Preventing infectious bites: Repulsing mosquito vectors with electric field pulsations (rePULS)

Objectives

The overall purpose of this project is to develop functional prototypes of a novel tool to prevent mosquitoes of medical importance (vectors of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika, malaria and West Nile) from biting their human hosts.

The project’s main objective is to develop prototype Electronic Mosquito Barriers (EMBs) such as wires, vertical sticks and portable boxes, that prevent mosquitoes from entering public spaces (schools, hospitals, workplaces, terraces) and private spaces (homes and gardens) and target both daytime biting (Aedes species) and nighttime biting mosquitoes (Anopheles, Culex). The EMB repels mosquitoes by high power pulsed electric fields and has the advantage that it works instantly at any time and any place, independent of vector species.

The project will also seek to develop power-delivery systems adapted to local needs (including solar units for lower and middle income countries), address safety and regulatory issues, test the prototypes in Guyana in real settings, assess the cost of scaling up the production and use of EMBs, and contribute to capacity building in medical entomology in Guyana.