Résumé
Failure to mitigate selection and spread of Anopheles insecticide resistance is the cause, at least in part, of increasing malaria incidence currently witnessed in Sub-Saharan Africa. The repeated acknowledgment of rapidly evolving mosquitoes’ populations to adapt to insecticides calls for breaking this mainstream trend. While an erosion of bednet (LLIN) adherence and use is also occurring, it is therefore urgent to propose new complementary approaches. Taking advantage of the natural interactions of Anopheles with the bednets which are occurring for 80% on the roof, a mosquito trapping tool (T-Net) was designed to be retro-fitted on the roof of any bednet, hence adding mechanical trapping-killing function to insecticide property. Human odor plume represents the lure. Trapped mosquitoes die from desiccation in the device. From experimental hut proof-of-concept studies in areas where Anopheles are highly resistant to insecticides in Côte d’Ivoire, we demonstrated (i) that insecticide-free LLIN mounted with T-Net killed 4 times more wild pyrethroid resistant mosquitoes than pyrethroid-only LLIN, and (ii) that killing performance of Permanet 2.0-T-Net was increased by 31-58.5% when compared to PBO- and IG2-LLINs, the new generation of bi-treated nets.Hence, mass-trapping of malarial mosquitoes using T-Net, elicits bednets’ efficiency even in contexts of high insecticide resistance. Given the fact that users would actually witness trapped mosquitoes, we believe our device should win greater usage. Our innovative approach will be evaluated, in communities, in the framework of a 4-arms cluster randomized controlled trial to be run in 40 villages of Korhogo district, Côte d’Ivoire (TrapNet project). Interventions are mass distributions of trapping or classical bednets. Primary endpoints are Plasmodium falciparumprevalence and entomological inoculation rate. Users’ acceptability will be scrutinized. We believe that our insecticide free trapping bednet concept should represent a game-changer in malaria vector control, and could constitute a future sustainable WHO recommendation.