In MalariaWorld this week my eye was drawn to the strangely titled ‘Musings from a Vectosaur: Malaria in 2026’ by Manuel F. Lluberas. Vectosaur seems to be a word invented by Lluberas from the physics term vector meaning a quantity that has both magnitude and direction (that is often applied to insects that supposedly spread infectious disease) and from the Latinized Greek, Saurus, meaning lizard. So, are we to assume that Lluberas considers himself a lizard with direction?
Underlying, the paper is a belief that malaria is spread by mosquitos, and he states ‘Modern malaria programmes rely overwhelmingly on two tools: Long-lasting insecticidal nets and indoor residual spraying’. I expect the proponents of various vaccine and drug dispensing programmes might argue with this, but Lluberas is a bug hunter, following the traditions started by Ross and Grassi.
Even if malaria were spread by mosquitos, he states the problem with the ‘insectecutor’ approach ‘Under sustained pressure, mosquito populations are responding exactly as evolutionary biology predicts: Through increasing insecticide resistance and shifts in feeding and resting behaviour that circumvent indoor interventions’.
And he despairs that even the WHO cannot be sure of how effective programmes are. WHO explained that in a large share of the countries reporting, places carrying most of the malaria burden, it was “not actually possible to reliably assess trends” because “surveillance systems were weak and unreliable.”
He says the two strategies, ‘long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and, to a lesser extent, indoor residual spraying (IRS) have their place. Both have saved lives. But they were never meant to carry the entire burden of malaria control alone.’ However, many studies I reported including one from a few weeks ago found nets to be ineffective.
He states that ‘Field entomologists tend to view the matter differently. Mosquitoes are not policy documents. They are adaptable biological systems that respond to pressure. Apply a single intervention across vast areas year after year and the vector will respond in the only way evolution allows: adapting’.
He ends his essay with ‘Perhaps the growing recognition that we are “off-course” will provide the necessary push. Until then, some of us old vectosaurs will keep asking the inconvenient question: Are we doing the right thing? Are we doing things right?’
I wonder would he go so far as to question the linkage of malaria (and other illnesses) to mosquitos which is based on the dubious work of Ross and Grassi? I doubt it. If health authorities realised that mosquitos don’t spread malaria, there would be much less research funding for entomologists.