Mosquito-Borne Diseases and Their Control Strategies: An Overview Focused on Green Synthesized Plant-Based Metallic Nanoparticles

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Mosquitoes are the carrier of pathogens that cause common human diseases such as malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika, and West Nile. The use of chemical and biological insecticides is among the key control tools for reducing mosquito populations at different life stages (i.e., eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults). The weaknesses of these tools, especially those with chemicals, are the high cost of production, and their negative effects on other beneficial organisms such as bees and water-dwelling invasive species. Thus, researchers and academics are searching for new safe and environmentally friendly forms of insecticides. Of late, green synthesized plant-based metallic nanoparticles have attracted great interest as an alternative to traditional insecticides. Typically using metal salts in combination with aqueous plant extracts, the synthesis of these nanoparticles is eco-friendly and relatively cheap. This review aims to report on the currently available knowledge on the development of green synthesized metallic nanoparticles and their performance as repellent, ovicidal, larvicidal, pupicidal, and adulticidal agents against different mosquito species. ABSTRACT: Mosquitoes act as vectors of pathogens that cause most life-threatening diseases, such as malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow fever, Zika, West Nile, Lymphatic filariasis, etc. To reduce the transmission of these mosquito-borne diseases in humans, several chemical, biological, mechanical, and pharmaceutical methods of control are used. However, these different strategies are facing important and timely challenges that include the rapid spread of highly invasive mosquitoes worldwide, the development of resistance in several mosquito species, and the recent outbreaks of novel arthropod-borne viruses (e.g., Dengue, Rift Valley fever, tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile, yellow fever, etc.). Therefore, the development of novel and effective methods of control is urgently needed to manage mosquito vectors. Adapting the principles of nanobiotechnology to mosquito vector control is one of the current approaches. As a single-step, eco-friendly, and biodegradable method that does not require the use of toxic chemicals, the green synthesis of nanoparticles using active toxic agents from plant extracts available since ancient times exhibits antagonistic responses and broad-spectrum target-specific activities against different species of vector mosquitoes. In this article, the current state of knowledge on the different mosquito control strategies in general, and on repellent and mosquitocidal plant-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles in particular, has been reviewed. By doing so, this review may open new doors for research on mosquito-borne diseases.