise of 246 per cent or 31,660 cases as compared to 12,858 cases last year.
During the same period, there were 85 deaths reported nationwide compared to only 27 last year. - Bernama
