Bacteria Affecting Mosquito Larvae Numbers In Stored Water?

By: Jazmin Otero

Figure 1. Each number in non-overlapping areas represent individual OTUs. Overlapping areas correspond to either both or all. n represents the amount of water samples taken for each category.

Domestic water storage containers are prone to becoming homes for mosquito larvae if not stored properly. Two types of larvae were observed for two years in domestic water storage containers; one type of larvae (Aedes) that causes dengue fever and the other type of larvae (Anopheles) that spreads malaria. Bacteria can affect whether there are mosquito larvae in storage containers since they are considered food source. The following image demonstrates the two types of larvae found in samples of water collected from the storage containers. In further investigation, three specific bacteria (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria) were found in water samples that didn't have both mosquito larvae. These three types of bacteria could be useful to avoid contamination of mosquito larvae. Further investigation could be done with these three types of bacteria and could be used to avoid dengue fever and malaria. It is also important to have safe health practices to avoid contamination of stored water. Stored water should be sealed shut to avoid contamination from external exposure. Water should also be boiled before consumption to kill microbes.

Original article
Nilsson LKJ, Sharma A, Bhatnagar RK, Bertilsson S, Terenius O. (2018). Presence of Aedes and Anopheles mosquito larvae is correlated to bateria found in domestic water-storage containers. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 94:6